The state cyber department has received several such complaints and also of people being duped under the pretext of electricity bills, through loan apps and online marketplaces, an official from the department said.
The Maharashtra cyber department has asked people to remain alert against online frauds and not to respond to video calls, friend requests from unknown persons and threatening calls from people posing as police officers.
Nearly 80 people were injured and 17 firefighters missing as a massive fire set off by a lightning strike at an oil storage facility raged in Matanzas city on Saturday (local time), media reports said.
According to country’s Ministry of Energy and Mines, firefighters are still trying to quell the blaze at the Matanzas Supertanker Base, where the fire began during a thunderstorm Friday night, reported to agencies.
The government said later that it had asked for help from international experts in “friendly countries” with experience in the oil sector.
Moreover, the official Agency said lightning hit one tank, starting a fire, and the blaze later spread to a second tank.
In a bid to contain the fire which engulfed the nearby area, military helicopters flew overhead dropping water on the blaze. Thick plumes of black smoke billowed from the facility and spread westward more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) toward Havana.
A rigorous fire dousing operation is underway as while providing further details of it, Roberto de la Torre, head of fire operations in Matanzas, said firefighters were spraying water on intact tanks trying to keep them cool in hopes of preventing the fire from spreading.
The provincial government’s facebook page of Matanzas said the number of injured had reached 77, while 17 people were missing. The Presidency of the Republic said the 17 were “firefighters who were in the nearest area trying to prevent the spread.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the seventh meeting of the Governing Council of Niti Aayog at Rashtrapati Bhawan Cultural Centre in the national capital on Sunday.
The meeting is the first in-person meeting of the Governing Council since July 2019.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao will boycott the meeting as he wrote a letter to Prime Minister Modi on Saturday saying that his decision is a mark of protest against what he termed as the Centre’s alleged blatant discrimination against states including Telangana.
“I do not find it useful to attend the 7th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog scheduled to be held on August 7 and I am staying away from it as a mark of strong protest against the present trend of the Central Govt to discriminate against the states and not treating them as equal partners in our collective efforts to make India a strong and developed country,” the letter read.
The agenda of the Niti Aayog meeting includes crop diversification and achieving self-sufficiency in oilseeds and pulses and agri-communities; implementation of the National Education Policy-school education; implementation of the National Education Policy-higher education; and urban governance.
In the drive toward building a steady, sustainable and inclusive India, the seventh governing council meeting of the government think tank Niti Aayog is expected to pave the way for synergies towards a new era of collaboration and cooperation between Centre and states and union territories. As India commemorates 75 years of Independence, it is the need of the hour for the states to be agile, resilient and self-reliant and move towards ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ in a spirit of cooperative federalism, an official statement said.
As part of preparations for this meeting, the National Conference of Chief Secretaries was held in Dharamshala in June 2022 which was the culmination of the six-month-long rigorous exercise by the Centre and States.
The conference was chaired by the Prime Minister and attended by the Chief Secretaries of all States and UTs, along with senior officials of the Central and State Governments.
The governing council comprises the Prime Minister of India; Chief Ministers of all the states and union territories with the legislature; Lt Governors of other UTs; Ex-Officio Members; Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog; Full-Time Members, NITI Aayog; and Union Ministers as Special Invitees.
The statement said that the meeting is particularly important as the country enters Amrit Kaal against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and in light of India hosting the G20 Presidency and summit next year.
The meeting would also lay emphasis on the importance of the Presidency for India for the federal system and the role that states can play in highlighting their progress at the G-20 Platform.
A girl, kidnapped almost nine years ago from the Gilbert area of Mumbai’s Andheri, was reunited with her family on Friday in Mumbai.
D N Nagar police have arrested one of the accused and sent him to custody till August 10.
The police registered a first information report (FIR) against the accused couple Harry D’Souza and his wife Soni under sections 363 (kidnapping), 365 (intent for abduction), 368 (wrongful confinement ), 370 ( trafficking) and 374 (unlawfully compelling a person for labour) of the Indian Penal Code.
“She was finally reunited with the family on Friday. The man who had kidnapped her was arrested. Surprisingly, the kidnappers, and her original family, lived in the vicinity,” said the police.
The girl- Pooja Gaud was kidnapped by a Mumbai-based couple on January 22, 2013, when she was going to school following which her family, as well as the police, had launched a frantic search for her.
Pooja was kidnapped when she was going to school with her elder brother.
The police said that the couple, residents of Juhu Gully, did not have a child and kidnapped Pooja. When the parents got alerted about the incident, they registered a missing person’s report at D N Nagar Police Station.
The police then launched a search for the girl and distributed posters carrying her photographs in the area.
