Author: LokMarg

The trial run for the entire Gujarat section of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed train corridor will begin in the year 2026 and services for people will be rolled out by 2027, said SC Agnihotri, Managing Director of National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) on Tuesday.

The Managing Director further said escalated costs of the project, missed deadlines due to land acquisition and COVID-19 pandemic, among other issues will be discussed with the Japanese government to figure out the solutions.
A joint press conference over the status of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project was held by SC Agnihotri, Managing Director of NHSRCL and Satoshi Suzuki, Ambassador of Japan to India.

In Gujarat and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, 100 per cent of civil contracts for the construction of the entire route i.e. 352 km have been awarded to Indian contractors.

There will be eight stations in Gujarat– Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand/Nadiad, Ahmedabad and Sabarmati.

Surat station will be one of the largest stations in the High-Speed Rail Project with a built-up area of 48,234 Sqm.

Surat is famous for its diamond industry, hence, the interiors of the station will represent the diamond facets.

“Surat station will be completed by 2023 and it will be the first station of the project to get ready,” he said.

The project has generated 1.20 lakh direct and indirect jobs. The project has provided 20,000 direct employment and around one lakh indirect jobs in the state, he added.

Meanwhile, Satoshi said that they have emphasized through this project the transfer of technology to the Indian side.

The NHSRCL will be a technology provider to other such high-speed rail projects in the country. Like Delhi Metro is providing consultation to other metro projects in the country. (ANI)

Actor Kriti Sanon has landed in Mauritius to join her co-star Kartik Aaryan for shooting another schedule of their upcoming film ‘Shehzaada’.

Dressed in an all-white ensemble, Kriti was spotted at the Mumbai airport by paparazzi on Monday night.

As per sources, Kriti and Kartik will be stationed there for almost two weeks for the schedule.

Directed by Rohit Dhawan, ‘Shehzada’ is produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Allu Arvind, S Radha Krishna and Aman Gill.

‘Shehzada’, which is touted as an action-packed family musical film, will hit theatres on November 4, 2022. (ANI)

Multiple people were shot at a subway station in New York’s Brooklyn on Tuesday (local time), the city fire department said.

Preliminary reports indicated that five people were shot, a law enforcement official said. The police were seeking a man with a gas mask and an orange construction vest, the official said, reported The New York Times.
The violent episode heightened simmering fears about public safety that have hindered New York City’s push to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The attack took place during the Tuesday morning rush at the 36th Street stop in Sunset Park.

Police officers were called to the 36th Street subway station, where the D, N and R lines pass through the Sunset Park neighbourhood, at around 8:30 a.m., a Police Department spokeswoman said. They had also received reports of smoke inside the station, reported The New York Times.

Transit officials said that trains on the D, N and R lines would be delayed because of an unspecified investigation.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the city’s subway, said no additional details were immediately available.

A spokesman for Mayor Eric Adams declined to comment as reports were still preliminary. (ANI)

India’s retail inflation surged to a 17-month high of 6.95 per cent in March from 6.07 per cent in the previous month due to a sharp increase in food prices, the National Statistical Office (NSO) data showed on Tuesday.

Retail inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has remained above the upper limit of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) tolerance band for the third consecutive month. The retail inflation stood at 6.01 per cent in January 2022.
The inflation is sharply higher when compared with the previous year. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation stood at 5.52 per cent in March 2021.

The price rise was sharper in rural India than in urban. CPI for rural India surged to 7.66 per cent in March from 6.38 per cent in the previous month.

CPI-based inflation for urban India rose to 6.12 per cent in March 2022 from 5.75 per cent in the previous month.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation data is released monthly by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

The Price data are collected from selected 1,114 urban markets and 1,181 villages covering all states/UTs through personal visits by field staff of the Field Operations Division of NSO, MoSPI on a weekly roster.

During the month of March 2022, NSO collected prices from 99.9 per cent of villages and 98.3 per cent urban markets while the market-wise prices reported therein were 90.2 per cent for rural and 93.2 per cent for urban, according to an official statement released by the National Statistical Office (NSO). (ANI)

The Pakistani disinformation machinery has gone into overdrive with thousands of provocative tweets under various hashtags. The tweets, mostly from Pakistan and Afghanistan, aim at disturbing the peace and tranquillity of India.

