India

Dehradun, Feb 14 (PTI) Over 65 per cent polling was recorded in Uttarakhand where voting to 70 assembly seats spread over 13 districts concluded peacefully, officials said here.

"Polling was held peacefully at the 11,697 polling booths across the state with 65.1 per cent of the electorate casting their votes till the close of polls," Chief Electoral Officer Saujanya who does not use a surname said.

This percentage of polling may be revised after tallying with the final data collected from polling parties, she said.

New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) Former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar on Tuesday resigned from the Congress, ending his 46-year-long association with the grand old party.

Kumar sent his resignation to Congress President Sonia Gandhi this morning, saying he can best serve national causes outside the party fold.

Shahjahanpur (UP), Feb 15 (PTI) A booth agent of the Samajwadi Party was allegedly shot dead on Tuesday by a rival group in a village here over a dispute during polling in Tilhar constituency, police said.

A villager was also seriously injured in the incident, they said.

Superintendent of Police (City) Sanjay Kumar said Samajwadi Party booth agent Sudhir Kumar (20) was shot dead in Vikrampur Chakora village on Tuesday morning when he was going to attend nature's call. A villager also sustained serious injuries in the firing and was admitted to the hospital.

Ranchi, Feb 15 (PTI) At least four people were killed and several others injured, including one seriously, in an accident involving six vehicles on NH 33 in Jharkhand's Ramgarh district on Tuesday, a senior official said.

The accident took place at Patel Chowk in Ramgarh police station area around noon, causing four deaths on the spot, he said.

NEW DELHI, Feb 14 (NNN-Bernama) — India imported 376,612 tonnes of palm oil from Malaysia in January, representing 68 per cent of its total imports of the commodity.

According to data released by the trade group Solvent Extractors’ Association of India today, the imports from Malaysia were made up of 296,548 tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO), 68,855 tonnes of refined, bleached and deodorised (RBD) palm olein and 11,209 tonnes of crude palm kernel oil (CPKO).

It said palm oil’s share in the country’s 1.25 million tonnes total edible oil imports last month was 44 per cent.

UDUPI, India, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Some schools reopened in the Indian state of Karnataka on Monday after closing last week when protests erupted over students being barred from wearing the hijab in class.

The issue, widely seen by India's Muslim minority community as a bid to sideline it by authorities in a Hindu-dominated nation, comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prepares for elections in key states.

Kanpur: "Will you exhibit the punctuality in casting your vote on polling day here?" On hearing this query a middle-aged woman said: "I shall not falter in exercising my right to vote on the day of polling here." 

We are aware of our voting right now. It is a big responsibility for us.

The question was put up only to test the mood of women in the Jajmau area here. As they spend much time in marketing, it was imperative to know their opinion on the voting activity. However, they accepted that they do not escape from their duty to vote.

New Delhi, Feb 14 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the CBI to probe the death by suicide of a 17-year-old girl in Thanjavur, who was allegedly coerced to convert to Christianity.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Bela M Trivedi issued notice on the appeal filed by the Tamil Nadu DGP challenging the Madras HC order.

Mumbai, Feb 14 (PTI) The rupee declined 20 paise to 75.56 against the US dollar in opening trade on Monday, amid geopolitical tensions pushing investors to the safe-haven appeal of the greenback.

Forex traders said muted domestic equities and elevated crude oil prices weighed on the local unit.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 75.53 against the US dollar, then slipped further to 75.56, registering a decline of 20 paise from the last close.

New Delhi, Feb 14 (PTI) The Ministry of Home Affairs has recommended a ban on 54 Chinese mobile applications that pose a threat to the country's security, officials sources said on Monday.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) will formally issue a notification banning the operations of these apps in India.