After kidnapping Pooja, both Harry and Soni took her to Goa and sent her to the boarding school. It has been reported that when the kidnapper got their own baby, they started to torture Pooja and after some time, they came back to Mumbai.
Meanwhile, 35-year-old domestic helper Pramila Devendra, who worked in suburban Juhu, came across Pooja, who was also working in the same area.
“During their conversation, Pooja once told her that she had been kidnapped and was being harassed by her family members who were not her original parents. Pramila then searched on the internet about registered missing reports and came across the stories and articles about Pooja, following which she called Rafeeq, a neighbour of Pooja. Pramila also informed the D N Nagar police station about the case,” the police official said.
Police came into action and police interrogated Harry D’Souza and his wife, with whom Pooja had been staying for the last nine years.
On Friday, the girl was reunited with her family members- her mother Poonam and 19-year-old brother Rohit.
Inspector Khurde said that their reunion was a very emotional moment for us as we were able to reunite the missing girl with her family.
As China continue to hold military drills near Taiwan’s coast after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taipei, President Tsai Ing-wen has appealed for international support for the island nation and halted the escalation of the regional security situation.
In a tweet on Saturday, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said that the country’s government and military are closely monitoring the situation.
“Our government and military are closely monitoring China’s military exercises and information warfare operations, ready to respond as necessary. I call on the international community to support democratic Taiwan and halt any escalation of the regional security situation,” Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen tweeted.
Multiple Chinese planes and ships were detected around Taiwan Strait and some of them have crossed the median line, said the defence ministry on Saturday.
“Multiple PLA craft were detected around Taiwan Strait, some have crossed the median line. Possible simulated attack against HVA. #ROCArmedForces have utilized alert broadcast, aircraft in CAP, patrolling naval vessels, and land-based missile systems in response to this situation,” Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence tweeted today.
China has been increasing its military activities after Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan on Tuesday.
Notably, a top official who led the missile development team of the self-governed island country was found dead in a hotel room, according to media report.
The official, Ou Yang Li-hsing, the deputy head of Taiwan defence ministry’s research and development unit was found dead on Saturday morning in a hotel room, according to agencies.
The 57-year-old deputy chief of the military-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) was on a business trip to Pingtung in Southern Taiwan in of Pingtung, according to agencies, which said the cause of his death is being investigated.
Since her tour in the island nation, China has been conducting the largest-ever military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, including launching live missiles it claims as part of its sovereign territory.
Preparations are in full swing in Odisha to welcome Home Minister Amit Shah who will reach Bhubaneswar on Sunday night.
The twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack are bedecked with posters, banners and placards of Shah, who will visit the state for the first time after becoming the home minister.
Shah’s programmes will start with a visit to the Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneswar on the last Monday of ‘Shravana’.
He will then go to Cuttack to visit Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s birthplace in Odia bazaar. He will also lead a roadshow from Odia Bazar to the Indoor Stadium where he will attend the 75th anniversary of Odia daily ‘Prajatantra’, founded by former chief minister Harekrushna Mahatab.
The newspaper’s anniversary programme will also be attended by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, and BJD workers have also planned to give him a big reception when he reaches the area, setting the stage for a face-off. Shah will then return to Cuttack and hold a meeting of the state BJP’s core committee at its headquarters, they said.
Later, he will launch the Odisha edition of ‘Modi@20: Dreams Meet Delivery’, a book on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s completion of 20 years in office — from becoming the chief minister of Gujarat in 2001. He will leave Odisha on Monday night. “There is a lot of enthusiasm among the party workers in the state,” state BJP president Samir Mohanty said, adding that Shah will be welcomed by party workers at different places when he travels from Bhubaneswar to Cuttack on Monday.
Several cultural troops have been hired to perform for welcoming Shah, who is credited with the BJP’s growth in Odisha. Shah had last visited the state during the 2019 elections when he addressed a public meeting in Bhubaneswar.
The ruling BJD of the state and opposition Congress are also keeping a close watch on Shah’s visit, which comes amid actions by CBI and ED in the state.
The ED has so far attached properties of three former BJD leaders in chit fund cases, while CBI arrested some people in connection with the Paradip Port irregularities.
Congress leader Tara Prasad Bahinipati claimed that Shah’s visit will trigger “fear psychosis” among the BJD leaders.
He, however, said that it has nothing to do with the Congress because it does not have “traders” as leaders. Senior BJD MLA Sasibhusan Behera said Shah’s visit will have no impact on his party.
“His visit may encourage the BJP workers, but that does not mean that the BJD will get panicked,” he said. With an eye on 2024, when the Odisha assembly will go to the polls along with the Lok Sabha, BJP has appointed a new leader of opposition in the state, Jaynarayan Mishra, who has declared that his party is working for a “BJD-mukt Odisha”.
