PM Modi To Release Rs 20,000 Crore To Farmers During Varanasi Visit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release over Rs 20,000 crore as the 17th instalment of the PM-KISAN scheme at an event in Varanasi on June 18, which will benefit 9.26 crore farmers nationwide, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Saturday.

''Agriculture has always been a priority for the Prime Minister in his last two tenures,'' Mr Chouhan said.

"Maintaining absolute transparency in registering and verifying beneficiaries, the Government of India has disbursed over Rs 3.04 lakh crore to more than 11 crore farmers across the nation. With this release, the total amount transferred to the beneficiaries since the inception of the scheme will cross well over Rs 3.24 lakh crore," the minister said.

Mr Chouhan said that PM Modi will also grant certificates to more than 30,000 self-help groups designated as Krishi Sakhis after the release of the 17th instalment of the PM KISAN scheme.

PM Modi kicked off his third term in office on June 10 with the signing of the release of the 17th instalment of the PM Kisan Nidhi to underline the importance that his government attaches to the farmers.

The scheme, launched in February 2019, transfers online an amount of Rs 6,000 annually in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000 directly into the bank accounts of farmers.

The Minister further stated that around 2.5 crore farmers will join the event across the country through video. Additionally, 732 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), over 1 lakh Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies, and 5 lakh Common Service Centres (CSCs) from across the country will participate in the event to raise awareness among farmers.

Several Union Ministers will also be visiting 50 Krishi Vigyan Kendras to interact with farmers and raise awareness about the various schemes of the Department. They will also distribute certificates to the trained Krishi Sakhis of the area, Mr Chouhan added.

Following the Kisan Sammelan, PM Modi will visit the Baba Kashi Vishwanath Temple and participate in the world-famous Ganga Aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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"Misuse Of Power": Sharad Pawar On Nod To Prosecute Arundhati Roy

NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday described as "misuse of power" the Delhi Lieutenant Governor's sanction to prosecute author Arundhati Roy under the stringent UAPA for an alleged provocative speech in 2010.

He was speaking to reporters during a joint press conference with Maha Vikas Aghadi allies Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan.

Asked about Delhi L-G VK Saxena's sanction to prosecute Roy under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA, for an address at an event 14 years ago, the former Union minister said, "This is nothing but misuse of power." Besides Ms Roy, Mr Saxena on Friday also gave the green signal for action under UAPA against former Central University of Kashmir professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain.

Ms Roy, a Booker Prize-winning author, and Mr Hussain had been named in an FIR registered on October 28, 2010.

The two had allegedly made provocative speeches at a conference organised under the banner of 'Azadi - The Only Way' on October 21, 2010, in New Delhi.

"The issues discussed and spoken about at the conference propagated the separation of Kashmir from India," an official said on Friday.

Last October, the L-G had granted sanction to prosecute them under section 196 of CrPC for commission of offences punishable under different sections of the Indian Penal Code: 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief).

Those who delivered speeches at the conference included Syed Ali Shah Geelani, SAR Geelani (anchor of the conference and prime accused in the Parliament attack case), Roy, Hussain and Telugu poet and Varavara Rao. 

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Delhi Records Maximum Temperature Of 44.6 Degrees, Orange Alert Issued

There was no relief from the searing heat in Delhi on Saturday as the maximum temperature settled six notches above the season's average at 44.6 degrees Celsius, officials said.

Of its several weather stations, Aya Nagar recorded 46 degrees Celsius while Palam recorded 45 degrees Celsius, they said.

Similar weather is likely on Sunday with mainly clear skies and heatwave conditions in several parts of Delhi.

The capital will be on "orange" alert for the next three days, which stands for "Be prepared" in the India Meteorological Department colour codes.

The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 45 and 32 degrees Celsius.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Kashi Vishwanath Temple In UP Introduces Virtual Reality Darshan

The devotees coming to Kashi Vishwanath Temple here in Uttar Pradesh will now get not only physical darshan, they will also get 'virtual' darshan. The temple administration has introduced 11 minutes and 50 seconds of virtual reality Darshan. 

