Kolkata, Sep 20 (PTI) Agitators from the Kurmi community on Tuesday blocked railway tracks and a national highway in West Bengal to press for their demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Train services in South Eastern Railway’s Adra and Kharagpur divisions were partially affected due to the blockade, a railway official said.

The agitators squatted on railway tracks at Nimdih and Kustaur in Adra division and Khemasuli in Kharagpur division from 5 AM, affecting the movement of passenger and goods trains, he said.

They also blocked a national highway in Purulia, a state government official said. PTI 

Mathura (UP), Sep 22 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday said the country’s economy progresses when rural economy is strengthened.

The chief minister was addressing a rural development exhibition organised by the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Smriti Mahotsav Samiti in Mathura via video-conferencing from his official residence in Lucknow.

“Deendayal Upadhyaya-ji had said that the standard of the economy of any country is judged by the economic condition of the person in the lowest rung,” Adityanath said.

He said emphasis has been laid on the use of technology to reduce the cost of farming and increase the production efficiency of agriculture.

To bring happiness in the lives of farmers, programmes like Soil Health Card, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana etc. are being run in the country, the chief minister said.

He said his government has provided concessions on electricity bills of tube wells used by farmers.

“The state government has collaborated with PepsiCo to set up a food processing centre in Kosi Kalan, Mathura. Millions of quintals of potatoes are being used in this food processing centre, due to which farmers are getting good price for their potatoes,” the chief minister said. PTI 

Ranchi, (PTI) Twenty-seven Maoists were killed and 1,131 arrested in Jharkhand since January 2020, officials said on Friday.

A total of 108 gun fights happened between the Maoists and security forces between January 2020 and August 2022, and 45 Maoists surrendered before the police during the period, they said.

The data was presented at a security review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday, they added.

Top police officers of the state, including the superintendents of police of all districts, were present at the meeting.

Stating that Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) has declined in the state, officials said that eight of Jharkhand's 24 districts are at present LWE-free.

Twenty-five forward posts or camps have been set up in extremely Maoist-affected zones such as Budha Pahad, Parasnath, Saranda, Podahat and Chatra-Gaya, they said.

Besides, 15 additional posts are also being set up in the region, they said.

Soren asked officials to provide the benefit of government schemes to villagers in the Maoist-affected areas by setting up camps with police protection.

"Basic facilities such as electricity, water and roads should be made available there. This will increase the credibility of the police among the people and help in controlling the extremist activities," he said.

"The items of daily need by the security forces should be acquired from locals in rural areas. This will give them employment as well as increase their income," the chief minister said.

Soren also directed for installation of signal jammers in all jails of the state to restrict criminal activities.

"There are complaints that criminals lodged in jails are carrying out criminal activities through mobile phones. This must be stopped at all cost," he said. PTI

Patna, (PTI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah will arrive in Bihar on Friday, for the first time after the political upheaval last month robbed the BJP of power in the state.

Shah, a former party president who is regarded as the BJP’s principal strategist, will spend two days in the Seemanchal region.

“The home minister will reach Bagdogra airport around 11.30 am and proceed to Purnea in a helicopter. Late in the evening, he will leave for Kishanganj,” state BJP vice-president Rajib Ranjan told PTI.

A series of meetings with party and administrative officials are scheduled during the two-day trip though the highlight will be a public meeting at Purnea, titled evocatively “Jan Bhavana Rally”, in line with the party’s stance that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has “betrayed public sentiments” by turning his back on the NDA as part of which he had won the mandate in 2020 assembly polls.

The loss of power, in the third week of August, came as a rude shock for the party which had, less than a month earlier, held with much fanfare a two-day conclave in Patna — attended by Shah and BJP president JP Nadda.

The BJP has been accused of having tried to break the JD(U) through former Union minister RCP Singh, whose induction had caused controversy.

BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, who had served as the Deputy CM for long before being shunted out to an uneventful stint in Rajya Sabha, has claimed his ex-boss was looking for an alibi and Singh was inducted into the Union Cabinet with the consent of the Bihar CM, the JD(U) de facto leader, obtained over phone by Shah himself.

