Published: Jan 17, 2026 Dehradun: In a significant move aimed at preserving the sanctity of religious practice and streamlining the management of pilgrim crowds, the Uttarakhand government has announced a complete ban on mobile phones and cameras inside all four Char Dham temples starting from the upcoming pilgrimage season, likely to begin in April. The decision was

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Published: Jan 17, 2026 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated four new Amrit Bharat Express trains linking northern Bengal to southern and western India, alongside flagging off the first Vande Bharat sleeper train between Howrah and Guwahati. The launches, held at a public function in Malda, mark a significant expansion of India’s modern inter-state

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Published: Jan 18, 2026 Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday appealed to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant to safeguard the Constitution, democracy, and the judiciary from what she described as a growing “disaster” in public governance and legal processes. Speaking at the inauguration of a new building at the Jalpaiguri circuit

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Published: Jan 17, 2026 India’s cities and towns face chronic financial instability and weakened planning capacity because of the poor institutionalisation of State Finance Commissions (SFCs), according to a new report released by the Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy. The report warns that unless SFCs are strengthened uniformly across states, urban local bodies will

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Updated: Jan 17, 2026 World Bank president Ajay Banga, a prominent Indian-American global finance leader, has been appointed to a newly constituted “Board of Peace” that will oversee the temporary governance and reconstruction of Gaza, according to an announcement by the White House on Friday. The move places Banga at the heart of a controversial

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Updated: Jan 18, 2026 The results of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections may have declared the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the single-largest party, but they have not brought political certainty to Mumbai’s civic administration. Instead, they have set the stage for an intense and delicate power struggle ahead of the mayoral election, with

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GUWAHATI, Jan 18: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has firmly established itself as the first choice of people across the country, while the Congress has steadily lost the trust of the nation. Addressing a public gathering at Kaliabor in Assam, Modi cited the BJP’s recent electoral successes in

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New Delhi, January 18, 2026 The detention of climate activist and education reformer Sonam Wangchuk under the National Security Act (NSA) has become a troubling marker of the state of democracy in India, his wife Gitanjali Angmo has said, alleging that the government itself appears aware that the case lacks legal merit and is therefore

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Kolkata, January 18, 2026:Armed West Bengal Police personnel, assisted by the Rapid Action Force (RAF), carried out route marches in violence-hit Beldanga in Murshidabad district on Sunday as authorities tightened security following two days of unrest. While the situation remained calm, the town presented a deserted look, with shops shut and roads largely empty after repeated incidents of road and

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Lucknow, January 18, 2026:An IndiGo Airlines flight en route from Delhi to Bagdogra made an emergency landing at Lucknow airport on Sunday after a bomb threat was reported onboard, officials said. The threat was conveyed through a handwritten message found on a tissue paper inside the aircraft’s toilet, according to Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Rajneesh Verma. “A message was found written on a tissue

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