This will allow the devotees to avoid standing in a long queue in the scorching heat to get the darshan. The temple administration said that the service is now on a trial basis and will be implemented permanently after getting feedback from the devotees.

Speaking about the new initiative, Kashi Vishwanath Temple Chief Executive Officer Vishwa Bhushan Mishra said, "3D virtual reality is a new technique which has been implemented in various temples like Ujjain's Mahakaleshwar and Mata Vaishno Devi temple. The company providing 3D technology in those temples contacted Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust for the same."

"Between May 5 to June 4, a total of 363 of our employees and priests watched the movie. They gave positive feedback about the show. Thereafter, it was started for devotees and from June 4 to June 30, a total of 282 devotees watched the movie. If the devotees like it, then it will be implemented on some modalities and terms and conditions mutually beneficial and agreed upon," he added.

This initiative allows devotees to witness rare sights of Lord Shiva and participate in the five-part aarti at 'Durlabh Darshan Kendra' within just 11 minutes and 50 seconds. The initiative was inspired by Ujjain's Mahakaleshwar and Mata Vaishno Devi temples.

"It was such a good and realistic experience. I felt like I was sitting inside the temple...I got to see all the aartis," Chhavi Gupta, a devotee from Gwalior told ANI.

" It is a divine and wonderful experience...within a small time you get to know the history of Kashi Viswanath," Chandan Rupani, another devotee told ANI.

Among the twelve Jyotirlingas, Kashi Vishwanath attracts worshippers from across the globe.

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Ex-Army Man Killed As Gun Goes Off Accidentally While Cleaning

An ex-army man was killed when his double-barreled gun went off while he was cleaning it on Friday afternoon, police said.

Naresh Kumar, 48, was a resident of Pathredi village in Gurugram's Bilaspur and was working as a security guard at a private company, police said.

The incident took place at his house around 2.30 pm when he was cleaning his double-barreled gun in a room. While cleaning, it went off and the bullet hit him in the neck, police said.

He died on the spot, they said.

Upon hearing the gunshot, the family members reached the room and found that the gun was leaning towards his throat and he was bleeding profusely, police said.

The police reached the spot and took custody of the gun and the body.

"A report has been lodged and the body will be handed over to the family after the postmortem", said inspector Arvind Kumar, SHO of Bilaspur police station.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Set To Marry In A Month, Bihar Man Missing After Kuwait Inferno

A woman from Bihar has been frantically calling up her son since she heard about the fire that killed 49 people, mostly Indians, in a building in Kuwait. But she has failed to get any information about her son, who was to get married next month.

Madina Khatoon said her eldest son Kalu Khan has been living in that building, and was about to return home for the wedding.

"I spoke to him over the phone at around 11 pm on Tuesday. He told me he would come to Darbhanga on July 5 as his marriage is scheduled for next month," she told media persons.

A resident of the Naina Ghat area in Bihar's Darbhanga district, Ms Khatoon said her son has been in Kuwait for several years. According to villagers, he was working as a skilled labourer in Kuwait.

When she found out about the fire in the building where her son lived, she frantically tried to contact him.

"But he is not responding to my calls. We have no information about his whereabouts," the inconsolable mother said, adding she had no idea about what had happened to her son.

"He is my eldest son. We tried to contact the authorities. But all our efforts were in vain. We have sent his photographs to embassy officials. Now, we are waiting for an update. We are also in touch with the district administration," she said.

"I am praying that I get some good news about my son," she said.

According to the Kuwaiti authorities, the fire broke out in a building in the southern city of Mangaf, in which 49 foreign workers, including around 40 Indians, were killed, while 50 others were injured.

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Won't Rest Till All Terrorists Are Eliminated From J&K: Lt Governor

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Wednesday said the security forces and police will not rest till they eliminate all terrorists and their supporters from Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing a folk festival organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages at Tagore Hall here, Sinha said the Reasi terror attack has angered all sections of society including artists.