Keen watchers of politics are likely to be interested in the manner in which Shah breaks his silence over the matter.

However, the BJP realises well the limitations of righteousness, having acquired power “through back door” five years ago which it now accuses the RJD, Congress and Left combine of.

Union minister Giriraj Singh has been camping in Seemanchal for a while, ostensibly to supervise the preparations for Shah’s visit, while making headlines with comments on alleged “demographic change” in Seemanchal and activities of the PFI.

Singh, the MP from Begusarai, has been pulling no punches while blaming “appeasement politics” for terrorism, unchecked population growth and infiltration of illegal immigrants.

The party had, while still in alliance with JD(U), made it clear that it will oppose tooth and nail any attempt to legitimise the alleged infiltration of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas under the headcount of castes being undertaken in the state.

Besides, memories of the 2013 Patna serial blasts are being raked up to paint Kumar as a political vacillator whose alleged prime ministerial ambitions cause him to break up with BJP under one pretext or the other and claim that this results in a spurt in terror activities in the state.

Raids have been conducted in several Bihar districts by the NIA and the BJP is clearly not willing to let go of the opportunity to firm up its narrative battle.

The dog-whistling has irked the JD(U), which is eager to see its leader, now working for opposition unity, in a “national role”.

Senior JD(U) leaders have been issuing statements, warning the BJP against polarisation and urging the people not to fall into the communal trap.

In a sarcastic Facebook post, JD(U) parliamentary board chief Upendra Kushwaha said Shah will “speak in favor of special status for Bihar, expose the culprits of Pulwama terror attack, announce distribution of black money brought from abroad among the poor, pledge to scrap the faulty collegium system of judges’ appointment and declare rollback of privatisation of public sector companies”. PTI 

 Bhubaneswar, Sept 22 (PTI) The Odisha cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal to bring lime stone under the purview of Long-Term Linkage (LTL) policy, in a bid to streamline its supply to the industries of the state.

These industries will henceforth be getting their lime stone supply through Odisha Mining Corporation Limited (OMC), said Chief Secretary SC Mohapatra.

The proposal to bring lime stone under the LTL policy was put forth by Industrial Development Corporation Of Odisha Limited, which has been merged with OMC, Mohapatra explained.

Maintaining that the move will enhance limestone production and ensure its optimum utilisation, Mohapatra said the state exchequer, in turn, will be benefited.

The cabinet, during the day, also approved financial bids for construction of 40 Lift Irrigation Schemes with intake points on different rivers in the districts of Keonjhar, Kalahandi, Bolangir, Bargarh, Gajpati, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Angul and Cuttack. These projects will be executed with an investment of Rs 1879.61 crore, including maintenance and operational costs.

It also approved tender of Rs 201 crore for construction of Integrated Barrage (in-stream storage structure) across rivers Kochila and Baitarani, spanning parts of Bhadrak and Jajpur districts, said Mohapatra.

This storage structure will check flood in Kochila river and rejuvenate Baitarani. It will also fulfil drinking and domestic needs of a section of people in Bhadrak and Jajpur.

The chief secretary said that other important decisions taken by the cabinet included sanction of lease of a five-acre government land free of premium for establishment of Central Research Institute in Homeopathy (CIRH), another 50 acres for in infrastructure development favour of Rajendra University, and 3.125 acres for establishment of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

Proposal for 15 per cent reservation of seats in Government Physical Education Colleges for students putting up in government sports hostels also received cabinet nod. PTI

