Imphal: A major fire broke out at a building in the Manipur secretariat complex near Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s official bungalow here on Saturday evening, police said. As per PTI, at least three fire tenders were pressed into the service to douse the blaze.
The reason for the fire is yet to be ascertained, an official said.
Major fire breaks out in Manipur secretariat complex near CM’s official residence: Police
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 15, 2024
Further Updates Awaited
Melodi At G7: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni captioned a small selfie video showing her friendship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Italian PM can be heard saying, “Hi friends, from #Melodi”. The two leaders met on Friday towards the end of Prime Minister Modi’s day-long visit to Apulia, southern Italy, during which he thanked the Italian Prime Minister for the invitation to attend the G7 Summit. This was his first foreign visit after assuming charge for a historic third term as the prime minister.
The five-second video was shared by Meloni on her X account on Saturday. “Hello from the Melodi team,” the 47-year-old Italian leader, the country’s first woman prime minister, said in the video, in which Modi, 73, was seen laughing behind her. Prime Minister Modi re-shared the video and wrote, “Long live India-Italy friendship!” Earlier on Saturday, a selfie of the two leaders at the G7 Summit went viral.
Hi friends, from #Melodi pic.twitter.com/OslCnWlB86
— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) June 15, 2024
In December last year, the two leaders had clicked a selfie on the sidelines of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai. Sharing the picture, Meloni wrote in the caption, “Good friends at COP28, #Melodi.”
During their bilateral talks here on Friday, the two leaders reviewed the progress of the bilateral strategic partnership and agreed to strengthen cooperation in global fora and multilateral initiatives, including the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor. “Had a very good meeting with PM @GiorgiaMeloni,” Prime Minister Modi wrote on X. “We discussed ways to further cement India-Italy relations in areas like commerce, energy, defence, telecom and more. Our nations will work together in futuristic areas like biofuels, food processing and critical minerals,” he said after the meeting.
New Delhi: After the arrest of 5 accused from Gujarat in connection with the NEET exam cheating scandal, another controversy surfaced in the NEET exam scam, On Saturday, according to Zee News, nine crore cheques were found from the five accused arrested from Gujarat in connection with NEET exam cheating scandal. Other than this, a pen drive was also found.
Godhra school teacher named, Tushar Bhatt is accused of the NEET exam cheating scandal, 7 lakh were found in his car, while cheques worth 2.50 crore were found from the office of Parshuram Roy who is a director of the coaching centre. Reportedly, this money was given by the students.
#BreakingNews : NEET घोटाले से जुड़ी बड़ी खबर, आरोपियों के पास मिले 9 करोड़ के चेक#ZEEWITHSTUDENTS #neetscam2024 | @anchorjiya @Nidhijourno pic.twitter.com/oCUwDbDHkL
— Zee News (@ZeeNews) June 15, 2024
As per early reports, at least 16 students paid Rs 10 lakh to Parshuram Roy to get their answer sheets filled by another. Roy advised candidates to answer only questions they were confident about and leave the rest. Tushar Bhatt, another participant, and teacher at Jai Jalaram School in Godhra, used to fill in those answers later.
The District Education Officer registered a complaint against the accused of the NEET exam cheating scandal at Godhra Taluka Police Station. Reportedly, the complaint was registered against Tushar Bhatt, Parshuram Roy, who owns Roy Overseas in Vadodara, and Arif Vora from Godhra.
RSS leader Indresh Kumar took a backtrack after his controversial statement on ‘BJP’s arrogance’ sparked rumours of ‘rift’ between the two organisations. Kumar clarified that those who disgraced Lord Ram are out of power while those aiming to uphold his legacy are ruling for third term.
While talking to news agency ANI, Kumar changed his stance from his earlier statement; he said, “The atmosphere in the country is very clear at this time – those who opposed Ram are out of power, those who pledged devotion to Ram are in power, and the government has been formed for the third time under the leadership of Narendra Modi.”
The RSS leader ignited controversy as he claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was limited to 240 seats in the recent Lok Sabha elections, falling short of the majority mark due to its “arrogance.”
#WATCH | On his statement on the results of Lok Sabha Elections 2024, senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar says, “Desh ka vatavaran iss samay mein bahut spasht hai – jinhone Ram ka virodh kiya wo sab satta se baahar hain, jinhone Ram ki bhakti ka sankalp liya aaj wo satta mein hain… pic.twitter.com/uSo6uGO063
— ANI (@ANI) June 14, 2024
He was speaking at an even near Jaipur on Thursday, when he remarked, “The party which did the bhakti (of lord Ram) but became arrogant was stopped at 241 but it was made the biggest party,” he said, in an apparent reference to Narendra Modi-led BJP which got 240 seats in the Lok Sabha seats.
