New Delhi Apr 27 PTI Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday expressed his anguish over 11 people getting electrocuted during a temple chariot procession in Tamil Nadus Thanjavur The incident occurred when the chariot came in contact with a high-tension transmission line while reversing after facing an obstacle while taking a turnDeeply pained by the mishap in Thanjavur Tamil Nadu My thoughts are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief I hope those injured recover soon the prime minister said He also announced Rs 2 lakh each from the Prime Ministers National Relief Find to the next of kin of those who lost their lives The injured would be given Rs 50000 PTI KR NSD

Jammu Apr 26 PTI Jammu and Kashmirs health department has introduced a modern technique for palliative and geriatric care via shockwave therapy to treat patients with chronic pain and organised its first camp in the city officials said on TuesdayExplaining the shockwave therapy they said that shock of different frequencies and intensity is delivered to the affected part to give relief from pain in the neck back and limbs and pelvisA shock wave therapy camp was organised at the pain clinic of the government hospital at Gandhinagar in Jammu city where people of different age groups underwent the therapy on Monday a senior official of the health department saidThe camp was organised by pain and palliative care specialist Dr Rohit Lahori in collaboration with Donier Germany officials saidThey said that such camps will reach out to the elderly people suffering from various types of pain including severe cancer painsDr Lahori said We will be holding such camps under outreach program in Jammu and peripheral districts under palliative and geriatric care In a landmark step to fill a void in the Union territorys healthcare system Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had last week announced dedicated facilities to the elderly and critically-ill ageing patients along with launching state-of-the-art palliative and geriatric care wards in all districts headed by Dr Lahori PTI AB RDT NSD

New Delhi Apr 26 PTI Delhi on Tuesday recorded a minimum temperature of 249 degrees Celsius one notch above the normal according to the India Meteorological DepartmentThe maximum temperature is expected to hover around 42 degrees CelsiusAccording to the weather department the relative humidity in the city at 830 am was 37 per cent The weatherman has predicted a mainly clear sky during the dayThe air quality in Delhi was in the moderate category with the AQI reading 233 around 9 am data from SAFAR showedAn Air Quality Index AQI between zero and 50 is considered good 51 and 100 satisfactory 101 and 200 moderate 201 and 300 poor 301 and 400 very poor and 401 and 500 severeThe IMD has predicted that heatwave conditions are unlikely in Delhi for the next three days A yellow alert warning has been issued for a heatwave spell in the national capital starting April 28The India Meteorological Department IMD uses four colour codes for weather warnings -- green no action needed yellow watch and stay updated orange be prepared and red take action The city has recorded eight heatwave days in April this year the maximum for the month since 2010 when 11 such days were recorded PTI VA VA NSD NSD

New Delhi Mar 30 PTI Four men who were trapped inside a sewer in northwest Delhis Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar area have died and their bodies were pulled out early Wednesday morning following an overnight rescue operation officials saidOf the four three men were private contractual employees who were working on MTNL lines at the time of the incident on Tuesday afternoon police said The fourth is a rickshaw puller who had tried to save the three workers but also got trapped in the sewerThe rescue operation started after the Samaypur Badli police station got information about the incident around 630 pm on TuesdayApart from the police fire department officials and a team of the National Disaster Response Force were also part of the rescue effortAccording to the fire department the operation ended around 4 am on Wednesday with the four bodies pulled up from the sewer Police said post mortem will be conducted at Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial HospitalThe deceased workers have been identified as Bacchu Singh Pintu and Suraj Kumar Sahni The rickshaw puller Satish 40 was a resident of Sardar Colony in Rohini Sector-16Officials said The rickshaw puller who tied to save the workers was a hero But he also got trapped inside the sewer There is an iron net beneath the MTNL lines inside the sewer It was suspected that the four got stuck there they addedToxic gas inside the sewer made the rescue operation difficult even with protective gears Earth-moving machines were used to widen the mouth of the sewer police saidSatish the rickshaw puller is survived by his wife Neha 35 and three daughters -- Tisha 14 Kritika 8 and Arbi 3 PTI NIT NB NSD

New Delhi Mar 26 PTI Apex child rights body NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo on Saturday claimed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has made a public confession that kids are not taken care of in childrens homes in Delhi for which a notice is being issued seeking clarificationKanoongo was referring to a video tweeted by Kejriwal in which the Delhi chief minister addressing a press conference said Rs 10 crore have been set aside for street children and a state-of-the-art school would be built where they would get all facilitiesIn the video clip Kejriwal is also heard saying that till now children were grabbed and put in child care homes where they were not taken care of properly prompting them to run awayReacting to these comments Kanoongo in a tweet demanded an explanation from the Delhi chief ministerThe chief ministers public confession that children are not taken care of in childrens homes in Delhi and they are forced to run away has been taken very seriously and notice is being issued seeking clarification and action taken Kanoongo tweetedHe wrote on Twitter that the Supreme Court since November has been repeatedly issuing directives to rehabilitate street childrenBut due to the inaction of the Delhi government only 1800 children have been brought into the process Two years ago we were told that 73000 children are living on Delhi streets out of which not a single child was rehabilitated he claimedThe Delhi government was also missing from the review meetings held for this The direction of the court to make a policy in this regard has not been followed to date Now that the matter is to be heard in the Honble Court on Monday then Arvind Kejriwal is lying the NCPCR chief tweeted PTI UZM NSD NSD

