Author: Agencies
POONCH: In one of the biggest narcotics recoveries along the Line of Control (LoC) in recent years, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Saturday seized five kilograms of high-grade heroin smuggled from across the border in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch, officials said. The seizure was made during a meticulously planned anti-drug operation in village Kosalyain, a forward village in Haveli tehsil, close to the LoC, they said. The heroin, which had been smuggled from across the border, was meant to be transported further into the hinterland through an organised cross-border narcotics network. The estimated international market value of the recovered…
NEW DELHI: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman V Narayanan on Saturday congratulated Skyroot Aerospace after its Vikram-1 Test Flight-1 successfully reached orbit, describing it as a major milestone for India’s private space sector. Narayanan said the successful mission marked the first time an Indian private rocket had been placed in orbit. “This is the first successful attempt by an Indian private rocket to reach orbit. First of all, I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said. He credited the 2020 space sector reforms for enabling greater private participation and said the achievement reflected the success of those policy initiatives.…
NEW DELHI: Gitanjali J Angmo, wife of Sonam Wangchuk, on Saturday said that the planned march to Parliament on July 20 would go ahead despite the climate activist’s transfer to Safdarjung Hospital by Delhi Police. She said that Wangchuk’s hunger strike continues. Speaking to reporters outside the Hospital, Angmo said, “July 20 march is confirmed. Changing the education system is the responsibility of the executive and policymakers. Our job is to tell them that the system has completely collapsed.” She said the movement had gone beyond the issue of the NEET paper leak and had become a broader campaign for…
SRINAGAR: Laying down its condition to join the protest scheduled by the National Conference in Delhi on July 20 seeking restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, the Peoples Democratic Party on Saturday said restoration of Article 370, release of political prisoners and lifting the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami should also be included in the agenda. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said that after discussing the issue, the party does not seem it fit to join the protest exclusively for the demand of statehood. “After careful consideration and deliberations with my senior colleagues, I have come to the conclusion that it would…
NEW DELHI: India’s next phase of economic growth will increasingly be driven by entrepreneurs willing to take greater risks, leverage technology and expand beyond traditional geographical boundaries, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, urging young entrepreneurs to overcome hesitation and contribute to the country’s ambition of becoming a developed nation by 2047. Addressing the Special Plenary Session of the YiFi Entrepreneurship Summit 2026 in Madurai, Sitharaman said India is projected to contribute one-sixth of global growth in the coming years, but its entrepreneurial ecosystem has the potential to raise that contribution further. “It need not just be one sixth. Why…
SRIHARIKOTA: Skyroot Aerospace’s Vikram-1 Test Flight-1 has successfully reached orbit, marking the maiden flight of India’s first privately developed orbital-class rocket.Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Skyroot Aerospace on the successful launch. The rocket completed its final burn and injected its payloads into a nearly 450-km orbit, making India the third country in the world with private orbital launch capability. The mission, named “Mission Aagaman”, was executed from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. The 24-metre carbon-composite rocket completed all planned flight stages, including stage separations and the firing of its Orbital Adjustment Module (OAM). The Orbital Adjustment Module fired its 3D-printed…
SRIHARIKOTA: India’s space sector has officially entered a new epoch. Today, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace successfully executed “Mission Aagaman,” marking the maiden flight of Vikram-1 the nation’s first privately developed orbital-class rocket. This isn’t just another launch; it represents a tectonic shift in India’s space narrative. Historically the domain of government-led programs, orbital access is now open for private enterprise. The 24-metre, carbon-composite rocket stands as a testament to indigenous engineering, powered by a sophisticated configuration of three solid-fuel stages and a liquid orbital adjustment module. The mission, designed to deploy payloads up to 350…
NEW DELHI: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that paper leaks have caused immense pain to several families, stressing that the examination system needs to be rebuilt to ensure security for students and justice for parents. In a post shared on X, Gandhi recalled his interaction with the father of Riya, a student who allegedly died by suicide following the NEET paper leak controversy, and said the incident reflected the suffering of many families. “Riya’s father, Rajesh ji, was shattered by the loss of his daughter in such a way that every…
NEW DELHI: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke began an indefinite hunger strike on Saturday shortly after Delhi Police shifted activist Sonam Wangchuk to Safdarjung Hospital from the Jantar Mantar protest site. Following the police action, the youth-led outfit escalated its agitation, demanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resignation and vowing to press ahead with its planned Parliament march on July 20. “I am starting an indefinite hunger strike beginning right now,” Dipke said in a post on X after Wangchuk was taken to the hospital. In another post, CJP raised the pitch of its protest, saying, “Modi must resign!”…
NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the removal of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk from the Jantar Mantar protest site, urging him not to act with “arrogance” and saying that “history is witness” to the consequences of such behaviour. In a self-recorded video message posted on X, Kejriwal said, “I want to pray to Modiji, don’t do this, don’t be so arrogant. So much arrogance is not good. History is witness that whenever someone has been so arrogant, that person has been destroyed.” Kejriwal alleged that Wangchuk was taken…