India

BENGALURU, June 12 (Reuters) - India's outsourcing giants are slashing hiring and getting projects done with existing workers, a rare pullback that could weigh on the economy and affect engineering students who have seen information technology as the sector of choice for decades.

The slowdown, triggered by global uncertainty in demand, is unprecedented in an industry that is one of the biggest hirers in India's services sector since the 1990s and provides an assured career path and prosperity to hundreds of thousands of students each year.

NEW DELHI, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired a high-level meeting to review preparedness for Cyclone Biparjoy, which has intensified near the western coastal areas.

Modi advised local authorities to take every possible measure to ensure that people living in vulnerable locations are safely evacuated, and ensure maintenance of all essential services with preparedness for immediate restoration in the event of damages, said an official statement.

Kurukshetra, Jun 12 (PTI) A large number of farmers gathered at Pipli in this district on Monday to attend a mahapanchayat being held to press for minimum support price for sunflower seed and other demands.

Apart from leaders of various khaps and Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait, Olympic medal-winning wrestler Bajrang Punia, one of the grapplers who have been demanding action against outgoing Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, were present at the mahapanchayat.

Kurukshetra, Jun 12 (PTI) Traffic on the Delhi-Chandigarh National Highway was disrupted on Monday as farmers gathered there after holding a mahapanchayat in this district to press for minimum support price for sunflower seed.

Apart from leaders of various khaps and Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait, Olympic medal-winning wrestler Bajrang Punia, one of the grapplers who have been demanding action against outgoing Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, were present at the mahapanchayat.

Thane, Jun 12 (PTI) Maharashtra's Thane police was on Monday granted transit remand by a local court to take Shahnawaz Khan, the prime accused in an Uttar Pradesh case allegedly involving religious conversion of youngsters through an online gaming app, to Ghaziabad, an official said.

Khan, who hails from Mumbra township here, was arrested from a relative's place in Alibag in Raigad district on Sunday, the official said.

"He is being taken to Ghaziabad from Thane by road," the police official said.

BAHANAGA, India/NEW DELHI, June 11 (Reuters) - An official probe into India's rail crash is focusing on suspected manual bypassing of an automated signalling system that guides train movement - an action investigators believe sent a packed express train into a stationary freight train, three Indian Railways sources told Reuters.

Bengaluru, Jun 10 (PTI) A Special Court in Bengaluru has declared Ramachandran Vishwanathan, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Devas Multimedia Private Limited as a Fugitive Economic Offender (FEO).

He is one of the nine accused in a Prevention of Money Laundering Act case filed by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED).

In the 2018 case, the nine are accused of diverting 85 per cent of the Rs 579 crore received from ISRO's commercial arm Antrix Corporation to the USA.

Bengaluru, Jun 10 (PTI) A division bench of the Dharward Bench of the High Court of Karnataka has confirmed the death sentence on a man who killed five persons including his three minor children.

The HC has also issued several directions to the prosecution in cases where it is seeking the death penalty.

Imphal, Jun 11 (PTI) Over 50,000 people, who have been displaced by the ethnic violence in Manipur, are currently staying at 349 relief camps across the state, a minister said on Sunday.

State Information and Public Relations Minister Dr R K Ranjan said combing operations have been launched in all districts, particularly in vulnerable areas.

He said 53 arms and 39 bombs have been recovered during the operation.

Jabalpur, Jun 11 (PTI) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will kick off the Congress's campaign for the year-end Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls from Jabalpur on Monday after praying at the banks of the Narmada river, a party leader said.

Jabalpur is at the centre of the state's Mahakoshal region, which has a sizable number of tribal voters. In the 2018 Assembly polls, the Congress won 11 of the 13 Scheduled Tribe reserved seats in the eight-district division, with the remaining two bagged by the Bharatiya Janata Party.