Motivated by its performance on Day 9 resulting in earning 14 medals, India on Day 10 of the ongoing Commonwealth Games aims to earn a number of medals in various sporting events like cricket, boxing, table tennis and athletics.
India has won 40 medals so far, which includes 13 gold, 11 silver and 16 bronze medals. The Indian wrestling contingent captured every medal that was there to grab.
Ravi Dahiya, Naveen, Deepak Nehra, Pooja Gehlot, Pooja Sihag and Vinesh Phogat won all the medals on the second and final day of the wrestling competition.
The combat sport of boxing also saw Indians sealing some medals. Sagar Ahlawat, Nitu Ghangas and boxing champion Nikhat Zareen confirmed either a silver or a gold for India, while Jasmine Lamboria (bronze), Muhammad Hussamuddin (bronze), Rohit Tokas (bronze) walked away with medals.
Indian women’s cricket team also made history in its first outing and confirmed a medal for the nation by qualifying for the finals of the cricket tournament after defeating England in a thriller by 4 runs.
Good news also came from the hockey field as Indian men’s team reached the finals, confirming a medal.
Para Table Tennis players Bhavina Patel (gold), Sonalben Patel (bronze) also won medals.
Indian athletics contingent gave the nations two reasons to rejoice, as Priyanka Goswami captured silver in women’s 10000 m race walk and Avinash Sable also got a silver in men’s 3000 m steeplechase.
The Indian lawn bowls men’s team also captured a silver in the four-man team final. Progress was also made in racquet sports like table tennis and badminton.
Here is the day ten schedule of the games. India has a chance to confirm or win many medals today.
Commonwealth Games 2022 Schedule Day 10 Timings:
01:30 PM: New Zealand vs India – Women’s Bronze Medal Match (Hockey)
2:20 PM: PV Sindhu vs Jia Min Yeo (Singapore) – Women’s Singles Semi-Finals (Badminton)
02:45 PM: Abdulla Aboobacker, Eldhose Paul, Praveen Chithravel – Men’s Triple Long Jump Final (Athletics)
03:00 PM: Nitu Ghanghas vs Demie-Jade Resztan (England) – Women’s 45-48 KG Gold Medal Match (Boxing)
03:10 PM: Jia Heng Teh (Singapore) vs Lakshya Sen – Men’s Singles Semi-Finals (Badminton)
03:10 PM: Tze Yong Ng (Malaysia) vs Kidambi Srikanth – Men’s Singles Semi-Finals (Badminton)
03:15 PM: Amit Panghal vs Kiaran Macdonald (England) – Men’s 48-51 KG Gold Medal Match (Boxing)
03:35 PM: Sreeja Akula vs Yangzi Liu (Australia) – Women’s Singles Bronze Medal Match (Table Tennis)
03:50 PM: Amit Khatri, Sandeep Kumar – Men’s 10,000m Race Walk Final (Athletics)
04:05 PM: Shilpa Rani, Annu Rani – Women’s Javelin Throw Final (Athletics)
05:20 PM: India – Women’s 4x100m Relay Final (Athletics)
06:15 PM: Drinkhall Paul / Pitchford Liam (England) vs Achanta Sharath Kamal / Sathiyan Gnanasekaran – Men’s Doubles Gold Medal Match (Table Tennis)
07:00 PM: Nikhat Zareen vs Carly McNaul (Nothern Ireland) – Women’s 48-50 KG Gold Medal Match (Boxing)
09:30 PM: India vs Australia / New Zealand – Women’s T20 Gold Medal Match (Cricket)
10:30 PM: Pallikal Karthik Dipika / Ghosal Sourav vs Lobban Donna / Pilley Cameron (Australia) // Waters Alison / Waller Adrian (England) – Mixed Doubles Bronze Medal Match (Squash)
00:10 AM (Aug 8): DP Manu, Rohit Yadav – Men’s Javelin Throw Final (Athletics)
00:15 AM (Aug 8): Choong Javen / Lyne Karen (Malaysia) vs Achanta Sharath Kamal / Sreeja Akula – Mixed Doubles Gold Medal Match (Table Tennis)
01:00 AM (Aug 8): India – Men’s 4x400m Relay Final (Athletics) –
Confirmed events with timings not declared yet are – Paul Drinkhall (England) vs Achanta Sharath Kamal – Men’s Singles Semi-Finals (Table Tennis) Liam Pitchford (England) vs Sathiyan Gnanasekaran – Men’s Singles Semi-Finals (Table Tennis)
Events if players qualify and with timings not declared yet are – Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy / Chirag Shetty vs Dias Sachin / Goonethilleka Buwaneka (Sri Lanka) // Chan Peng Soon / Tan Kian Meng (Malaysia) – Men’s Doubles Semi-Finals (Badminton) Jolly Treesa / Gayatri Gopichand vs Tan Koong Le Pearly / Thinnah Muralitharan (Malaysia) // Jin Yujia / Wong Jia Ying Crystal (Singapore) – Women’s Doubles Semi-Finals (Badminton) Mohammad Hussamuddin vs Jude Gallagher (England) / Keoma-Ali Al-Ahmadieh (Canada) – Men’s 54-57 KG Gold Medal Match (Boxing) Sagar Ahlawat vs Leuila Mau’U (New Zealand) / Delicious Orie (England) – Men’s Over 92 KG Gold Medal Match.
