Nine seats have been proposed for STs and seven for SCs in Jammu and Kashmir, sources said. This is the first time that seats have been proposed for STs in Jammu and Kashmir, they said.

Hasty, ill-conceived steps show how isolated Mamata Banerjee had been from the national political trend. A fascinating excerpt from Sugato Hazra's Losing The Plot: Political Isolation Of West Bengal.

According to central and state officials, omicron cases have been detected in 11 states and union territories -- Maharashtra (54), Delhi (22), Rajasthan (17) and Karnataka (14), Telangana (20), Gujarat (9), Kerala (11), Andhra Pradesh (1), Chandigarh (1), Tamil Nadu (1) and West Bengal (1).

He also said that although India got independence much before Goa became free, people of the country could not enjoy at that time as they felt uneasy thinking that one part was the country was still under foreign rule.

The Centre has warned it is likely that the spread of the new variant will outpace the Delta variant where there is community transmission.

Leading stock exchanges BSE and NSE have put out comprehensive guidelines for handling technical glitches at members' end in order to prevent disruptions. Under the new framework, members will have to pay Rs 20,000 per day in case of failure to report the incident to the exchanges within the required timeline, BSE and NSE said in separate circulars. The guidelines outline technology infrastructure and system requirements that a member should put in place to prevent any incident of business disruption resulting from technical glitches.

People must also avoid mass gatherings, and new year celebrations need to be at low intensity, the government said.

The Whistleblower is definitely worth watching, recommends Namrata Thakker.

While Karnataka reported five new cases, Delhi and Telangana reported four each, and Gujarat reported one fresh case of the Omicron variant.

President Kovind, who arrived in Dhaka earlier in the day on his maiden State visit at the invitation of his counterpart M Abdul Hamid to attend the golden jubilee celebrations of Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971, held delegation-level talks with him which was followed by a banquet.

China has long coveted Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls Southern Tibet. But, as Venkataraghavan Subha Srinivasan explains, in 1947, the present state of Arunachal Pradesh constituted the North East Frontier Tract of Assam. When India adopted its Constitution on 26 January 1950, NEFT became 'a separate politico-administrative entity' although it was constitutionally still a part of Assam. Its administration was brought directly under the President of India with the Governor of Assam acting as his agent. A revealing excerpt from his book The Origin Story of India's States.

President Ram Nath Kovind will arrive in Dhaka on Wednesday on a maiden three-day State visit during which he will hold talks with his counterpart and attend the golden jubilee celebrations of Bangladesh's 1971 independence from Pakistan.

ITC was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding nearly 3 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance, Kotak Bank, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries. Nifty fell 43.35 points to 17,324.90.

'It is not about how one looks, but how they feel. It is about how beautiful we are on the inside.'

The Omicron variant was first detected in India in Bengaluru with two people testing positive for it comprising a South African national of Indian origin and a doctor.

The government on Friday warned about the declining compliance to mask usage in the country amid concerns over the Omicron variant of the coronavirus and urged people to follow COVID-appropriate behaviour and get vaccinated to prevent surge in cases.

... 'Or any country which has reasonable vaccine coverage.' 'The emergence of Omicron clearly proves that if we allow a virus to circulate in an unvaccinated population, it would take a form which could be a Variant of Concern, or a new variant.'

Most of those who tested positive either recently arrived from African countries or were in contact with such people.

Cases with the Omicron variant have already been detected in Karnataka and Gujarat.

Two cases of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected in Karnataka, the Union government said on Thursday while asking people not to panic but follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and get vaccinated without delay.

Pfizer's chief executive Dr Albert Bourla told the BBC that he is of the view that annual vaccinations would be needed to maintain a "very high level of protection" against the deadly disease that has claimed over five million lives across the world.

Will Indian democracy benefit from the potential that Shashi Tharoor stores in his mind, spirit and intellect? Or will it be the saga of another leader who promised much but delivered too little, asks Dr Sudhir Bisht.

Equity benchmark Sensex jumped over 500 points in early trade on Tuesday led by gains in index majors TCS, Infosys and Bajaj Finance. The 30-share index was trading 504.75 points or 0.88 per cent higher at 57,765.33 in initial deals. Similarly, the Nifty rose 149.65 points or 0.88 per cent to 17,203.60.

The minister said he was not supposed to say anything officially as he was still in touch with the union health ministry and the ICMR officials.

'This virus may have more immune evasion capability and therefore, it may make you more sick.'

Alert to the looming threat from the 'Omicron' variant, states began to re-tighten curbs and urgently trace people who arrived from abroad in the last one month while a demand to not allow flights from the affected countries was made by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.

The presence of spike protein facilitates a virus' entry into the host cell and is responsible for making it transmissible and causing infection.

After a long hiatus of more than 20 months, the government had on November 26 announced the resumption of scheduled international commercial flights from December 15.

America's top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci has said that the new COVID-19 Omicron variant is in 'fluid motion' in South Africa and the US scientists are in 'very active' communication with their colleagues in that country to test the strain, get facts and find out whether or not it evades the antibodies.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Saturday briefed about the new 'Omicron' variant of the coronavirus, and he asked officials to review the plans to ease international travel restrictions in light of the 'emerging new evidence.'

No longer Bengal's finance minister, Amit Mitra, Mamata's principal chief advisor, will still advise and aid the 'chief minister and finance department on all matters relating to management of state finance', represent the 'state government in national and international events/meetings/committees' and examine 'important proposals/files and policy issues relating to financial matters referred to him for advice/views'.

The move came soon after Belgium confirmed a case of the B.1.1.529 variant in someone who had travelled back from Egypt earlier this month, with the European Union (EU) member states agreeing to a snap travel ban on seven African nations.

Varun, by remaining silent on the BJP action against him but at the same time remaining unperturbed and active, has shown that he is no pushover, observe Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari.

'With the abrogation of Article 370, the Constitutional integration of Kashmir is complete, but whether there has been emotional integration of the Kashmir Valley is a question mark.'

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan announced on Monday that his government will allow India to send a humanitarian shipment of 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat to neighbouring Afghanistan through its territory after finalisation of the transit modalities.

As the actor turns 31 on November 22, Namrata Thakker takes a look at his wonderful life through his Instagram feed.

Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.

'I'm usually pretty chilled and cool, but there are random moments when the brain doesn't compute and I don't stop to think.'

Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma savours Mumbai's street fare... Shashi Tharoor bangs a drum... Punjab CM visits Pakistan...

'One police officer told me that trials take forever, conviction rates are low.' 'So one way to judge states' performance on handling crime is through the 'recovery rate' of their police.' 'The fastest way to get recovery is by torturing the accused.'