Leaders from energy sector meet PM Modi during India Energy Week in Bengaluru today
Parliament of India reflects hopes and aspirations of 140 crore citizens: LS Speaker Om Birla
Relief to MSMEs: Centre orders Ministries to refund performance/bid security and liquidated damages forfeited deducted during Covid-19
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NIA arrests seven accused from Phulwarisharif in Bihar in connection with PFI case
LS Speaker Om Birla inaugurates 3-day orientation programme for probationers of 72nd batch of Indian Revenue Service
Naval Light Combat Aircraft, MIG29 K Fighter Aircraft successfully take-off on INS Vikrant
MoS for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash reviews progress of PM Gati Shakti
Pawan Hans Limited to launch helicopter services on six routes in Assam from 8th February
Death toll crosses over 2,000, several injured after massive earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria
THE HEADLINES:
Around 60 per cent voter turn out recorded in second and final phase of Gujarat Assembly Elections.
Voting also ends for by-polls to Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat and six Assembly constituencies in five States.
Counting of votes for assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and for bypolls to take place on Thursday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs all-party meeting on India’s G20 Presidency.
India and Germany sign Migration and Mobility Agreement for easier access to study, research and work in both countries.
And in the FIFA World Cup at Qatar; Japan face Croatia in pre-quaterfinals; Brazil to take on South Korea for spot in quaterfinals tonight.
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Polling concluded peacefully for the second and final phase of Gujarat assembly elections today. Around 60 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the state till reports last came in. 93 seats in 14 districts including Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Gandhinagar went to polls in this phase.
The Election Commission said, no major incident relating to the violation of the Model Code of Conduct was reported in the State. Gujarat's Chief Electoral Officer P Bharati thanked the voters for their participation. Our correspondent has filed this report:
"Political fate of 833 candidates including 69 women was sealed in EVM today. Many prominent candidates were in the fray in this phase of the polls including Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and his seven ministers Rushikesh Patel, Jagdish Vishvakarma, Kuber Bhai Dindor, Nimisha Ben Suthar among others. This election will also decide the future of the prominent young leaders of the state, including Hardik Patel and Alpesh Thakor who contested the polls on BJP ticket and Jignesh Mewani who is the candidate of Congress. Apart from them, many senior congress leaders such as Sukhram Rathva, CJ Chwada, Amit Chavda, Shailesh Parmar were also in the race. There will be bi polar race on many seats while some seats will have triangular battle. With Manas Pratim Sarma, Aparna Khunt/AIR News."
Voting also ended peacefully for by-elections to Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat and six Assembly constituencies in five States.
In Uttar Pradesh, over 51 per cent voter turn out was recorded in the Mainpuri Parliamentary constituency till 5 PM. The seat fell vacant following the demise of senior Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav. In Assembly by-polls in the state, over 54 per cent of voting was recorded in Khatauli seat and more than 31 per cent in Rampur constituency till 5 PM.
In Odisha, Padampur Assembly segment witnessed a record polling of over 80 per cent.
In Rajasthan, around 70 per cent of voters exercised their franchise at Sardarshahar assembly seat till 5 pm.
Chhattisgarh's Bhanupratappur Assembly constituency recorded around 72 per cent voter turnout.
In Bihar, polling also concluded for by-election to Kurhani assembly seat.
The counting of votes for the assembly elections of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh will take place on Thursday. Counting of votes for bypolls held in six assembly constituencies and one Lok Sabha seat in five states will also be taken up on the same day.
Most of the exit polls predict a landslide victory for BJP in Gujarat Assembly polls while Himachal Pradesh is likely to have a close contest between the ruling BJP and Congress in the assembly election. Exit polls released by various news channels expect BJP to win between 117 to 151 seats in 182 members-Gujarat assembly. While Congress is likely to get 30 to 51 seats and AAP to win two to 21 seats.
In 68-member Himachal Pradesh assembly, pollsters are predicting election victory for the ruling BJP in 24 to 42 seats and for Congress in 24 to 40 seats. AAP is predicted to win seats in single digits.
In MCD polls in the national capital, AAP is seen winning at different polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the opening session of two-day national office bearers' meeting of the BJP in New Delhi today. During the meeting, the Prime Minister addressed the Party office bearers and provided guidance to them. The meeting was presided over by BJP President JP Nadda. In the meeting, future strategies of the Party were discussed.
Briefing media in New Delhi, BJP leader Raman Singh said, several issues were deliberated including the country's growing stature on the economic front and ensuring people's participation in the events to be organised during the country's G-20 presidency.
