India will continue to supply COVID-19 vaccines to partner countries over the coming weeks and months in a phased manner. Official Sources said, India has not imposed any ban on exports of vaccines unlike many other countries.

More than 60 million doses of Made in India vaccines have been supplied to over 75 countries so far. 

No other country has supplied the world with as many doses as India has supplied so far. India commenced domestic COVID-19 vaccination programme on 16th January this year and within days, it also commenced external supplies.

India remains committed to help the world with vaccines, including through COVAX facilities. Given the current manufacturing capacity and requirements of national vaccination programmes, there may be a need to calibrate the supply schedules from time to time. 

Central Bureau of Investigation has conducted searches at more than hundred places across India in connection with more than 30 cases of bank fraud amounting to over 3,700 crore rupees. These searches are part of Special Drive to book the fraudsters on the complaints received from different public sector banks. The complainant banks include Indian Oversea Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, IDBI, Canara Bank, Indian Bank and Central Bank of India.

The cities or towns where the searches were conducted include Kanpur, Delhi, Ghaziabad, Mathura, Noida, Gurugram, Chennai, Thiruvarur, Vellore, Tiruppur, Bangalore, Gantur, Hyderabad, Bellary, Vadodara, Kolkata, West Godavari, Surat, Mumbai, Bhopal, Nimadi, Tirupati, Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Karnal, Jaipur and Sri Ganganagar.

During searches, various incriminating documents and other material, digital evidence have been recovered.

CBI has been receiving a number of complaints from various  Banks  alleging cheating, diversion of funds, submission of fake or forged documents by different defaulting firms while obtaining loans or credit facilities. There have been allegations that such firms have been turning defaulters resulting into the loans becoming Non Performing Assets, thus causing heavy loss to the public sector banks. 

Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh has filed a public interest litigation in the Bombay High Court seeking an immediate and unbiased probe against Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. 

This comes a day after the Supreme Court asked Singh to approach the Bombay High Court with his grievances. The apex court had said that Singh’s claims that Anil Deshmukh had asked police officer Sachin Vaze to collect 100 crore rupees from bars and restaurants as extortion money was quite serious. 

In his plea filed before the High Court, the former Mumbai top cop has reiterated that Deshmukh held several meetings with Mumbai police officials in February this year. Seeking a CBI probe, the plea added that Deshmukh regularly interfered with police functioning and often misused his office. 

BJP has released a list of candidates for Lok Sabha by-polls in six States. Party has fielded Mangala Suresh Angadi for Belgaum Lok Sabha by-poll in Karnataka and K Ratna Prabha for Tirupati Lok Sabha in Andhra Pradesh.

Ganga Narayan Singh will contest from Madhupur assembly seat in Jharkhand, Ashrit Pattanayak in Pipili seat in Odisha, Rahul Singh in Damoh, Madhya Pradesh and Deepti Maheshwari from Rajsamand seat in Rajasthan.

Byelections to the Lok Sabha Constituencies and 14 Assembly Constituencies in various States will be held on 17th April. 

Campaigning for the first phase of polls in Assam concluded last evening and Voting will be held tomorrow for 47 assembly constituencies. People will exercise their right to franchise in more than eleven thousand five hundred and thirty polling booths spread across the State.

As the intense election campaigning has subsided from last evening, now all turned to the voters of Assam who will decide the fate of contesting candidates in the voting process to be held tomorrow in the first phase election in Assam.

The concerned district administrations has set up all necessary polls related structures and polling personals started journey to their designated polling stations.

Meanwhile, the police have also intensified patrolling and checking in various places to avoid any unwanted situation. The Assam Assembly Election will have three phases and the counting will be held on 2nd May.

The Election Commission is fully geared up to conduct safe, smooth and peaceful polls on Saturday in the first phase in Assam. Polling will be held in 47 seats in this phase.

