THE HEADLINES ::
- Over 60 per cent voter turnout recorded for Delhi Assembly Elections; Counting on Saturday.
- Home Minister Amit Shah says, entire Northeast is now on path of development under leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- Janjati Sanskritik Samagam 2025 to begin at Mahakumbh in Prayagraj today.
- France government survives no-confidence vote in parliament, clearing way for adoption of budget 2025.
- In Cricket, first match of three-match ODI series to be played between India and England in Nagpur today.
- In World Table Tennis Singapore Smash, India’s men’s doubles duo of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah to face French pair of Florian Bourrassaud and Esteban Dorr in quarterfinals.
<><><>
Voting for the 70-member Delhi Assembly concluded peacefully last evening, with a voter turnout of approximately 60.42 percent. The highest turnout of 66.25 percent was recorded in the North East Delhi district, while South East Delhi saw the lowest at 56.16 percent. A Report:
Voting for 70 assembly seats in Delhi ended peacefully. With this, the fate of many political stalwarts like Arvind Kejriwal, Atishi, Manish Sisodia, Pravesh Verma, Vijender Gupta, Arvinder Singh Lovely, Ramesh Bidhuri, Devendra Yadav, Sandeep Dixit, Alka Lamba and Anil Chaudhary got sealed in the EVMs. To ensure smooth conduct of elections in Delhi , the Election Commission had made elaborate arrangements. Many facilities were available for voters at polling booths. Apart from this, tight security arrangements were also made. After completion of polling, all EVMs have been kept in the strong rooms. These strong rooms under the constant vigil of Election Commission and police officials. 19 counting centres have been set up in 11 districts of Delhi for counting of votes. Now everyone’s eyes are on the counting of votes which will be done on Saturday. Bhupendra Singh, Akashwani News Delhi.
bye-polls took place in Erode-East assembly seat in Tamil Nadu and Milkipur in Uttar Pradesh. voter turnout was 67.97 per cent in Erode-East and approximately 65.35 percent in Milkipur.
<><><>
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has emphasized that the entire Northeast is now on the path of development under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was addressing the distribution program of over 2800 appointment letters in Tripura government through video conference yesterday. He highlighted that the Tripura government is providing jobs with complete transparency, without any discrimination, recommendation, or corruption. The Home Minister recalled that in the last 10 years, Narendra Modi government has made three agreements in Tripura to bring peace to the state. Mr. Shah said that the policies of the Narendra Modi government have transformed Tripura from a landlocked state to a land-linked state.
The Home Minister said that the Modi government has brought a positive change in the lives of the Bru-Reang people by providing them with permanent residency, education, healthcare, and job opportunities.
<><><>
The Union Home Minister expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for allocating 17,155 crore rupees for railways in Gujarat in the Budget-2025. In a social media post, Mr.Shah highlighted that under the leadership of the prime minister, the railway network of Gujarat and the entire country, is witnessing a golden period of development and expansion. He added that the Union Budget will further accelerate this progress. Mr.Shah pointed out that Gujarat’s railway budget has increased 29-fold under the current government. He also noted that over the past decade, the electrification of railway tracks in the state has grown 22 times, with 97 percent of the tracks now electrified.
<><><>
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw met OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in New Delhi yesterday. Mr. Vaishnaw said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi guides them to democratise technology and Mr. Altman appreciated the Prime Minister’s vision. The Minister said, he had a super cool discussion with the Open AI CEO on strategy of creating the entire AI stack – GPUs, model, and apps adding that OpenAI was willing to collaborate on all three.
<><><>
Foreign Affairs Minister of Greece, George Gerapetritis arrived in Delhi yesterday on a four day visit to India. During the visit, Mr Gerapetritis will hold a meeting with External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar. His visit will further strengthen India-Greece ties and enhance growing strategic partnership between the two countries.
<><><>
External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar met SCO Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev in Delhi yesterday. Dr Jaishankar congratulated him on assuming this new responsibility. In a social media post, the External Affairs Minister said they discussed India’s work in SCO and building of SECURE SCO. Dr S Jaishankar also had a telephone conversation with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Dr. Badr Abdelatty. They discussed recent developments in the region and India-Egypt bilateral ties.
<><><>
Now News from the Mahakumbh:
Janjati Sanskritik Samagam 2025 will be held at the Mahakumbh, Prayagraj, today, with over 15,000 tribals from across the country set to participate. Our correspondent reports that during the six-day event, everyone will take a pledge to protect the culture and traditions of tribals. The year 2025 has been declared as Janjatiya Gaurav Varsh to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Birsa Munda.
Under the Janjati Sanskritik Samagam 2025, Yuva Kumbh will be organized today at Mahakumbh. Talking to Akashvani News, the Organising Secretary of Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, Atul jog said that more than eight thousand tribal youths from across the country will participate in the Yuva kumbh. He informed that Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Durgadas Uikey will inaugurate the event.