Indresh Kumar’s statement comes few days after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwant, in a statement said that a true ‘sevak’ should serve people humbly and uphold their dignity without ‘arrogance’.
Yesterday, the RSS attempted to dispel suggestions of a rift with the BJP and clarified that such claims are mere speculation intended to sow confusion.
Bengaluru: Srinivas Hegde, 71, a former Indian scientist who served as the mission director of Chandrayaan-1, passed away at a private hospital in Bengaluru on Friday, according to reports. Chandrayaan-1 is the India’s first lunar expedition that found water molecules on the moon. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
Hegde worked for ISRO from 1978 to 2014. He had participated in tens of space missions as a member of the UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), formerly known as the Isro Satellite Centre (Isac). According to reports, Hegde was receiving treatment for a kidney-related illness.
M Annadurai, former ISRO scientist and URSC director, who served as the project director for Chandrayaan-1, shared. “He was my senior supervisor when I joined ISRO in 1982. He was a wonderful colleague to collaborate with and played a crucial role in Chandrayaan-1 and several other missions we undertook.”
The Neet 2024 result row has got even more murkier with more and more details coming out. While earlier six students from a single centre in Haryana got 720 out of 720 marks, it has also come to light that an exam centre in Godhra was managed by paying crores to the NTA coordinator. It has also come to light that in Bihar, the paper was leaked using the Telegram app and some arrests have been made in connection with the incident.
A police investigation into the Godhra NEET cheating scandal has uncovered transactions amounting to crores of rupees involving 12 students, their parents, and the accused individuals. The probe has revealed the extensive financial dealings orchestrated to facilitate cheating in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for undergraduate medical admissions.
मोदी सरकार ने शिक्षा मंत्री व NTA के द्वारा NEET घोटाले की लीपापोती चालू कर दी है।
अगर NEET में पेपर लीक नहीं हुआ तो —
1. बिहार में 13 आरोपियों को पेपर लीक के चलते गिरफ़्तार क्यों किया गया?
क्या रैकेट में शामिल शिक्षा माफिया व संगठित गिरोह को पेपर के बदले ₹30-₹50 लाख तक… pic.twitter.com/r234FgUZes
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) June 14, 2024
Among the implicated students, four deposited Rs 66 lakh into the bank account of Roy Overseas Company, owned by Parashuram Roy of Vadodara. Additionally, students issued cheques totalling Rs 2.82 crore to Tushar Bhatt and Parashuram Roy. The investigation also found that three students provided Bhatt and Roy with blank cheques, highlighting significant monetary transactions connected to the alleged NEET exam misconduct in Jalaram School, one of the exam centres in Godhra.
The Congress party has levelled serious allegations against the Gujarat, Bihar and Central governments. Congress leader Pawan Khera said the National Testing Agency (NTA) has tried its best to cover up the matter in the court by saying that grace marks were given to 1563 children due to time loss. “The NTA quoted a Supreme Court judgement which clearly says that engineering and medical do not come under this category. They cannot be given grace marks for time loss. Now think to what level this government can stoop to cover up this matter,” alleged Khera.
He further demanded that details of exam centres with certain criteria be made public. “The names of the examination centres of the students securing more than 580 marks should be released. 12th board marks should be matched with NEET toppers. Video recordings of those exam centres where there are candidates with higher marks than the average should also be released. A list of all those students should be released who changed their exam centres,” demanded Khera, while raising the issue of the Godhra and Bihar.
Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan has ruled out paper leak claims while the Supreme Court has already ordered a re-exam for 1,563 students who got grace marks. The NEET students are demanding the cancellation of the exam and re-exam for all aspirants. However, the government is yet to take a decision about cancelling the exam.
Jaipur: In hard-hitting remarks on the outcome of the Lok sabha polls, RSS leader Indresh Kumar on Thursday slammed the ruling BJP for ‘arrogance’ and the opposition INDIA bloc for being ‘anti-Ram’.
Speaking at the ‘Ramrath Ayodhya Yatra Darshan Poojan Samaroh’ at Kanota near Jaipur, the RSS national executive member did not mention the rivals by name but suggested that the poll outcome reflected their attitudes.
