Month: June 2025

[ad_1] NEW DELHI: India's extreme poverty rate has fallen sharply over the past decade after the World Bank updated its international poverty line definition and included updated data in its June upgrade of the methodology.Based on the update, the latest World Bank data showed that the extreme poverty rate had declined from 27.1% in 2011-12 to 5.3% in 2022-23. The number of people living in extreme poverty also fell sharply during this period from 344.47 million in 2011-12 to 75.24 million in 2022-23. This would mean that nearly 270 million were lifted out of extreme poverty during the same period.In a blog, the World Bank said that the international poverty line for low-income countries has been raised to $3 per person per day from the existing $2.15 per person per day, and for lower middle-income countries it's changed from $3.65 […]

[ad_1] MUMBAI: Unlike many Mumbaikars who disliked April for its sizzling temperatures, Mahim resident, 27-year-old Payal (name changed), has happy memories of the summer month as a new bride. That is, until June 2, when the software engineer spent a day nursing "terrible acidity" that worsened with acute chest pain in the middle of the night and turned out to be a heart attack."She showed changes in her ECG when she was brought in at 2am that pointed to a heart attack," said cardiologist Dr Kaushal Chhatrapati from Saifee Hospital near Charni Road, who put a stent across her circumflex artery in the early hours of June 3.Payal's heart attack shocked her family because, for one, she is just 27, and for another, women are supposed to have ‘protection' against heart disease/attacks during their childbearing years. The protector is the […]

[ad_1] NAGPUR: Maharashtra's elite C-60 commandos are gearing up for a final assault on Abujmarh, tottering headquarters of the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army, buoyed by CM Devendra Fadnavis's historic visit to the area on Friday. In Odisha, police have intensified searches in Charmal forests of Sambalpur after reports about the influx of Maoists pushed out by security forces' offensives in neighbouring Chhattisgarh.The spotlight, though, remains on Abujmarh, where Operation Clean-up aims to decimate the last vestiges of the military wing of the five-decade old Maoist movement in Maharashtra's eastern flank, say top sources in the state's anti-Naxalite apparatus.A top guerrilla on the radar is central committee member Mallojula Venugopal Reddy, alias Bhupathi or Sonu. Intelligence inputs suggested he was holed up deep inside the booby-trapped forested hills of Abujmarh and spotted a few km off Kawande -- the hamlet CM […]

[ad_1] NEW DELHI: Election Commission officials on Saturday slammed LoP Rahul Gandhi for accusing the poll panel of "fixing" Maharashtra polls, saying that the "absurd" allegations - dismissed in a letter to Congress dated Dec 24, 2024 - not only "demotivate" lakhs of govt staff who work untiringly to deliver transparent elections but also "bring into disrepute" party's own representatives from the polling station to constituency level."Any misinformation being spread is a sign of disrespect towards the law. After an unfavourable verdict, trying to defame EC by saying it is compromised, is completely absurd," an EC functionary told TOI.Also read: 'Maharashtra polls were match-fixed, Bihar next,' alleges Rahul GandhiEC found it strange that the LOP, instead of directly writing to it, has chosen to air his grievances at other forums - party meetings, Lok Sabha, even interactions on foreign soil […]

[ad_1] NEW DELHI: The railways did not just face the tough challenge of terrain and geology to construct the world's highest cable-supported single-arch bridge on the Chenab river, it also fought a long legal battle, with a host of PILs filed in courts challenging alignment, cost and faulty methodology, casting a shadow of uncertainty over the Katra-Banihal section project for around eight years.Since 2008-09, cases were being filed in courts. Though work on this Kashmir rail-link section was going on, it became extremely sluggish for around two years, Northern Railway officials recalled. The PILs challenged the "alignment, faulty methodology and cost" of the project, they said.It was only 2016 that the legal battle came to an end, with the Delhi HC in April accepting the railways' stand, and the Supreme Court, three months later, also disposing of cases. The rulings […]

[ad_1] BENGALURU: Karnataka govt tasked retired high court judge John Michael D'Cunha with submitting a report within a month on the June 4 stampede outside Chinnaswamy Stadium that killed 11 and wounded over 75 during Royal Challengers Bengaluru's IPL victory celebrations, officials said Saturday.A govt notification on June 5 directed Justice D'Cunha - who gained national prominence in 2014 for convicting former Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa in a disproportionate assets case - to give priority to the stampede probe. He already heads inquiries into the pandemic medical procurement scam and oxygen-related deaths at Chamarajanagar hospital in Karnataka.His one-member commission - appointed on Aug 25, 2023, and set to conclude work by July 31 this year - has now been granted an extension till Aug 31 to accommodate the additional case. "Since the commission needs to prioritise the stampede and […]

[ad_1] NEW DELHI: The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) on Saturday directed e-commerce platforms to conduct self-audits within three months to identify and eliminate 'dark patterns', which are carefully crafted to trick buyers into doing things that they don't mean to, like buying or signing up for something.In a statement, consumer affairs department said all e-commerce platforms must examine their interfaces for practices that undermine consumer choice or constitute unfair trade practices. "Based on their audit findings, platforms are encouraged to provide self-declarations confirming their sites are free from deceptive practices. The self-declarations will enable a fair digital ecosystem along with building trust between consumers and e-commerce platforms," it said.As per the department, a joint working group, comprising representatives from various ministries, regulators, consumer organisations and national law universities, has also been set up to monitor violations and suggest awareness […]