India

Dec 30: Two years of hard work by 19-year-old S Riyasdeen has finally borne fruit. The second-year mechatronics engineering student has built the world's lightest FEMTO satellite weighing just 33 grams, which will be launched by the US' National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA ) in 2021. Riyasdeen, a student of the SASTRA Deemed University in Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, won the Cubes in

Ahmedabad, Dec 30: A day after tendering his resignation from the BJP, Lok Sabha member and former Union minister Mansukh Vasava on Wednesday said he has dropped the idea of quitting the party following talks with its senior leaders. Vasava, a six-time MP from tribal-dominated Bharuch in Gujarat, had on Tuesday said he was quitting the BJP only due to health problems and had no issues with the

Lucknow, Dec 30: In what is probably the first case of action against displaying caste identity on the windscreens and number plates of four and two-wheelers in Uttar Pradesh, a man in Kanpur was issued a challan for writing 'Kushwaha' and 'Akhil Bharatiya Maurya Mahasabha' on his SUV. According to inspector Kotwali, Sanjiv Kant Mishra, "We issued a challan, the first in the city, to an SUV owner

New Delhi, Dec 30: The Uttar Pradesh government's controversial anti-conversion ordinance has transformed the state into "the epicentre of politics of hate, division and bigotry", a letter signed by 104 former IAS officers, including former National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, former Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and former Adviser to the Prime Minister TKA Nair, and released Tuesday said

New Delhi, Dec 30: India on Wednesday extended the ban on flights to and from Britain till January 7 to contain the spread of the mutant strain of coronavirus prevalent there. “Decision has been taken to extend the temporary suspension of flights to & from the UK till 7 January 2021,” Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said. He said after January 7, flights would resume in a “strictly

New Delhi, Dec 29: Protesting farmer unions on Tuesday wrote to the Centre on the talks scheduled between the two sides on Wednesday, saying the discussion will only be on the modalities of repealing the three legislation and giving a legal guarantee on the MSP. The government has invited the protesting farmers for the sixth round of talks on Wednesday. In its letter on Tuesday, the Samyukt Kisan

New Delhi, Dec 29: Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that he foresees a "short extension" of the suspension of flights from the United Kingdom to contain the spread of the new variant of coronavirus that was first detected in that country. This comes a day after six people who had recently returned to India from the UK were found positive for the new mutant strain of

Gujarat BJP MP and former Union minister Mansukh Vasava, who has been vocal on tribal issues, on Tuesday quit the party and said he would resign from Lok Sabha in the budget session of Parliament. Vasava had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week seeking withdrawal of a Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change notification declaring 121 villages of Narmada district as

New Delhi, Dec 28: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday issued an order to extend the earlier 'guidelines for COVID-19 surveillance', which will remain in force upto January 31, 2021. "While there has been a continuous decline in the active and new COVID-19 cases, there is need to maintain surveillance, containment and caution, keeping in view the surge in cases globally, and emergence of

Guwahati, Dec 28: The Assam government introduced a Bill in the Assembly on Monday to shut over 600 madrasas run by it, which was strongly opposed by the opposition Congress and AIUDF. Assam Education and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma introduced the Assam Madrassas Education (Provincialisation) Act of 1995 on the opening day of the three-day Winter Session. "Once the Bill is passed (by the