“The party which did the bhakti (of lord Ram) but became arrogant was stopped at 241 but it was made the biggest party,” he said, in an apparent reference to Narendra Modi-led BJP which got 240 seats in the Lok Sabha seats.
“And those who had no faith in Ram, they together were stopped at 234,” he said, apparently referring to the INDIA bloc.
“See the ‘Vidhan’ of Ram Rajya in democracy; those who did ‘Bhakti (worshipped) of Ram but gradually turned arrogant, that party emerged as the biggest party, but the vote and power that should have been given was stopped by God due to their arrogance,” he said.
“Those who opposed Ram, none of them was given power. Even all of them together were made number two. God’s justice is true and enjoyable,” he said.
“Those who worship Ram should be humble and those who oppose Ram, the Lord himself dealt with them,” he said.
He said Lord Ram does not discriminate and does not punish. “Ram does not make anyone lament. Ram gives justice to everyone. He gives and will keep on giving. Lord Ram was always just and will remain so,” he said.
Kumar also said Lord Ram protected people and did good to Ravana too.
The remark came days after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said that a true ‘sevak’ does not have arrogance and serves the people by maintaining ‘dignity’.
New Delhi: The IMD has forecast light rain in Delhi on Friday, potentially offering respite from the scorching heat beating down on the national capital.
On Thursday, the maximum temperature recorded at the Safdarjung Observatory, considered the official marker of the city, was 4.9 notches above normal at 44.8 degrees Celsius.
The Najafgarh weather station recorded a maximum temperature of 45.1 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
Among Delhi’s other stations, Narela recorded a high of 45.3 degrees Celsius, Aya Nagar 46.4 degrees, Ridge 46.3 degrees and Palam 45.8 degrees, the weather office said in a bulletin.
The national capital was under an ‘orange’ alert, which stands for “be prepared” during the day.
The relative humidity oscillated between 15 per cent and 58 per cent, according to the IMD bulletin.
It has forecast partly cloudy skies with a possibility of thunderstorms and light rain or drizzle in a few places towards the afternoon and the evening on Friday.
The IMD has also predicted heatwave conditions in some areas, accompanied by strong surface winds reaching speeds of 35 kilometres per hour on Friday.
The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 44 and 30 degrees Celsius, respectively.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Thursday that India will prioritise energy, artificial intelligence, Africa, and the Mediterranean at the G7 summit outreach session in Italy. Modi emplaned for Italy in his first foreign trip after taking office for the third time as prime minister. In addition to attending the outreach session on Friday, he has appointments to have one-on-one meetings outside of the summit with several international leaders. A meeting between US President Joe Biden and Modi is possible. Modi said in his departure statement that the outreach session will also cover matters important to the Global South.
“At the invitation of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, I am travelling to Apulia region in Italy to participate in the G7 Outreach summit on June 14,” said Modi. The prime minister expressed satisfaction that his first visit in his third consecutive term would be to Italy for the G7 summit.
“During the discussions at the Outreach session, the focus would be on artificial intelligence, energy, Africa, and the Mediterranean,” said Modi. “It will be an opportunity to bring greater synergy between the outcomes of the G20 Summit held under India’s Presidency and the forthcoming G7 Summit, and deliberate on issues which are crucial for the Global South,” he stated.
Modi will hold a bilateral meeting with Meloni. “Prime Minister Meloni’s two visits to India last year were instrumental in infusing momentum and depth in our bilateral agenda,” he said. “We remain committed to consolidate the India-Italy strategic partnership, and bolster cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and the Mediterranean regions,” he said.
The prime minister is likely to hold a number of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit. “I am also looking forward to meeting other leaders participating in the Summit,” he said. The G7 comprises the US, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan. Italy is holding the current presidency of the G7 (Group of Seven) and is hosting the summit in that capacity.
J&K Terror Attacks: After chairing a review meeting on the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the go-ahead for the officials to deploy the full range of counter-terror capabilities in response to the several terror attacks that have occurred in the last four days. At the security review meeting, the highest ranking security officials—including National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval—presented the Prime Minister with a complete review of the security-related situation in the Union Territory.
The Prime Minister was informed about the counterterrorism actions carried out by security forces. He was also briefed about the Army’s plans and tactics for eliminating the terrorists. The officials were instructed by PM Modi to use and deploy the entire range of counterterrorism resources.
PM Modi spoke with Home Minister Amit Shah regarding the security forces’ deployment and their counterterrorism operations in addition to the review meeting. The prime minister also assessed the situation on the ground and had a conversation with Jammu and Kashmir LG Manoj Sinha.