"Three days ago, terrorists carried out a cowardly attack on humanity in Reasi which has caused anger in all sections of the society including artists," Sinha said.

"I want to assure the people that the security forces and police will not rest till they eliminate terrorists and their supporters in Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

Nine pilgrims were killed while 33 others sustained injuries when the bus carrying them to Shiv Khori temple in Reasi fell into a gorge after terrorists opened fire on the vehicle.

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Delhi Records Maximum Temperature Of 43.8 Degrees: Weather Office

Delhi sweltered under intense heat as the city's maximum temperature settled at 43.8 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, the weather department said.

The Narela weather station recorded the highest temperature in the city at 47.1 degrees Celsius, they said.

The Safdarjung observatory, considered the official marker of the city, noted a high of 43.8 degrees Celsius, four notches above the normal average.

Delhi's other weather stations, such as Najafgarh recorded a high of 46.6 degrees Celsius while Aya Nagar recorded 44.8 degrees C, Ridge 45 degrees C and Palam 44.1 degrees C, the bulletin said.

The capital was on "orange" alert, which stands for "be prepared" in the colour codes of the India Meteorological Department (IMD(.

The relative humidity oscillated between 22 per cent and 37 per cent, according to the IMD bulletin.

The MeT has forecast a partly cloudy sky accompanied by strong surface winds and a heatwave at isolated places on Wednesday.

The national capital will be on orange alert for the next two days.

The maximum and minimum temperatures on Wednesday are likely to hover around 45 and 29 degrees Celsius, respectively. 

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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"Competition Not War": Mohan Bhagwat On Election, Running Parliament

The elections are over and the focus should now shift to nation-building, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat said today, in a speech peppered with criticism about the way the campaign was conducted on both sides of the political divide.
Speaking at an RSS programme in Nagpur, Mr Bhagwat also had advice for the new government and the Opposition, indicating that the approach to both election and governance should be tweaked.

"Election is a process of building consensus. Parliament has two sides so that both aspects of any question can be considered... Every issue has two sides. If one side is addressed by one party, the Opposition party should address the other dimension, so that we reach to the right decision," Mr Bhagwat said in words that were seen as underscoring the importance of having an Opposition.

In this election, the Congress has bounced back, hiking its 2019 score from 52 to 99.  The mandate, while cutting down then BJP numbers to 240 -- way below the majority mark of 272 -- has given the Opposition 234 seats in the Lok Sabha.

Mr Bhagwat said the whys and wherefores of the mandate, which comes once every five years,  does not concern the Sangh.

"The Sangh works for refining Public Opinion in every election, did it this time also but does not get entangled in the analysis of the outcome… Why people get elected? To go to parliament, evolve a consensus on various issues.  Our tradition is of evolving consensus… This is a competition not war," he said.

But he also frowned upon negativity of election time, saying, "The way things have happened, the way both the sides have attacked below the belt, the way completely ignored the impact of campaign strategies that would lead to divisions, increasing social and mental fault-lines, and unnecessarily drew the organisations like RSS in the same. Using technology, falsehood was spread, absolute falsehood."

He also underscored the need to fast-track peace in Manipur, saying the violence needs to end on a priority basis. "Manipur has been waiting for peace for a year. Violence has to be stopped and it has to be given priority," he said. "We have made strides in many fields like economy, defence strategy, sports, culture, technology etc... That does not mean that we have overcome all the challenges," he added.

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Modi 3.0: 33 First-Time Ministers, 6 From Well-Known Political Families

With the third Modi government taking shape on Sunday, 33 first-timers will grace its ranks and at least six of them hail from well-known political families.

Those joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers for the first time include three former chief ministers -- Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana) and HD Kumaraswamy (Karnataka).

Shivraj Singh Chouhan is a five-time MP from Vidisha, a constituency represented by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in the past.

He is also the longest-serving chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.

A former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak, Khattar served as the chief minister of Haryana twice. He resigned from the post in March after ally JJP withdrew support from the government.