With 18,738 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India’s tally of COVID-19 cases has risen to 4,41,45,732 while the active cases have increased to 1,34,933, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.
The death toll has climbed to 5,26,689 with 40 fatalities which includes eight deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The active cases comprise 0.31 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.50 per cent, the ministry said. An increase of 140 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 5.02 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 4.63 per cent, according to the ministry.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,34,84,110, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent. According to the ministry, 206.21 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.
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.
The new fatalities include nine from Maharashtra, four each from Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, three from Manipur, two from Madhya Pradesh and one each from Bihar, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Meghalaya, Odisha, Punjab and Tripura.
The Reserve Bank of India has maintained consistency in the recent monetary policy statement by focusing on the “withdrawal of accommodation” as its stance to contain inflation, said industry body FICCI.
“The Central Bank has delivered the third consecutive increase in the policy rate today – increasing the benchmark repo rate by a total of 140 bps since May this year. Inflation has been over the comfort range of the Central Bank, however, the recent moderation in global commodity prices should hopefully offer some respite going ahead,” Sanjiv Mehta, President, FICCI said in a statement hours after RBI’s monetary policy statement.
The medium-term growth drivers for India are very much intact and recovery is expected to find firmer ground by the latter part of this financial year, Mehta said.
“We further hope as inflation ebbs, RBI will dynamically manage its monetary policy stance and continue to support growth impulses in the economy,” added Mehta.
For the record, the monetary policy committee of the Reserve Bank of India has unanimously decided to raise the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.40 per cent in order to contain the persistently high inflation.
Today’s hike takes the repo rate above pre-pandemic levels of 5.15 per cent. The three-day monetary policy committee meeting commenced on Wednesday.
Raising interest typically suppresses demand in the economy, thereby helping inflation to decline.
In line with the global trend of monetary policy tightening to cool off inflation, the RBI has so far hiked the key repo rates — the rate at which the central bank of a country lends money to commercial banks — by 140 basis points.
The MPC reiterated that retail inflation is projected to remain above the upper tolerance level of 6 per cent through the first three quarters of 2022-23.
Inflation projections are retained at 6.7 per cent in 2022-23, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said while announcing the outcomes of the monetary policy.
In India, retail inflation has been over the Reserve Bank of India’s upper tolerance band of 6 per cent for the sixth consecutive month in a row in June. Retail inflation was at 7.01 per cent in June.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday launched its first new rocket the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV-D1) carrying Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-02) and a studentmade satellite-AzaadiSAT from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota.
To mark the country’s celebrations of “Azaadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav”, the SSLV, co-passenger satellite called “AzaadiSAT” comprising 75 payloads built by 750 students from 75 rural government schools across India was launched on Sunday.
Girls who designed Satelite also witnessed the SSLV-D1 launch. The general public also witnessed the launch from the viewing gallery of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota.
Speaking to ANI, Shreya a student from St Francis Girls High School, Telangana said, “Three groups from our school have participated in this SSLV launch. I am very glad that we got this opportunity. We really worked hard on it and today we will witness the launch of the AzaadiSAT satellite.”
Founder and CEO, science and tech incubator Space Kidz India, Dr Srimathy Kesan said this launch is to mark the 75th year of independence and to bring the focus that girls should be encouraged. The ground testing of the newly developed solid booster stage (SS1) for the new launch vehicle of ISRO i.e.
Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) was carried out on March 14 2022 at Satish Dhawan Space Centre Sriharikota at 1205 hrs. All the propulsion parameters during the test are found satisfactory and closely matching with the predictions.
SS1 motor is a three-segmented solid propulsion stage incorporating many new technologies and innovative processes which include a bond-free joint between the segments, high power electromechanical actuator with digital control electronics, optimized ignitor and simultaneous propellant casting of all segments, which have been successfully validated in the ground test.
The successful test of the solid booster stage has given sufficient confidence to proceed with the first developmental flight of SSLV (SSLV-D1) which is scheduled for May 2022. The remaining stages of SSLV i.e. SS2 & SS3 stages have successfully undergone necessary ground tests and are ready for integration.
