Delhi

New Delhi, Jun 28 (PTI) The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet gave a one-year extension to Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha on Monday.

Sinha is a former Uttar Pradesh-cadre IAS officer.

As the seniormost deputy election commissioner, he is heading various committees in the Election Commission dealing with different subjects.

Sinha has been given an extension till June 30, 2022, a notification said.

New Delhi, Jun 29 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed states and union territories to implement the 'one nation, one ration card scheme' till July 31, while asking the Centre to provide dry ration for free distribution among migrant workers till the COVID-19 situation continues.

New Delhi, June 28 (PTI) India has overtaken the US in the total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered so far, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday.

While India launched the COVID-19 vaccination drive on January 16, and has administered over 32.36 crore doses till date, the US which started its inoculation drive on December 14, 2020 has given over 32.33 crore doses.

"India achieves another milestone in COVID-19 vaccination and overtakes USA in total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered," the ministry said.

New Delhi, Jun 27 (PTI) Twitter's interim resident grievance officer for India has stepped down, leaving the micro-blogging site without a grievance official as mandated by the new IT rules to address complaints from Indian subscribers, according to a source.

The source said that Dharmendra Chatur, who was recently appointed as interim resident grievance officer for India by Twitter, has quit from the post.

New Delhi, Jun 27 (PTI) After Air India, Britain's Cairn Energy PLC plans to target assets of state-owned firms and banks in countries from the US to Singapore as it looks to ramp up efforts to recover the amount due from the Indian government after winning an arbitration against levy of retrospective taxes.

A lawyer representing the company said Cairn will bring lawsuits in several countries to make state-owned firms liable to pay the USD 1.2 billion plus interest and penalties that are due from the Indian government.

New Delhi, Jun 25 (PTI) After Prime Minister Narendra Modi recalled the "dark days" of Emergency and called for strengthening the country's democratic spirit, the Congress hit back alleging India is under "Modi-gency" for seven years where institutions have been undermined and democracy trampled.

Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also said the time has come when people rise in unison to assess the "annihilation of the very foundation of democracy in India by an arbitrary Modi regime".

New Delhi, Jun 26 (PTI) Senior BJP leaders, including Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh and party president J P Nadda, held a meeting here on Saturday.

The meeting, held at the party headquarters, was attended by several other senior leaders, including those handling organisational charges, sources said.

The ruling party leaders have been holding deliberations for some time over a number of issues, ranging from the COVID-19 vaccination exercise to various governance and political matters.

New Delhi, Jun 25 (PTI) India and China on Friday agreed to maintain dialogue and communication to reach a mutually acceptable solution for complete disengagement in all friction points along the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in eastern Ladakh to enable progress in the overall bilateral ties.

The two countries agreed to this as they held another round of diplomatic talks to resolve the prolonged border standoff in eastern Ladakh that erupted in early May last year.

New Delhi, June 24 (PTI) A Delhi court Thursday denied bail to an accused in a gang-rape case, saying the allegations against him were grave and he may flee if allowed to come out of jail.

Accused Ajay Gupta allegedly lured a woman hailing from Rajasthan with a gold chain and the earrings, took her to a hut of a co-accused where six people took turns to rape her, Delhi Police said.

New Delhi, Jun 24 (PTI) Businessman Robert Vadra's vehicle was fined for dangerous driving when he was on his way to his office in southeast Delhi's Sukhdev Vihar area along with his security personnel, police said on Thursday.

The fine was charged under section 184 (driving dangerously) of the Motor Vehicles Act on Wednesday morning. His security personnel were following him in another vehicle, they said.

According to police, the fined vehicle was being driven by his driver while Vadra was on his way to his office in the Sukhdev Vihar area.