(PTI) The rupee depreciated 44 paise and slipped below the 81-mark against the US dollar for the first time in early trade on Friday, weighed down by the strong american currency and risk-off sentiment among investors.Forex traders said escalation of geopolitical risk in Ukraine and rate hikes by the US Fed and Bank of England in a bid to contain inflation sapped risk appetite.Further, the strength of the American currency in the overseas market, a negative trend in domestic equities, and risk-off moods amid escalation of geopolitical risk in Ukraine weighed on the local unit.At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 81.08 against the greenback, then fell further to 81.23, registering a fall of 44 paise over its previous closing.On Thursday, the rupee plunged by 83 paise -- its biggest single-day loss in nearly seven months -- to close at an all-time low of 80.79 against the US dollar.The Bank of England hiked its base rate by 50 basis points (bps) to a 14-year high of 2.25 per cent.The Bank of Japan intervened in the FX market for the first time in 24 years to stem a falling Yen after it kept rates at record lows, IFA Global Research Academy said, adding that the Swiss National Bank hiked rates by a record 75 bps to 0.5 per cent.The US Fed has hiked interest rates by 75 basis points to 3-3.25 per cent.On Thursday RBI was conspicuous by its absence from the spot market as the rupee fell by 1 per cent possibly as it wanted the rupee to do the catching up, said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury, Finrex Treasury Advisors."All major events are over for this month as we await RBI's MPC to give its verdict on September 30, 2022," Bhansali added.Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, advanced 0.05 per cent to 111.41.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.57 per cent to USD 89.94 per barrel.On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 558.59 points or 0.94 per cent down at 58,561.13, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 153.10 points or 0.87 per cent to 17,476.70.Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth ₹2,509.55 crore, as per exchange data.

Mumbai, September 23

Equity indices began the trade on a weak note, falling for the third day running on Friday, amid an overall bearish trend in global markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 319.3 points to 58,800.42 in initial trade. The NSE Nifty fell by 90.8 points to 17,539.

Among the 30-share Sensex pack, Power Grid, IndusInd Bank, HDFC, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Axis Bank were the major laggards in early trade.

However, Tata Steel, Hindustan Unilever, Sun Pharma, Infosys, HCL Technologies and Dr Reddy's were the gainers.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading lower.

The US markets ended in the negative territory on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.50 per cent to USD 90.02 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 2,509.55 crore on Thursday, according to the data available with the BSE. 

 New Delhi,(PTI) With 5,383 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India’s total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 4,45,58,425, while the active cases declined to 45,281, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The death toll climbed to 5,28,449 with 20 fatalities which includes eight deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The active cases comprise 0.10 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate increased to 98.71 per cent, the ministry said.

A decline of 1,061 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.   India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.  The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year. It crossed the four-crore mark on January 25 this year. PTI

 Amreli, Sep 23 (PTI) A lion cub was killed after being hit by a passenger train while crossing a track in Gujarat’s Amreli district, forest department officials said on Friday.

The incident occurred on Thursday night, they said.

“The lion cub, aged six to seven months, was hit by a passenger train and died while it was crossing the metre-gauge track in Shetrunji division of the forest near Gavadka village in Amreli district,” Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF) (Shetrunji division) Jayant Patel said.

The passenger train was going to Amreli from Veraval when the incident took place around 9.30 pm, he said.

Due to the incident, the train got delayed by around one-and-a-half hours and the loco pilot and other staff were questioned by the forest officials, Patel said.

“They said they saw three cubs and a lioness crossing the track. While others managed to cross successfully, one of the cubs was hit by the train and died,” he added.

Earlier this year, the Gujarat government had told the state Legislative Assembly that 283 lions, lionesses and lion cubs have died in the state in two years till December 2021, and 29 of them died of unnatural causes. Getting run over by trains is one of the unnatural causes of the death for the Asiatic lions in the state.

As per the 2020 census, there were 674 lions in the state, a 29 per cent rise in its population as compared to the 2015 census. PTI

 New Delhi, Sep 23 (PTI) Former vice president M Venkaiah Naidu will release a collection of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s selected speeches on Friday.

The book titled ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas Sabka Vishwas – Prime Minister Narendra Modi Speaks (May 2019-May 2020)’ will be released in the presence of Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan at a function here organised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

The book focuses on 86 speeches of the prime minister on various subjects.

“It will be my honour to release the book, Sab Ka Saath, Sab Ka Vikas, Sab Ka Vishwas, comprising selected speeches of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a function graced by Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur,” Naidu said.

The book portrays the prime minister’s vision of a ‘New India’, which is self-reliant, resilient and capable of converting challenges into opportunities, an official statement said on Thursday.

The book, being published in Hindi as well as English, will be available at the sales outlets of the Publications Division as well as its website. PTI