Delhi

New Delhi, Apr 6 (PTI) With polling taking place for assembly elections in four states and a Union Territory, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday urged people to cast their vote, saying "India is counting on you".

Polling is taking place for 31 seats in the third of the eight-phase West Bengal assembly elections, while 40 seats are at stake in the final and third phase of the assembly elections in Assam.

Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are voting on Tuesday in single-phase assembly elections.

New Delhi, Apr 5 (PTI) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived here on Monday on a nearly 19-hour visit which is aimed at preparing ground for the annual India-Russia summit.

Ahead of his visit, the Russian Embassy said Moscow attaches great importance to collective work based on the principles of goodwill, consensus and equality, and rejects "confrontation and bloc-type approaches".

New Delhi, Apr 6 (PTI) The daily rise in new coronavirus infections in India remained above 90,000 for the third consecutive day taking the nationwide COVID-19 tally of cases to 1,26,86,049, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

New Delhi, Apr 6 (PTI) Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana was on Tuesday appointed as the next chief justice of India.

According to a notification issued by the government, Justice Ramana would take over as the 48th CJI on April 24 after incumbent S A Bobde demits office a day before.

Justice Ramana would retire on August 26, 2022.

New Delhi, Apr 6 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday took a swipe at the government over the Rafale fighter jet deal, saying karma is the ledger of one's action and no one can escape it.

He said this after a French media report claimed that 1.1 million Euros was paid to a "middleman" by the aircraft manufacturer, a charge that was denied by the BJP as baseless.

Gandhi has been alleging that commissions have been paid in the Rafale deal, which the government has denied.

New Delhi, Apr 6 (PTI) More than 43 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered in a span 24 hours on April 5, the highest single-day coverage till now, taking the total doses given in the country so far to 8,31,10,926, according to the Union Health Ministry.

As on day-80 of the vaccination drive (April 5), a total 43,00,966 vaccine doses have been given out of which 39,00,505 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 48,095 sessions for 1st dose while 4,00,461 beneficiaries received the 2nd dose, according to the data updated at 7 am.

Delhi; 05 April 2021 (UMMN): Dassault agreed to pay one million euro to an Indian middleman just after the signing of Rafale contract in 2016, an investigation by a French publication has revealed.

An amount of 508,925 euro was paid under "gifts to clients".

New Delhi, Apr 5 (PTI) India's manufacturing sector activities lost further growth momentum and fell to a seven-month low in March as demand was constrained by the escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic, a monthly survey said on Monday

The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell from 57.5 in February to a seven-month low of 55.4 in March

New Delhi, Apr 5 (PTI) India recorded an all-time high of 103,558 coronavirus infections in a day pushing the nationwide COVID-19 tally to 12,589,067, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.

The single-day rise in cases surpassed the earlier peak of 97,894 infections reported on September 17, last year, making it the highest since the pandemic began in India, while the death toll increased to 165,101 with 478 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

New Delhi, Apr 2 (PTI) The foreign ministers of India, France and Australia are expected to hold a trilateral meeting on April 13 with a focus on boosting cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, people familiar with the development said on Friday.

The meeting is set to focus on exploring practical cooperation in other crucial areas such as dealing with the adverse impact of the coronavirus pandemic, they added.