During the event 25 youth from different states will be awarded, who have done excellent work for the tribal community. An exhibition related to tribal society will also be organized and 120 cultural dance groups from across the country will participate and showcase their art. They will also take a holy dip in Triveni Sangam. With Dipendra kumar, Aman yadav, Akashwani news, Prayagraj.
<><><>
India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast light to moderate rainfall accompanied with thunderstorms and lightning over Arunachal Pradesh and northeast Assam till tomorrow, and heavy rainfall over Arunachal Pradesh tomorrow. We have a Detailed report on the weather forecast:
“IMD said that another fresh Western Disturbance is likely to affect Western Himalayan Region from Saturday. Under its influence, light rainfall and snowfall activity is likely over Western Himalayan Region during 8th to 11th of this month.
The Weather agency said that dense fog conditions are very likely to continue to prevail during early morning hours in Odisha and Himachal Pradesh till tomorrow. IMD also said that cold wave conditions are very likely in some parts of Himachal Pradesh and north Rajasthan today. With a report of Raisudin, this is Mayur jain, Akashvani News, Delhi.”
<><><>
ON INTERNATIONAL NEWS
France’s government survived a no-confidence vote in parliament yesterday, clearing the way for the adoption of the 2025 budget. Earlier Prime Minister François Bayrou had invoked special constitutional powers to secure approval of the budget bill without a vote by lawmakers, which led to the no-confidence motion.
<><><>
United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order into law keeping men out of women’s sports and also prohibiting transgender women and girls from competing in women’s sports. The order has directed agencies to withdraw federal funding for any schools that refused to comply. The order also directed the State Department to push the International Olympic Committee to make similar changes at the international level by making eligibility determined according to sex and not gender identity or testosterone reduction. The order was signed on the occasion of National Girls and Women in Sports Day in the US yesterday.
<><><>
Prince Rahim Al-Hussaini has been named the new Aga Khan, the 50th hereditary imam of Ismaili Muslims, following the passing of his father, Aga Khan IV. The 53-year-old Rahim, designated as Aga Khan V, in his father’s will takes on this spiritual leadership role. His father, Aga Khan IV and billionaire philanthropist Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 88 in Portugal. He is survived by three sons and a daughter.
<><><>
Moving on to the world of sports: In Men’s Cricket, the first match of the three-match ODI series between India and England will be played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur, Maharashtra this afternoon.
“Both India and England will test their ODI performances before going into the Champions Trophy later this month. Jos Butler led England team is largely similar to what they had picked for T20 series, while the Men in Blue have experienced Rohit Sharma back as skipper and star batter Virat Kohli has also returned to the side.
Next we have from the World Table Tennis Singapore Smash, where India’s No. 1 men’s doubles duo of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah will face fourth-seeded French pair of Florian Bourrassaud and Esteban Dorr in quarterfinals today.
Moving on to the Mumbai Open Tennis, India’s Prarthana Thombare will be in action in the Women’s Doubles quarter-final at Cricket Club of India in Mumbai today. While in the Women’s Singles Round of 16, several Indian players including Ankita Raina, Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty and Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi will lock horns at the court.
Last we have from the Indian Super League (ISL) Football, where Mohun Bagan Super Giant became the first team to qualify for the playoffs beating Punjab FC by 3-nil in Kolkata last night. Today, FC Goa will host Odisha FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa.” CHIRAG JHA, AKASHVANI NEWS, DELHI.
<><><>
TODAY’S NEWSPAPERS HEADLINE,
- News related to 70 Assembly constituencies of Delhi going to polls yesterday, dominates front pages of dailies. The Indian Express headline succinctly sums it up as “Delhi Decides“.
- “104 Indians, many who used ‘Dunki’ routes, back home”, headlines Hindustan Times, referring to the deportation by the US of illegal migrants. Some of them paid 40 lakh rupees to agents for jobs in the US, reveals The Tribune.
- The Asian Age reports that the Finance Ministry has asked its employees to avoid using AI tools including ChatGPT and DeepSeek for official purposes, citing risks posed to government documents and data.
- Several dailies have carried on their front pages, US President Trump’s utterances on Gaza. “US President vows to take over and develop Gaza Strip after resettling Palestinians” reads the headline in The Hindu.With the release of 2 more cheetahs and 3 cubs, there are now 7 cheetahs roaming in the open forest of Kuno, reports The Times of India.
<><><>
THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN:-
- Over 60 per cent voter turnout recorded for Delhi Assembly Elections; Counting on Saturday.
- Home Minister Amit Shah says, entire Northeast is now on path of development under leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- Janjati Sanskritik Samagam 2025 to begin at Mahakumbh in Prayagraj today.
- France government survives no-confidence vote in parliament, clearing way for adoption of budget 2025.
- In Cricket, first match of three-match ODI series to be played between India and England in Nagpur today.
- In World Table Tennis Singapore Smash, India’s men’s doubles duo of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah to face French pair of Florian Bourrassaud and Esteban Dorr in quarterfinals.
<><><>