The government has convened an all party meeting tomorrow ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament. In the meeting, the Centre will seek cooperation from all political parties for smooth functioning of both the Houses of Parliament during the session. The Winter Session of Parliament will start from the 7th of this month and it will continue till the 29th of December. The session will have 17 sittings spread over 23 days.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi today chaired a meeting with heads of all major parties on India’s first presidency of the G-20. Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and other Union Ministers were present in the meeting. BJP president JP Nadda, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, were among those who attended the meeting.
India took over the Presidency of G20 on the first of this month and will convene the G20 Leaders' Summit for the first time in the country next year.
A meeting was held between External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar and Federal Foreign Affairs Minister of Germany Annalena Baerbock in New Delhi today. During the meeting, both leaders reviewed bilateral relations and shared their views on a number of important regional and global issues.
Addressing a Joint Conference after the meeting, Dr. S Jaishankar. India and Germany today signed a Migration and Mobility Agreement which will facilitate easier access for people to study, research and work in both countries.
The External Affairs Minister said, during the talks, both sides discussed issues related to climate change, conflict in Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific strategic situation, and the situation in Afghanistan, Iran, and Syria. Mr. Jaishankar welcomed Germany's decision to join the India-Pacific oceans initiative.
Responding to a question, the External Affairs Minister said, India's trade with Russia is quite small in comparison to European nations.
Speaking on the occasion, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said, India and Germany share a close bond. She said, India has assumed the G20 Presidency in a very challenging situation when the world is facing the Russia-Ukraine conflict and facing a crisis situation in energy and fertiliser supply.
Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Dr Jitendra Singh has said that India is keenly promoting the development of start-ups in the Space sector to facilitate the entry of foreign government and private sector entities. Addressing the Opening Ceremony of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) summit, "Abu Dhabi Space Debate”, the Minister said, the Indian Space industry today is renowned across the globe for reliability and economy. Mr Singh underlined that the highlight of India’s journey is its thrust on indigenous development through the dedication and hard work of its scientists guided by the commitment of the leaders.
World Soil Day is being observed today. The day is observed annually on 5th of December as a means to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and to advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources. The theme of this year's World Soil Day is 'Soils: Where food begins'.
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurated the National Conference on Soil Health Management for Sustainable Farming on the occasion. Speaking at the event today, Mr Tomar said that due to chemical farming and other reasons, soil fertility is getting eroded and climate change is going to be a big concern for the country as well as the world. He said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is concerned about climate change and from time to time prepares plans and keeps working on these plans. Mr Tomar said, the Government is also working through Soil Health Card for farmers.
To promote the export of millets, a day-long 'Millets-Smart Nutritive Food' Conclave was held in New Delhi today. The conclave is a pre-launch event of the International Year of Millets - 2023 organised by Ministry of Commerce and Industry through its apex agricultural export promotion body, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).
In our bilingual live phone-in programme “Public Speak” at 9.30 tonight, we will bring you a live discussion on Importance of Millets and Millets promotion initiatives with the experts Dr. D.K. Yadav, Additional Director General (Seed), Indian Council of Agricultural Research and RP Singh, Additional Commissioner (Crops), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
Listeners can ask the questions from 09:30 PM onwards today on telephone numbers: 011 - 23717106 and 011-23314444. You can also post your queries on our Twitter handle @airnewsalerts by #tag Askair. This Live Programme can be heard on FM Gold Channel and additional frequencies.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal today said, the National Single Window System (NSWS) will help in realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of transforming red tape into the red carpet. Briefing the media in New Delhi, the Minister informed that the PAN number is likely to be used as a unique identifier for Application Programming Interface integration of data between Ministries and States for ensuring a single business user ID.
The Delhi government has imposed a ban on plying of BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel four-wheelers in the city till the 9th of December in view of restrictions put by the Centre's air quality panel under Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). Vehicles deployed in emergency services and government or election work have been exempted.
In the FIFA World Cup at Qatar, the pre-quarterfinal match between Japan and Croatia is underway at the Al-Janoub Stadium.
The two teams were yet to score a goal till the reports last came in.
Brazil will take on South Korea for a spot in the quaterfinals at 12.30 am tonight.
England, France, Argentina and the Netherlands have already sealed their spot in the last eight of the tournament.
AND NOW BEFORE WE END THE BULLETIN, THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN.
Counting of votes for assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and for bypolls to take place on Thursday
For details of these stories and more, log on to our website www.newsonair.gov.in and News On Air App.
THAT IS ALL IN THE NEWS AT NINE
GOOD NIGHT.