Breaking news: Puducherry declares holiday for schools on Oct 15-16 on occasion of Vijayadashami

Government of Puducherry has declared holidays on October 15 and 16 for govt, govt-aided and private schools on account of Vijayadasami in the union territory and Karaikal regions.

Air India Unions in a joint letter to Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation raise concerns about cash, leave, medical benefits, accommodation of employees and arrears. One of the six parameters included that the employees should be allowed to stay in airline flats till monetization or at least for a year as Tatas are giving a one-year employment guarantee.

Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid, with US secretary of state Antony Blinken at his side, said that his country "reserves right" to use force on Iran,  reports AFP. 

Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO) has reported that the total capacity of units under outage due to low coal stocks has reduced to 6 GW on October 13 from 11 GW a day earlier, reports ANI. 

Madhya Pradesh BJP leaders sent air tickets to Congress' Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi and asked them to visit Rajasthan, where atrocities against Dalits have allegedly been committed, reports PTI.

More than 3.2 million (3,236,997 doses) Covid-19 vaccine doses were administered in India until 7pm today and the cumulative number of doses administered so far crossed the 967-million mark (967,808,545 doses), reports ANI. 

Former PM Manmohan Singh's condition is stable and he was admitted in AIIMS for evaluation of fever, reports ANI citing hospital officials.

Uttarakhand state government would provide a compensation of ₹50,000 to the families of those who lost their lives to Covid-19, reports ANI citing CM Pushkar Singh Dhami's office. 

With 2,219 new Covid-19 cases and 49 deaths, Maharashtra's cases tally reached 6,583,896 and the death toll climbed to 139,670.

Also, 477 new cases pushed Mumbai's tally to 749,936 and with three more fatalities, the death toll rose to 16,167.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, reports ANI.

Kerala reported 11,079 new Covid-19 cases and 123 deaths in the last 24 hours. The active caseload stands at 97,630, reports ANI. 

The special NDPS Court hearing Aryan Khan's bail application has adjourned the hearing to tomorrow for further arguments.

President Ram Nath Kovind will visit Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir on October 14 and 15, reports ANI citing the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The President is scheduled to perform perform Sindhu Darshan puja at Sindhu Ghat, Leh and also interact with troops at Udhampur on October 14 and on the next day, he will pay tributes at the Kargil War Memorial in Drass.

Union coal minister Pralhad Joshi said two million tonnes of coal were supplied today while the power ministry had asked for 1.9 million tonnes per day, reports ANI. 

“I can assure that there'll be no shortage of coal for electricity production,” Joshi said.

Colleges in Maharashtra will reopen from October 20, said Uday Samant, higher and technical education minister. The minister also said that the students must be fully vaccinated and if not, universities and colleges must discuss with local administration to set up vaccination camps. 

Also, online classes should be continued for those students who are unable to attend physical classes.

The Maharashtra cabinet announced a package of ₹10,000 crore for farmers affected due to heavy rains and floods. An amount of ₹10,000 per hectare assistance would be given for agriculture while ₹15,000/hectare for horticulture and ₹25,000/hectare for perennial crops would be given, reports ANI.

The Centre has withdrawn the revised guidelines issued on October 1 for UK nationals arriving in India and has reverted back to the previous guidelines issued on Februar 17.

The Jammu and Kashmir police said that a top Jaish-e-Mohammed commander Sham Sofi was killed in Tral Encounter.

Sharad Pawar said that minister of state Ajay Mishra should resign taking responsibility for the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, in which farmers were dead.

Further, the Maharashtra bandh (shutdown) called by the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra on Monday was successful, he added. 

“I received telephones from Uttar Pradesh to express gratitude for the support Maharashtra extended towards the farmers and their families in UP,” Pawar said.

Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar said that the Union government was “misusing” agencies such as the CBI, Income Tax, ED, NCB for political purposes, reports ANI.

The Jammu and Kashmir police said that an encounter has started at Tilwani Mohalla in Tral area of Awantipora.

“Police and security forces are on the job. Further details shall follow,” reports ANI citing the police.

SOPs for Covid-19 protocols for Chhath Puja celebrations will remain the same as SOPs for all other festivals: Governmentsources, reports ANI.

The Maharashtra government has moved the Bombay High Court, challenging the recent summons issued by the CBI to state Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte and Director General of Police Sanjay Pandey in connection with the FIR registered by the central agency against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has handed over copies of their reply to the lawyers concerned on bail applications of Aryan Khan and others in connection with drug seizure on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast.

The death toll from the severe tropical storm Kompasu has risen to 13 and that nine people are missing, the Philippine government said Wednesday.