India

NEW DELHI, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday chaired a meeting to review the impact of cyclone Yaas as officials made a detailed presentation on various aspects of preparedness and assessment of damages.

"It was discussed that about 106 teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were deployed with 46 teams each in West Bengal and Odisha that rescued more than 1,000 persons and removed more than 2,500 trees, poles that had fallen and obstructed the roads," a statement issued by Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.

Kolkata, May 28 (PTI) West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar will attend a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to review the devastation caused by cyclone Yaas, officials said.

The meeting is scheduled to be held at Kalaikunda in Paschim Medinipur district on Friday afternoon after Modi undertakes an aerial survey of the affected areas, they said.

Dhankhar will receive the prime minister at the Kalaikunda Air Force Station, the officials said.

New Delhi, May 27 (PTI) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday said the sharp rally in the domestic equity markets despite an estimated 8 per cent contraction in GDP in 2020-21 poses the "risk of a bubble".

In its annual report for 2020-21, RBI noted that India's equity prices have surged to record highs, with the benchmark index Sensex crossing the 50,000 mark on January 21, 2021 to touch a peak of 52,154 on February 15.

Noida (UP), May 28 (PTI) A group of farmers protesting against the central farm laws on Friday staged a demonstration at the Jewar toll plaza here, partially disrupting traffic movement on the Yamuna Expressway, according to officials.

The farmers belonging to the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) had reached Jewar in Gautam Buddh Nagar on Thursday with an objective to stage the demonstration as part of their plan to carry out similar protests at some other toll plazas in western Uttar Pradesh.

Udhampur, May 28 (PTI) A pesticide factory was gutted in a fire in the industrial area of Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district, officials said on Friday, adding no casualties were reported in the incident.

It broke out in Dhanuka chemical factory at Batal-Ballian industrial estate around midnight on Thursday, they said, adding eight fire tenders were pressed into service along with the army and the air force.

The fire engulfed the whole pesticide factory, which was one of the biggest in the union territory.

Muzaffarnagar, May 28 (PTI) A 17-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her neighbour here, police said on Friday.

The incident that took place on Thursday evening was reported at Bhopa Police Station.

The accused was identified as Nasir, who took the girl to his house saying his sister-in-law had asked to meet her.

According to the complaint filed by victim's father, the accused threatened the girl and raped her while his friend Fateh Khan stood outside the gate.

Ballia (UP), May 28 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh BJP MLA Surendra Singh has joined the row between Ramdev and the doctors' fraternity, saying the comments against the yoga guru are condemnable.

The Bairia MLA took to Facebook on Thursday to back Ramdev for his remarks against allopathy, and termed him a flag bearer of the Indian medicine system.

Kanpur: Booksellers have an eye on their profits, that's why they are ordering textbooks for class XI in bulk. Since they have come to know that pass marks to every student appearing in class X is nearly certain they have initiated this step.

It has been learnt that all the books prescribed by UP Board will be received by them by July, 2021. They guess whatever situations are persisting at the time it looks there will be systematic classes in July. By then a whole lot of books will be despatched by that time.

Muzaffarnagar (UP), May 27 (PTI) A 23-year-old woman was gang-raped by three men in a village here, police said on Thursday, adding that the culprits have been arrested.

On Wednesday, Shubham, Noni and Sorabh abducted the woman and gang-raped her in a field under Khatauli police station area, they said.

According to the complaint filed by the victim's family, the culprits also threatened the woman with dire consequences if she disclosed the incident to anyone.

New Delhi, May 27 (PTI) The Delhi High Court Thursday allowed duty free import of Amphotericin B, used for treating black fungus patients, primarily those affected by it after recovering from COVID-19, on furnishing of a bond by the importers till the Centre takes a final decision on waiving the customs duty on it.

The high court said the medicine is required to save lives of thousands of people suffering from Mucormycosis and the central government shall seriously consider waiver of customs duty till the drug is in short supply in India.