Seven first-time ministers in the Modi government belong to the allies: TDP's K Rammohan Naidu and Chandrasekhar Pemmasani; JDU's Lalan Singh and Ram Nath Thakur, RLD's Jayant Chaudhary, LJP's Chirag Paswan and HD Kumaraswamy of the JD(S).

Jayant Chaudhary, the 45-year-old national chairman of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), is the grandson of Chaudhary Charan Singh -- India's fifth Prime Minister -- and the son of former Union minister Chaudhary Ajit Singh.

Chaudhary, previously associated with Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, joined the NDA ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections after the BJP posthumously honoured his grandfather with the Bharat Ratna in February this year.

Under his leadership, the RLD secured two seats in western Uttar Pradesh - Baghpat and Bijnor - with significant margins of over 4,88,000 and 37,500 votes.

Chirag Paswan, son of the late Ram Vilas Paswan, one of Bihar's most influential leaders, is set to make his debut as a minister in the central government.

He won the Hajipur seat, held by his father for a record nine times, by a margin of 1.7 lakh votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

His party, LJP (Ram Vilas), swept all five seats it contested in Bihar under the NDA umbrella, making a resounding comeback from the tumultuous period following Ram Vilas Paswan's death in 2020.

Ram Nath Thakur, from the Janata Dal (United), is the son of Karpoori Thakur, a renowned socialist leader and former Chief Minister of Bihar who was awarded the Bharat Ratna earlier this year.

Hailing from Samastipur, the 74-year-old leader is known for his close association with Nitish Kumar and his influence among the most backward classes. He previously served as a Bihar minister between 2005 and 2010.

Ravneet Singh Bittu, the grandson of Punjab's former Chief Minister Beant Singh, who was assassinated by a Khalistani organisation in 1995, is a new entrant to the Modi ministry.

Bittu switched from the Congress to the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. He contested from Ludhiana and lost to Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring by over 20,000 votes.

Bittu (48), previously represented Punjab's Anandpur Sahib in Lok Sabha from 2009 to 2014 and Ludhiana from 2014 to 2024.

Raksha Khadse, the daughter-in-law of senior NCP leader Eknath Khadse, who played a key role in building the BJP in Maharashtra, was sworn in as Union minister.

She retained her Raver seat, winning it for the third time on the trot. At the age of 26, she along with Heena Gavit, became the youngest MPs after winning the 2014 general elections. Her husband Nikhil Khadse allegedly died by suicide at the age of 37.

From being one of the youngest ministers in the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government, Jitin Prasada will return to the Union Council of Ministers after 10 years. He quit the Congress to join the BJP in 2021.

His father Jitendra Prasada, a former vice-president of the Congress, served as political advisor to two prime ministers -- Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 and P V Narasimha Rao in 1994.

A trusted friend of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Rajiv Ranjan, popularly known as Lalan Singh, represents the Munger Lok Sabha seat in Bihar.

The new faces also include Suresh Gopi, the actor-turned-politician who scripted history by becoming the first BJP MP from Kerala.

The first-timers from the BJP are Kamlesh Paswan (Uttar Pradesh), Sukanta Majumder (West Bengal), Durga Das Uikey (Madhya Pradesh), Raj Bhushan Chaudhary (Bihar), Satish Dubey (Bihar), Sanjay Seth (Jharkhand), C R Paatil (Gujarat), Bhagirath Chaudhary (Rajasthan), Harsh Malhotra (Delhi), V Somanna (Karnataka), Savitri Thakur (UP).

Kamaljeet Sehrawat (Delhi), Prataprao Jadhav (Maharashtra), George Kurian (Kerala), Kirti Vardhan Singh (UP), Tokhan Sahu (Chhattisgarh), Bhupathi Raju Srinivasa Varma (Andhra Pradesh), Nimuben Bambhniya (Gujarat), Murlidhar Mohol (Maharashtra), Pabitra Margherita (Assam) and Bandi Sanjay Kumar (Telangana), are also among the BJP first-timers.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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