Under the disinformation campaign, fake information is being posted on Twitter handles like @Babar_7860; @FMQureshipk; @ihtk1; @raufburrio; @ideowarrior; @zahrakhanpak911; @Abebeellan; @akhirhashmi159 and @rakibpatrkar to sow the seeds of hatred.

One such Twitter handle is that of Babar Malik (@Babar_7860) a Pakistani, who claims to be a journalist.

There is another Pakistani Twitter handle @fmqureshipk which has also been spewing venom against India.

Another account spreading similar lies is @ihtjk1.

All these posts are focused on provoking, disturbing the harmony of India.

Pakistan whose own house is on fire is leading the vicious campaign against India to deflect any questioning of misgovernance by its citizens.

Moreover, Pakistan, which has never shied away from denouncing other nations for atrocities against Muslims, has conveniently ignored the issue of violation of Uyghur human rights in Xinjiang.

It champions the cause of Muslims in India but has a dismal record of its own minorities in the country.

In Pakistan, minorities like Hindus, Christians, Ahmaddiyas, and Shias are frequently harassed and persecuted. The country has witnessed an unprecedented rise in attacks and arrests against the Shia minority, who make up between 15 per cent and 20 per cent of the Sunni-majority nation.

The United Kingdom’s All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Pakistani minorities has severely criticized the role of Islamabad in a steadily deteriorating human rights situation of minorities in the country.

A 67-page report, which called the human rights situation in Pakistan a national and international tragedy, highlighted all forms of atrocities that the minorities of Pakistan were being subjected to on an everyday basis.

It said that even after over seventy years of independence, abductions of minority girls, their forced conversions and subsequent marriages were a widespread phenomenon in Pakistan.

Also, there are numerous cases of the state brazenly defending those who have been involved in heinous crimes against minorities and going after the victims. And it is because of such a state of affairs in Pakistan that a number of experts around the world have said that Pakistan is the most unsafe country for women as well as minorities under the sun.

According to Human Rights Watch, “Minorities continue to face violence, discrimination, and persecution, with authorities often failing to provide adequate protection or hold perpetrators to account”. The authorities routinely use draconian counterterrorism and sedition laws to intimidate peaceful critics, reported Daily Times. (ANI)

Pakistan’s newly-elected Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif is likely to finalise his cabinet ministers by Tuesday night, local media reported.

According to The News International, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is likely to be appointed as the next foreign minister of Pakistan and slots are also being discussed for Shazia Marri.
Rana Sanaullah is expected to be given the portfolio of the Interior Ministry and Maryam Aurangazeb could be the next information minister.

Members of the Pakistan Muslim League, Khawaja Asif, Khurram Dastgir, Saad Rafique, Murtaza Javed, and Shaista Pervaiz Malik are some of the eminent personalities considered to be included in the cabinet with names like Aslam Bhootani and Mohsin Dawar doing the rounds as independent candidates.

The members of all the Opposition parties who voted against Imran Khan are also expected to represent Sharif’s cabinet. Before announcing his cabinet members, the Prime Minister will be meeting Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the chief of PDM, and other political leaders of the party, reported News International.

According to speculations Azam Nazir Tarar can be elected as the Leader of the House while either Sherry Rehman or Mustafa Nawaz one will gain a seat in the ministry.

The political party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam(JUI-F) has urged Prime Minister Sharif to elect someone from their party as the next governor of Balochistan, while Punjab’s governor should be elected from Pakistan People’s Party and that of Sindh from Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan(MQM-P).

In his one of his first decisions as PM, Shehbaz Sharif scrapped two weekly offs for government offices and changed government office timings to 8 am instead of 10 am.

Shehbaz Sharif took oath as the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan on Monday after being elected by the National Assembly of the country. (ANI)

While many people fear getting pricked by syringes, nails and pins, Urfi Javed has surprised everyone by sporting a dress entirely made of… safety pins!! Yes, you read it right.

Urfi recently took to Instagram and shared a video, in which she is grooving to Kate Earl’s ‘All That Glitters’ in the transparent safety pins dress.

Underneath the unique outfit, the ‘Bigg Boss OTT’ fame contestant is wearing a two-piece black bikini. It took Urfi and her team three days to make the particular outfit.

