India

New Delhi, Jan 31 (PTI) The BJP's major problem in West Bengal will be its chief ministerial face for the 2021 assembly elections, according to a new book which also claims the party does not have a leader who can match the mass appeal of Mamata Banerjee.

In states like Uttar Pradesh, the BJP achieved success without projecting any chief ministerial candidate but will this be possible in West Bengal, journalist Sambit Pal asks in his book "The Bengal Conundrum: The Rise of the BJP and the Future of the TMC".

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India plans to introduce a law to ban private cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and put in place a framework for an official digital currency to be issued by the central bank, according to a legislative agenda listed by the government.

The law will “create a facilitative framework for creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI),” said the agenda, published on the lower house website on Friday.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India’s prime minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday protesters that stormed New Delhi’s Red Fort had caused “insult” to the country, his first public comments on a months-long farmers’ agitation that turned violent last week.

Tens of thousands of farmers have camped on the outskirts of the capital for more than two months, protesting new agricultural laws they say benefit private buyers at the expense of growers.

Kanpur: Despite the icy cold condition in the night, there was no let-up among the people savouring the ice cream available as an extra item in the party thrown by a family residing in Jajmau.

Srinagar, 30 Jan 2021: 3 Kashmiri separatists were arrested on Saturday by Indian security forces in the Indian Administered part of Jammu & Kashmir region.

According to Indian news outlets, Indian Security forces claimed that separatists were planning ‘attacks’ in Anantnag and Bijbehara towns of J&K.

Lucknow, Jan 30 (PTI) Aiming to turn Uttar Pradesh into a major religious tourism destination, the state government is going to build 1,038 new Ganga aarti platforms along the river in Bijnor and Ballia districts.

Ganga Aarti has been one of the most mesmerising attractions for people coming to the state for religious purposes.

29 Jan 2021; MEMO: An improvised explosive device (IED) detonated outside the Israeli Embassy in India's capital New Delhi today, police said, slightly damaging three vehicles.

Israeli TV Channel 13 reported that the explosion occurred 50 metres from the embassy.

Ghaziabad, Jan 30 (PTI) Support for the farmers' protest swelled on Saturday, as more villagers poured in at a key protest site on the Delhi- Meerut highway in Ghazipur on the border with Uttar Pradesh.

The Bharatiya Kisan Union-led protest against the Centre's new farm laws here looked like it was going slim on Thursday but more protestors have joined the stir, following a mahapanchayat of farmers on Saturday in Muzaffarnagar, while supporters also joined in from Haryana and Rajasthan districts.

New Delhi, Jan 29 (PTI) The country's exports are expected to contract by 5.8 per cent and imports by 11.3 per cent during the second half of the current financial year, though implementation of several measures by the government would help support exports going forward, according to the Economic Survey 2021.

With gradual recovery of economic activities, the survey said that imports and exports have picked up.

SINGHU, India (Reuters) - India blocked mobile internet services in several areas surrounding New Delhi on Saturday as protesting farmers began a one-day hunger strike after a week of clashes with authorities that left one dead and hundreds injured.

Angry at new agricultural laws that they say benefit large private buyers at the expense of producers, tens of thousands of farmers have been camped at protest sites on the outskirts of the capital for over two months.