TOP NEWS

The Gujarat Police has alleged that the riot that broke out in Gujarat's Khambat during Ram Navami celebrations on Sunday was completely planned and executed by sleeper cell modules. The police also said the accused were in touch with foreigners who financed their operations. The police said the accused made sure that they attack the Ram Navami Rath Yatra so that no such yatra takes place in the future.

Anand municipality's Superintendent of Police(SP) Ajit Rajian said, "During the Ram Navami Rath Yatra in Khambat, stone pelting and arson took place. One person died in the incident while several others were injured. We formed a special investigation team to investigate the matter. Our team also includes cyber experts."\

The takeover of Ayodhya Mandapam by the Tamil Nadu government’s Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR&CE) department has sparked a controversy in the state. Situated in Chennai’s T Nagar, the temple was run by the Sri Ram Samaj, and an order to bring it under the government’s fold was issued in December 2013 by the then J Jayalalithaa establishment.

However, recently, when the HR&CE department officials executed the order and completed the takeover of the 64-year-old temple, they faced strong opposition, including from the BJP.

The trials on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor will be conducted between Gujarat's Bilimora and Surat in 2026. The train will run at a speed of 350km per hour (kmph), officials said on Wednesday, adding that the operational speed of the train will be 320kmph.

The services will come at a fare matching the economy-class flights and are likely to have a higher free-luggage limit, sources said. The total length of the bullet train corridor is 508.17 km and the train is expected to take around 2 hours and 58 minutes to travel between Ahmedabad and Mumbai, covering eight stations in Gujarat and four in Maharashtra.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Tuesday announced that students will now be able to pursue two full-time academic programmes in physical mode. The commission has put together a set of guidelines regarding the same, which will be put up on the official website of UGC tomorrow, i.e April 13. Earlier, the UGC regulations did not allow students to pursue two full-time programmes and they could only pursue one full-time degree along with online/short-term/diploma courses.

The guidelines will apply to all the programmes available across the country. Students can either choose a combination of a diploma programme and an undergraduate (UG) degree, two master’s programmes, or two bachelor’s programmes. If a student is eligible to pursue a postgraduate (UG) degree and also wants to enrol in a bachelor’s degree in a different domain, he/she will be able to pursue a UG and PG degree simultaneously. The class timing for both the programmes must not clash.

Amid rising Covid-19 cases in some states and fear of emerging new variant of SARS-CoV2, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya reviewed the situation and took stock of XE variant on Tuesday. In a meeting with senior officials and experts, Mandaviya gave directions to boost the ongoing monitoring and surveillance of new variants and cases.

He also asked the officials to constantly review the availability of essential drugs and medicines required in the treatment of Covid-19 patients.

Later, while playing down apprehensions about the XE variant, Mandaviya stressed on the need to maintain precautions.