India

NEW DELHI (AP) — A residential building that was due for repairs collapsed in central India early Monday, killing at least 10 people and trapping many others, officials said.

Between 20 to 25 people are feared trapped under the rubble of the four-story building in Maharashtra state that collapsed at around 4 a.m., said India’s National Disaster Response Force, and rescuers are working to find and free them.

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Senior Indian and Chinese military commanders are holding talks Monday to find ways to resolve a monthslong tense standoff between the rival soldiers along their disputed mountain border in mountainous Ladakh region.

Details of the talks, which are happening on the Chinese side in Moldo area facing Indian-controlled Ladakh region, weren’t immediately disclosed. A senior Indian foreign ministry official was also participating in the meeting, said an Indian official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations.

Kanpur: Several think that 24-hour electricity supply in the district would help in maintaining social distancing when the Covid fear in this big city is rocketing as the trend shows.

One said that lesser power cuts which remain a regular feature will help denizens stay behind the door under comfortable condition. They will hesitate in moving out of the houses. Thus, there will be a limited crowd on the road. Only those will move out who will find it too necessary to go out.

NEW DELHI, Sept 20 (NNN-PTI) – The upper house (locally called Rajya Sabha) of Indian parliament, yesterday passed the Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Bill, 2020, to punish those who attack health workers, including doctors fighting the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, or any situation similar to the current outbreak, officials said.

The legislation provides for up to five years of imprisonment and a fine for those who attack doctors and health care personnel.

New Delhi, Sep 20 (PTI) Rajya Sabha on Sunday passed two contentious farm bills, which have triggered protests by farmers at several places, amid uproar by opposition members.

The two bills -- Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 -- were passed by Lok Sabha on Thursday.

The House also rejected demand of several opposition parties to send the two bills to a Rajya Sabha Select Committee for greater scrutiny.

New Delhi, Sep 20 (PTI) Opposition parties led by the Congress criticised the farm bills tabled in Rajya Sabha on Sunday, saying they will not sign on the "death warrant" of farmers

The opposition charged that the two bills are aimed at benefitting big corporates and ending the minimum price based procurement by the government.

New Delhi, Sep 19 (PTI) The Finance Ministry on Saturday informed the Lok Sabha that no decision has been taken to discontinue the printing of Rs 2,000 denomination currency notes.

In a written reply, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur said printing of bank notes of particular denomination is decided by the government in consultation with the RBI to maintain desired denomination mix for facilitating transactional demand of public.

During the year 2019-20 and 2020-21, no indent was placed with the presses for printing of Rs 2,000 denomination notes.

New Delhi, Sep 20 (PTI) Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Sunday said minimum price or MSP based procurement of agriculture crops from farmers will continue and is not related to the farm bills that seek to give cultivators freedom to market their produce.

Days after their passage in the Lok Sabha, Tomar introduced the Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 in the Rajya Sabha.

Hyderabad, Sep 20 (PTI) Two Maoists were killed in an exchange of fire between them and police in Kumaram Bheem District in Telangana, police said on Sunday.

The incident occurred on Saturday night when the police, including special force Greyhounds,were combing the forests around Kadamba village in the district, which borders Maharashtra, a senior police official said.

Srinagar, Sep 20 (PTI) The Jammu and Kashmir High Court will have arbitration centres in both regions of the union territory to provide an institutionalised framework for speedy and expeditious resolution of disputes through an alternate dispute resolution mechanism.

The court has accorded approval to setting up of high court annexed arbitration centres at Srinagar and Jammu, an official spokesman said here on late Saturday evening.

The centres will be called The Jammu and Kashmir International Arbitration Centre (JKIAC)