Armed forces day parade

More Central forces are likely to arrive soon in the State with the Assembly elections scheduled to be held on April 6. The companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) that have already arrived in Kerala have been deployed in districts including Kozhikode, Malappuram, Kottayam, Kannur, Kasaragod, Thiruvananthapuram, Palakkad, and Thrissur. The District Collectors/District Election Officers, jointly with the Police Department, have identified 1,280 locations in the State that are deemed left wing extremism-affected (298), critical (549) or vulnerable (433) locations. 121 in 2016 polls The CAPF companies that have landed in the State have been drawn from the Border Security Force, Indo Tibetan Border Police, Sashastra Seema Bal, and the Central Industrial Security Force. The State has asked for 150 companies this time. In all, 121 companies were deployed during the 2016 elections. ... » Learn More about More Central forces likely to be deployed

Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s School and Mass Education Department on Saturday (February 27) issued guidelines to reschedule school timings to tackle the heat wave conditions. The timings of offline sessions for classes 9 to 12 have been changed. Class 9 and Class 11 will have sessions from 7 am to 9 am instead of 8:30 am to 10 am. Similarly, Class 10 and Class 12 will have classes from 9 am to 1 pm instead of 11 am to 4 am. In a notification, the Odisha government advised district education officers to ensure the availability of safe pure drinking water in all schools including the repair of tube wells. Also, the District Education Officers (DEOs) are also advised to store sufficient ORS in schools. "All parents should be sensitized to ensure that their children carry a water bottle while going to school. The students must not be exposed to heat during the teaching hours and no physical activity like sports should be undertaken," said Samir Ranjan Dash, School and Mass Education ... » Learn More about Heat wave in Odisha forces government to revise school timings for THESE classes

Everyone on election duty for the upcoming polls for five assemblies will be vaccinated against COVID-19 before polling day, the Election Commission said on Friday. IMAGE: Visuals of voting at a booth in Bihar during the assembly polls last year. Photograph: PTI Photo Voting will take place for 126 seats in Assam, 234 in Tamil Nadu, 294 in West Bengal, 140 in Kerala and 30 in Puducherry. Nearly 18.68 crore electors will be eligible to vote at 2.7 lakh polling stations for 824 seats in five assembly elections, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said at a press conference in New Delhi. Arrangements will be put in place for candidates to file their nominations online for the five assembly polls. Voting will be allowed for an additional hour, keeping in mind COVID-19 safety guidelines, he said. Also, webcasting arrangements will be in place at polling stations in critical and vulnerable areas, while adequate CAPF (Central Armed Police Forces) deployment ... » Learn More about Everyone on poll duty to be vaccinated beforehand: EC

Left arm spinner’s memorable turn at the Narendra Modi Stadium will find a new cabinet at the Patels’ house in Nadiad Test cricket must feel like an easy job to Axar Patel . You make your Test debut and pick the wicket of the opposition captain, England ’s Joe Root , with just the ninth ball of your Test career. What more, you move on to pick three five wicket hauls in the four innings and end up with the Man of the Match trophy in just your second game. And, as we found out, this trophy is getting itself a new home at the Patel’s house in Nadiad, some 60-odd kilometre from Ahmedabad. The living room of the Patel household has a wooden cabinet full of the trophies that Axar has won over the years. But as his father says, “The cabinet is so full now that we are planning to have a new one built for the Man of the Match trophy that he won during the third Test of the series at the Narendra Modi Stadium.” The left-arm spinner actually wanted to become a fast bowler before an ... » Learn More about Axar’s Man of Match trophy to find pride of place at home

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Monday assured legislators that the State government would urge the Centre for early clearance of the proposed tourism circuit in troubled Tirap district. Responding to a query by senior Congress MLA Wanglin Lowangdong during Question Hour in the Assembly, Mr. Khandu said the State government had written a letter to the Union Tourism Ministry a few years ago to approve the proposal, which is awaiting clearance from the Union Home Ministry. “The matter is pending with the Home Ministry as at that point of time the security scenario of the district was not conducive. I will soon convene a meeting and send a fresh representation to the Home Ministry for early clearance of the tourism circuit within this year,” the Chief Minister said. Two other troubled districts – Changlang and Longding – in the eastern part of the State, also need to be included in tourist circuit so that they develop on a par with other parts of the northeastern ... » Learn More about Arunachal Pradesh to urge Centre for speedy clearance of tourism circuit in Tirap district: CM Pema Khandu