Chief Electoral Officer Nitin Khade  said that a total of 264 candidates including 23 women are in fray in the first phase. Mr. Khade said that there would be 11 thousand 537 polling stations in the first phase.  He said that there would be 11 thousand 537 polling stations in the first phase. The CEO mentioned that all Covid related protocols would be followed during the voting process. Mr. Khade mentioned around cash and liquor of  88 crore rupees were seized by the various agencies in the state so far.

50 percent polling stations will be covered through a web casting system in Assam. Participating in an AIR talk show last night, Joint CEO Rahul Chandra Das said that webcasting will be arranged especially in the vulnerable, critical and sensitive polling stations, and in those polling stations having large numbers of electors.

He said that all arrangements are put in place to ensure free , fair and safe polling. Mr. Das informed that special emphasis has been given to ensure voters safety in the wake of Covid 19.

Similarly, polling will also take place in 30 assembly constituencies of Five districts of West Bengal tomorrow under the first phase of election. These districts are East Medinipur, West Medinipur, Purulia, Jhargram and Bankura. The Election Commission is all set to conduct the polls smoothly.Polling parties will reach polling stations by this evening. AIR correspondent reports that security has been briefed up in those places where polling is scheduled tomorrow. 

The Election Commission has deployed a large number of paramilitary forces to ensure a peaceful and fearless environment for the polling. The borders of the state are being closely monitored by the security personnel. Vehicles entering the borders of the district and cities are being checked by the paramilitary personnel in the presence of a magistrate.

Meanwhile, senior leaders of BJP, Trinamool Congress and Sanyukta Marcha have shifted their election campaign in those constituencies where polling will take place in the second and third phase.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a two day visit to Bangladesh from today. The visit is in connection with the commemoration of three epochal events including Mujib Borsho, the birth centenary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The other events are 50 years of the establishment of diplomatic ties between India and Bangladesh and 50 years of Bangladesh’s war of liberation. During the visit, the Prime Minister will attend the National Day programme of Bangladesh as the guest of honour. He will also call on Bangladesh President Md. Abdul Hamid. Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen will call on the Prime Minister.

This will be the first visit of Prime Minister Modi to a foreign country since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, which highlights the priority India attaches to Bangladesh. The Prime Minister had last visited Bangladesh in 2015.

We spoke to our correspondent Yogesh Pandya from Air Force Station Palam just before the departure of Prime Minister Modi to Dhaka.

Prime Minister Modi will be the guest of honour at the National Day celebrations of Bangladesh in Dhaka today. It will also commemorate the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Prime Minister will also visit Bangabandhu’s Samadhi in Tungipara to pay his respect. He will also visit the ancient Jashoreshwari Kali Temple, one of the 51 Shaktipeeths in the Puranic tradition to offer prayers to Goddess Kali. He will also visit Orakandi and interact with the representatives of the Matua community. Apart from this, Prime Minister will also have substantive discussions with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. He will also meet Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid and dignitaries.

This is the first foreign visit of Prime Minister Modi after Covid19 pandemic, which itself signifies its importance. Mr. Modi is visiting Bangladesh at the invitation of his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina. 

Moreover, Bangladesh is our friendly neighboring country, which shares deep cultural, linguistic and people-to-people ties with India.

India and Bangladesh are likely to sign several MoUs during Prime Minister Modi’s visit. These will be in the field of disaster management and cooperation between some institutions of the two countries. The focus will remain on people to people contact and strengthening the bilateral ties on the strong bonding of history, culture, language and other similarities. India will also extend its support to Bangladesh’s remarkable economic development. India will also express its solidarity and support for Bangladesh’s fight against COVID-19.

Both the leaders first met in 2014 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. Since then, both the leaders have already met several times and are enjoying strong personal bonding, which has further strengthened the bilateral ties between the two neighboring countries. Prime Minister Modi described Bangladesh as a key pillar of India’s “Neighbourhood First” Policy, while his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina also called India a true friend.