TODAY NEWS ON March 12, 2024

News Headlines

India test-fires Agni-V ballistic missile with multiple warhead technology under Mission Divyastra

In a major technological breakthrough and building in redundancy into the country’s nuclear weapons programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced the successful test firing of Agni-V ballistic missile with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under Mission Divyastra. The MIRV technology means a single missile can carry multiple warheads. The maiden flight test of Agni-V, India’s longest range ballistic missile with a “range of more than 5000 kms” was conducted in April 2012 and has since been tested multiple times.

NSA Doval meets Israeli PM Netanyahu to discuss war in Gaza, humanitarian assistance

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel to discuss regional developments and the urgent need to address the issue of humanitarian assistance in Gaza. Mr. Doval also met his Israeli counterpart Tzakhi Hanegbi, who was also present during the meeting with Mr. Netanyahu.

Mallikarjun Kharge cautions BJP that any bid to change or rewrite Constitution will cause an upheaval

Stepping up his attack on BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde’s statement that the BJP needed more than 400 Lok Sabha seats to change the Constitution, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on March 11 asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break his “silence” on the issue and dared him to expel Mr. Hegde. The party will start a nationwide campaign from Tuesday to highlight the BJP’s bias against secularism and social justice to the poor and oppressed classes, as enshrined in the Constitution.

Churu MP Rahul Kaswan resigns from BJP, joins Congress

Churu MP Rahul Kaswan on March 11 resigned from the BJP and joined the Congress. He also resigned as a member of the Lok Sabha. "Due to political reasons, at this very moment today, I am resigning from the primary membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party and from the post of Member of Parliament," Mr. Kaswan posted on X.

Trinamool is sure ‘outsider’ Yusuf Pathan will unseat Adhir; Cong. and Left stunned by choice

After the sustained battle between Congress State president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and top leadership of the Trinamool Congress, the party stunned everyone by placing all bets on cricketer Yusuf Pathan to defeat Mr. Chowdhury in the Baharampur Lok Sabha constituency, which he has won five straight times since 1999. The Trinamool has never won the seat, which in the last seven decades has been dominated by either the Congress or the Revolutionary Socialist Party.

Defence Ministry signs ₹200 crore contract for anti-drone systems under iDEX initiative

The Ministry of Defence has signed a ₹200 crore contract for anti-drone systems for the Indian Army and Indian Air Force (IAF) with Big Bang Boom Solutions Private Limited (BBBS). This is the largest contract signed by the MoD under the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) initiative, according to the company.

In Telangana, an eagle squad to pull down rogue drones

Close to three years of painstaking efforts and training have fructified for the Telangana Police after the eagles they had trained successfully pulled down drones in a demonstration held before top police officials recently. Planned to be used for VVIP visits and public meetings, these eagles are capable of identifying drones and pulling them down before they can inflict any possible damage. Eagle squad is part of the Internal Security Wing (ISW), the highly specialised police force to oversee VVIP security in Telangana.

SC to hear plea of six disqualified Himachal MLAs against their disqualification on March 12

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on March 12 a plea by six rebel Congress MLAs, who had cross-voted in the recent Rajya Sabha polls in Himachal Pradesh, against their disqualification. The Speaker of Himachal Pradesh Assembly, Kuldeep Singh Pathania, had disqualified the six on the Congress' plea for "defying" the party whip that required them to be present in the House and vote for the budget.

India ‘one of the worst autocratisers’: V-Dem report on democracy

India, which was downgraded to the status of an “electoral autocracy” in 2018, has declined even further on multiple metrics to emerge as “one of the worst autocratizers”, according to the ‘Democracy Report 2024’ released by the Gothenburg-based V-Dem Institute that tracks democratic freedoms worldwide. Noting that India’s “autocratisation process has been well documented, including gradual but substantial deterioration of freedom of expression, compromising independence of the media, crackdowns on social media, harassments of journalists critical of the government, as well as attacks on civil society,” the report detailed how the “anti-pluralist” BJP government has “used laws on sedition, defamation, and counterterrorism to silence critics”.

Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, number of other countries want to start rupee trade with India: Piyush Goyal

Many developed and developing countries including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and nations of the Gulf region are keen to start trade in rupee with India as it would help cut transaction costs for businesses, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said. He expressed confidence that the development is going to be a "very game-changing" dimension to India's international trade.

Oscars 2024: ‘Oppenheimer’ wins Best Picture in epic landslide

“Oppenheimer,” a solemn three-hour biopic that became an unlikely billion-dollar box-office sensation, was crowned best picture at a 96th Academy Awards that doubled as a coronation for Christopher Nolan. The most closely watched contest of the Academy Awards went to Emma Stone, who won best best actress for her performance as Bella Baxter in “Poor Things.” In what was seen as the night's most nail-biting category, Stone won over Lily Gladstone of “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

Palestinians in Gaza begin Ramadan with hunger worsening and no end in sight to the Israel-Hamas war

Palestinians began fasting for Ramzan on Monday as the Muslim holy month arrived with ceasefire talks at a standstill, hunger worsening across the Gaza Strip and no end in sight to the five-month-old war between Israel and Hamas. The U.S., Qatar and Egypt had hoped to broker a cease-fire ahead of the normally joyous month of dawn-to-dusk fasting that would include the release of dozens of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of a large amount of humanitarian aid, but the talks stalled last week.

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