Video Player Close BEIRUT, March 1 (Xinhua) -- The Lebanese army received on Monday a donation of food products valued at 200,000 U.S. dollars from Turkish authorities, a statement by the Lebanese army reported. Brigadier General Elias Youssef received the donation on behalf of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) Commander Joseph Aoun from Turkish Ambassador to Lebanon Hakan Cakil at Beirut's port. Lebanon has been suffering from a shortage in U.S. dollar, which prompted a sharp increase in the price of foreign currency in the Lebanese market and the weakening of the local currency by 80 percent. The increase in the price of dollar affected importers of food products and led to the increase in prices of imported foods. The ongoing economic crisis, in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, has driven thousands of companies out of business and more people out of their jobs. Enditem ... » Learn More about Lebanese army receives food donation from Turkey

A midst a growing clamour for getting VIP security in the country, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Sunday disfavoured such an approach as he said that he himself does not keep such paraphernalia. "You should work towards discouraging people from asking for security," he said, adding that he himself does not have any such special arrangement. Khurshid, Congress MP from Uttar Pradesh's Farrukhabad, was asked if enhancing the security cover to more VIPs was necessary. In recent days, more politicians are getting 'Z-plus' security and the new entrants include Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma and Bahujan Samaj Party MP Brajesh Pathak months after the list of VIPs in this category was pruned during P Chidambaram's tenure as home minister. Delhi has the highest number of security personnel on VIP-guarding duties in the country after Punjab and more than a dozen policemen guard each of the 427 VIPs, who are being given security in the national capital. ... » Learn More about In Delhi, only 1 cop for 253 citizens, 5183 for 427 VIPs

The Indian Air Force carried out a long-range precision strike against a practice target to mark the second anniversary of the Balakot Operations, sources said on Saturday. IMAGE: IAF chief Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria flies a multi-aircraft sortie with the units to mark the second anniversary of the Balakot air strike. Photograph: ANI Photo The strike was carried out by members of the squadron which conducted the air strikes on terror launch pads in Balakot in Pakistan. Sources added that the strike was in the 'very recent past'. IMAGE: Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria flew in an upgraded Mirage-2000 fighter aircraft during the sortie. Photograph: ANI Photo Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria on Saturday flew a multi-aircraft sortie with the units to commemorate the occasion along with the squadron pilots. On February 26, 2019, Indian Air Force fighter jets crossed the Line of Control and destroyed terror launch pads in ... » Learn More about IAF marks Balakot anniversary with practice strike

'How long will it take to get my refund credited to my account?' Illustration: Dominic Xavier/ Rediff.com Anil Rego , CEO, Right Horizons, answers your personal income tax queries: Diwakar Kulkarni : I am a retired govt servant (retired in 2018) and earn income from pension, annuity, income from one house property and interst+some misc. dividend from shares. My total income is @15.00 lakhs per annum. I file ITR 1 online on my own since several years. I had invested about Rs. 35 lakhs in MFs and stocks which I have not redeemed till date. How much can I redeem from MFs without going to IT consultant/CA? Anil Rego : For MF redemptions one need not consider to consult a CA irrespective of value, rather you need to consult a financial advisor to check whether it is a good time to redeem. (except where you are subject to tax audit, which is unlikely). You need to check on tax implications and exit load before redeeming. If you are having equity MF, ... » Learn More about Ask Anil: Your Tax Queries Answered

India was strong and resolute when it came to handling the border issue and dealt with it in an effective manner, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday in an apparent reference to the standoff between India and China. IMAGE: A Border Security Force soldier guards a highway as Indian army convoy makes way towards Leh, bordering China in Gagangir. Photograph: Yawar Nazir/Getty Images Similarly, India also dealt effectively with the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact by fashioning its own response after listening to everyone, he said at the inaugural session of the 'Asia Economic Dialogue' organised by the Pune International Centre. "Last year, we had three big developments which all impacted us nationally. They impacted the world as well -- one was COVID-19, the second was its economic impact and the third was the challenges that we found on our border which obviously had implications," the external affairs minister said. "In each of these cases, I ... » Learn More about We were resolute and strong: Jaishankar on border issue