India

Kolkata, Jul 2 (PTI) A brigadier of the Indian Army died from COVID 19-related complications here on Thursday, the highest-ranking defence officer to have fallen to the pandemic, official sources said.

Brigadier Vikas Samyal, posted at the Eastern Command headquarters here, was admitted to the military hospital at Barrackpore after he tested positive for Covid-19, they said.

He was later shifted to the Command Hospital as his condition deteriorated.

Lucknow, Jul 2 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu on Thursday accused the BJP government of "trampling" democracy in the state by misusing the police and termed the arrest of the party's minority cell chairman Shahnawaj Alam as illegal, undemocratic and condemnable .

"Congress workers are being harassed across the state by the Yogi Adityanath government and being implicated in false cases. The BJP government is oppressive and is trampling democracy by misusing police," the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief said.

New Delhi, Jul 2 (PTI) Private train operations in the country will begin by April 2023, and the ticket fares in these trains will be competitive with airfares on similar routes, the Railways said Thursday.

Addressing a press conference online, Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav said that private players in passenger train operations will mean a quantum jump in technology and coaches that run at higher speeds.

KANPUR: The online classes are the result of the pandemic. The regular classes are not possible in such a risky situation. Those students who have joined online classes in this very month of July say it remains a satisfactory experience for them.

On audio and video qualities they stated that we received the network signals properly so there was no immediate trouble in grasping the voice of the teacher. Also, the video quality was not too bad to follow. The teacher even asked the question from the students attending the online classes.

NEW DELHI, July 2 (Xinhua) -- The total COVID-19 cases in India surpassed 600,000-mark, reaching 604,641 on Thursday, and the death toll rose to 17,834, said the latest data released by the federal health ministry.

The ministry said 434 new deaths due to COVID-19, besides fresh 19,148 positive cases, were reported during the past 24 hours across the country, taking the number of deaths to 17,834 and the total cases to 604,641.

On Wednesday morning the number of COVID-19 cases in the country was 585,493, and the death toll stood at 17,400.

CHENNAI (Reuters) - A boiler blast on Wednesday at lignite miner and electricity generator NLC India’s plant in the southern Tamil Nadu state has killed six people, the company said, the second deadly accident at the plant in two months.

“Six workmen belonging to a contractor succumbed to injuries on the spot,” state-run NLC, which employs more than 12,000 people, said in a statement.

The incident occurred at unit V of the Thermal Power Station-II (TPS-II), the company said, adding that the unit was under shutdown at the time.

Mumbai, Jun 30 (PTI) The Bombay High Court on Tuesday suspended two FIRs lodged against Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami for his alleged provocative and inflammatory comments on the Palghar mob lynching and gathering of migrant workers outside Bandra railway station amid lockdown.

In an interim order, a division bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Riyaz Chagla noted that prima facie, no offence was disclosed against Goswami and he had not intended to cause public disharmony or incite violence.

New Delhi, Jul 1 (PTI) The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India on Wednesday reported a 54 per cent decline in total sales at 57,428 units in June.

The company had sold 1,24,708 units in June last year, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement.

Domestic sales declined by 53.7 per cent to 53,139 units last month, as against 1,14,861 units in June 2019, it added.

The company exported 4,289 units last month, down 56.4 per cent from 9,847 units in June 2019, MSI said.

New Delhi, Jun 30 (PTI) Madhya Pradesh has recorded the highest infant mortality rate of 48 for every 1,000 live births while Kerala has registered the lowest -- just seven, according to the latest data of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.

The data showed the infant mortality rate in India has improved, albeit slightly, from 33 in 2017 to 32 in 2018.

Lucknow, Jun 30 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday issued guidelines for the next phase of the coronavirus lockdown from July 1 to 31 and said all educational institutes will remain closed during the period.

It, however, said online classes will continue in the state.

All schools, colleges and coaching centres will remain closed till July 31, though online classes will continue in the state, UP's Chief Secretary R K Tiwari said in a statement issued here.