“This dress is made entirely. Out of safety pins !! Yes! Took us 3 days but look at this THANKU geetajaiswal422_ for helping me with my crazy ideas! #reels #reelkarofeelkaro #reelitfeelit #reelsinstagram,” she captioned the post.

In no time, netizens expressed their opinions over her DIY outfit.

“Kudos to you for always trying your hand at something different,” a netizen commented.

“So hot. Love your ideas,” another one wrote.

However, there’s a section of social media users who trolled her for the rather bold outfit

“What is this trash?” an Instagram user wrote.

“Machi pakadne wala dress pehna hai (She has worn a dress like a fishnet),” a social media user commented.

Also, it seems like Urfi has drawn inspiration from supermodel Elizabeth Hurley, who made fashion history by hitting the 1994 premiere of ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ in a plunging Versace black gown, riven with deep slits and held together by a string of novelty-sized gold safety pins.

With her outfit, Urfi has once again become the talk of the town and proved that it’s impossible to ignore her peculiar sense of fashion. (ANI)

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, on Tuesday, chaired a review meeting regarding the new Coronavirus strain- ‘XE variant’ and directed the officials to boost the ongoing monitoring and surveillance in the country.

The Minister, in one of his recent tweets, informed that he had a meeting with the country’s top experts regarding the new ‘XE Variant’ of Covid-19, where he reviewed the Covid cases and gave necessary instructions for strengthening the ongoing monitoring and surveillance system to study the new variants and related cases.
According to a statement by the Ministry, Mandaviya has instructed officials on the medical infrastructure and resources front to constantly review the availability of essential drugs and medicines required for Covid treatment.

“He further emphasized that the ongoing vaccination drive must be carried out at full pace and all eligible should be vaccinated,” it read.

“While reviewing the cases of COVID-19 in the country, he (Mandaviya) directed the officials to boost the ongoing monitoring and surveillance of new variants and cases,” read an official statement by the ministry.

The review meeting was attended by key experts and officials of the country, including, Dr V.K. Paul, member, Health, NITI Aayog; Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary; Dr Randeep Guleria, Director at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS); Dr Balram Bhargava, Director General (DG) of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR); Dr NK Arora, Chairman of COVID-19 Working Group of National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), and other senior officials of the Health Ministry. (ANI)

As many as 10 people have been rescued on Tuesday morning after an accident at the Trikut Ropeway service in Jharkhand’s Deoghar on Monday.

The rescue operations are being undertaken jointly by the Indian Air Force (IAF), Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the district personnel.
An ITBP official said, “3 to 5 persons are still believed to be in the cable cars and efforts to rescue them are on. We have rescued 10 people since today morning including five men, three women and two children.”

Ashwini Nayyar, the rescue team incharge said, “The rescue operation is on and we will soon rescue all the people stranded in the ropeway.”

Dr S Bharati of ITBP said, “The rescue team has been working for the last 48 hours and our aim is to rescue each and everyone safely.”

Notably, some cable cars collided on a ropeway at Trikut hills close to Baba Baidyanath Temple on Sunday. The IAF received the request for the rescue of approximately 40 tourists stuck in the Ropeway Service. Acting on the request, the IAF deployed one Mi-17 and one Mi-17 V5 helicopter early in the morning on Monday for the rescue.

While one woman succumbed to her injuries in hospital early on Sunday morning, the death toll in the ropeway mishap at the tourist spot atop Trikoot hills rose to two as another man died on Sunday evening while being airlifted. (ANI)

At least 20 people have died in South Africa’s eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal as a result of floods caused by heavy rains, eNCA broadcaster reported on Tuesday, citing local department of cooperative governance and Traditional Affairs.

In addition, several people are considered missing.
KwaZulu-Natal emergency services spokesperson Robert Mckenzie told the broadcaster that disaster management teams had been evacuating people from the areas experiencing mudslides and flooding. According to Mckenzie, structural collapses of buildings, roads and power lines are observed in the region. In this regard, the spokesman recommended that local residents stay at indoors if possible.

Intense rainfalls have been hitting KwaZulu-Natal since Monday night. The municipality of eThekwini and the city of Durban are considered some of the hard-hit areas. (ANI/Sputnik)