Delhi

New Delhi, Jun 14 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will Saturday chair the fifth meeting of the Niti Aayog's Governing Council which will focus on issues like the drought situation, farm distress, rain-water harvesting and preparedness for Kharif crops.

The five-point agenda for the meeting also includes aspirational districts programme, transforming agriculture and security related issues with special focus on left wing extremism (LWE) districts, an official statement said.

New Delhi, Jun 14 (PTI) A CRPF commando, who was wounded in an IED blast by the Naxals in Jharkhand last month, succumbed to his injuries at the AIIMS here, an official said on Friday.

Constable Sunil Kalita, 32, was injured on May 28 in the jungles of Seraikela Kharsawan district when his party encountered a number of improvised explosive device blasts during patrolling.

New Delhi, Jun 14 (PTI) India's exports grew by 3.93 per cent in May to USD 30 billion on the back of healthy growth in electronics and chemicals shipments, even as the trade deficit widened to a six-month high, official data showed Friday.

Imports increased by 4.31 per cent to USD 45.35 as crude oil and gold shipments shot up in the month.

The trade deficit, difference between imports and exports, aggregated at USD 15.36 billion, the widest since November 2018, when it stood at USD 16.67 billion.

New Delhi, June 15 (PTI) Resident doctors of AIIMS and Safdarjung Hospital, who boycotted work on Friday in protest against attacks on their colleagues in Kolkata, have now given 48-hour ultimatum to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to meet the demands of the state's agitating doctors, failing which they said they would go on indefinite strike.

New Delhi, Jun 13 (PTI) The ruling BJP is set to launch its membership drive as the party begins the process for its organisational polls, which may lead to the election of its current president Amit Shah's successor, sources said on Thursday.

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is also a vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is likely to head the membership drive and will be assisted by several officer-bearers of the saffron party.

New Delhi, Jun 13 (PTI) With the government all set to bring a fresh bill in Parliament to ban the practice of instant triple talaq, the Congress on Thursday said there are still some issues which it will debate and oppose.

The bill will be introduced in the Budget session which begins on Monday to replace an ordinance issued in February by the previous BJP-led NDA government. With the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha last month, the previous bill had lapsed as it was pending in Rajya Sabha.

New Delhi, Jun 13 (PTI) India is planning to launch its own space station, ISRO chief K Sivan announced Thursday about this ambitious project which will enable the agency to send more humans to space when executed.

He also said India will not join the International Space Station (ISS).

After Chandrayaan Mission 2, also known as Moon Mission 2, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch another mission to the Sun by launching Aditya-L1 in the first half of 2020, Sivan said.

New Delhi, June 13; IANS/GANASHAKTI: The government has convened an all-party meeting on June 16, a day before the first session of the newly elected Lok Sabha, informed sources said on Thursday.

The government will seek the support of the opposition parties in getting crucial bills passed in the session including one on triple talaq which among others were approved by the union cabinet on Wednesday, the sources said.

New Delhi, Jun 13; PTI/GANASHAKTI: All 13 people on board the AN-32 aircraft which crashed in Arunachal Pradesh are dead, the IAF said after a team of rescuers searched the wreckage of the plane in a heavily forested mountainous terrain on Thursday.

An IAF official said there were no survivors from the crash of the AN-32 aircraft.

"IAF Pays tribute to the brave Air-warriors who lost their life during the #An32 crash on 03 Jun 2019 and stands by with the families of the victims. May their soul rest in peace," an Indian Air Force (IAF) spokesperson said.

New Delhi, Jun 12 (PTI) President's rule in Jammu and Kashmir will be extended for six more months beginning July 3 and the Union Cabinet Wednesday gave its nod in this effect, Union minister Prakash Javedkar said.

A meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its approval for the extension of the central rule which has been continuing in Jammu and Kashmir since June 20, 2018.

"Yes, it has been decided," Javadekar told reporters when asked whether the Cabinet gave its nod to extend President's rule in Jammu and Kashmir.