Jammu March 25 PTI The BJPs national general secretary Tarun Chugh on Friday said Jammu and Kashmir is shaping new paradigms of development under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra ModiThe partys Jammu and Kashmir unit president Ravinder Raina during a public meeting of the BJP in Doda lambasted the previous governments of the NC Congress and PDP accusing them of misappropriating the funds meant for the development of these regionsHe enumerated various development works initiated in the Doda district by the BJP government and said Under the able guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi Jammu and Kashmir is shaping new paradigms of development Chug said the Modi government prioritized the development projects related to Jammu and Kashmir and in no time it will witness world-class infrastructure with modern technology in every fieldSpecial emphasis has been laid on developing the underdeveloped areas especially the far-flung and the hilly areas with difficult terrain he saidRaina said that under the Modi government all communities have been strengthened socially economically and politically He also spoke on the specific projects and policies of the BJP government that have provided benefits to the locals PTI AB NSD NSD

New Delhi Mar 24 PTI Jawaharlal Nehru University Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit on Thursday said holistic nature of knowledge is very important adding it was the Indian way of gaining knowledgeAddressing an event here she contended that we have come from a unique civilisation where our narrative unlike Abrahamic civilisation is feministShe was speaking at the valedictory session of a two-day seminar -- Vishwa Guru Bharat Exploring the Glorious Past Promoting Present and the future RoadmapIt was organised by the Akhil Bhartiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh in association with SVU and Sri Padmavati Mahila Viswavidyalayam The session was also attended by Abhishek Tondon the deputy director of ICSSR and Alok Pandey the national in-charge of SHoDHHolistic nature of the knowledge is very important There you would need a philosophy of knowledge of science and technology and a social construct Always see knowledge as holistic This is the way Indian tradition has seen it I want all of you to connect to that Pandit saidWe come from a unique civilisation where our narrative unlike Abrahamic civilisation is feminist We have a concept of ardhnarishwar where women and men are both equalsWe have a continuous civilisation Our tradition was scientific We are not anti-science We are not anti-science Science technology scientific temper is part of our tradition she added PTI VA SLB NSD

New Delhi Mar 24 PTI The Delhi Assembly on Thursday moved a step closer to being paperless with all the 70 MLAs getting iPads for receiving information and documents on legislative proceedings onlineSpeaker Ram Niwas Goel urged the legislators to carry the iPads provided by the Delhi governments finance department during the ongoing Budget session We want to implement a completely paperless system for availing the documents and information online The Assembly has also been provided with WiFi connectivity and the budget address of the Finance minister and other documents will be available on the iPads of the legislators he saidThe Assembly has taken up an automation project that will enable the MLAs to work digitally -- submit questions and notices and table Bills onlineA request for proposal was issued by the Delhi Assembly Secretariat for selecting a successful bidder for the implementation of the automation projectThe project also includes the creation of a facility to make the MLAs attend the House proceedings virtuallyIt aims at switching the functioning of the Assembly from manual to a web-based digital solution for speed and efficiency along with going paperless PTI VIT NSD

New Delhi Mar 23 PTI The Delhi University has advised students to refrain from adopting unfair means during the Open Book Examinations that are underwayIn a notice the Dean of Examination said some students appearing in the examination are using unfair means using various websitesWe have identified various websites and blogs apart from WhatsApp and Telegram groups which students are using for the inappropriate practice The competent authority of the University of Delhi has taken a serious note of it the notice read The university has also initiated the process of identifying such students through their phone numbers in the groupswebsites and is preparing Unfair Means UFM cases against them the notice mentionedAll such cases will be considered as UFM cases and such students will be punished under the University of Delhis rules for dealing with such matters PTI VA SLB NSD

New Delhi Mar 23 PTI Air pollution is the second biggest factor affecting human health in India and its economic cost is estimated to exceed USD 150 billion annually a latest report saidThe World Air Quality Report 2022 prepared by Swiss organization IQAir and released globally on Tuesday found that Indias PM 25 level returned to pre-COVID lockdown concentrations measured in 2019Air pollution has a massive impact on human health in India It is the second biggest risk factor for disease and the economic cost of air pollution is estimated to exceed USD 150 billion dollars annually it statedThe major sources of air pollution in India include vehicular emissions power generation industrial waste biomass combustion for cooking the construction sector and episodic events like crop burningIn 2019 the Environment Ministry enacted the National Clean Air Programme NCAP which seeks to reduce particulate matter PM concentrations by 20 to 30 per cent by 2024 in all identified non-attainment cities increase air quality monitoring and implement a city regional and state-specific clean air action plan as well as conduct source apportionment studiesThe report observed that the lockdowns restrictions and the resulting economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic have made it difficult to determine NCAPs impact based on air pollution levels aloneIt said apart from city-specific action plans no other plans have been formulated under NCAP prescribed timelinesAdditionally there is little information about the activities related to the NCAP making it difficult to dispel the publics dissatisfaction with the slow progress under the programmeIt is estimated that 20 to 35 per cent of total urban PM25 concentrations is directly or indirectly due to internal combustion engines in motor vehicles Annual vehicle sales in India are expected to increase with an estimated fleet number reaching 105 million in 2030 the report noted PTI AG NSD NSD