THE HEADLINES :

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his way back to New Delhi after successful three-nation tour; Holds meetings with 31 world leaders and heads of organization during his visit to Nigeria, Brazil and Guyana.

• President Droupadi Murmu urges citizens to adopt Nation First approach to make India a developed country; Inaugurates cultural exchange event, Lok Manthan in Hyderabad.

• At least 10 Maoists killed in encounter with security forces in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh.

• All preparations in place for counting of votes for Assembly Elections in Jharkhand and Maharashtra  tomorrow; Counting to also take place for bypolls in two Parliamentary constituencies and 46 assembly seats in different states.

• In Cricket, India were all out for 150 in first innings against Hosts Australia in opening match of Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on his way back to New Delhi after completing his successful three-nation visit to Nigeria, Brazil and Guyana.

On the final leg of his visit to Guyana, Prime Minister Modi addressed country’s National Assembly and interacted with the Indian diaspora in the  Capital, Georgetown. The Prime Minister also attended the second India-CARICOM Summit in Guyana and met with leaders of CARICOM member countries. The Prime Minister also held delegation level talks with Guyanese President Dr. Mohammed Irfaan Ali and was conferred with Guyana’s highest national award, the Order of Excellence. The Commonwealth of Dominica also bestowed its highest national honour upon Prime Minister Modi. Earlier, on the second leg of his visit, Prime Minister Modi attended various sessions of 19th G20 Summit in  Rio de Janeiro. Before that, during the first leg of his visit, Nigeria also honoured Mr Modi with Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger. With Anupam Mishra’s report, Aishwarya Rai Nigam, News Desk.

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Prime Minister Modi’s whirlwind tour was marked by hectic flurry of bilateral meetings in the three countries. Mr Modi participated in 31 bilateral meetings and informal interactions with global leaders during his three nation tour. During the visit, Mr Modi held a bilateral meeting in Nigeria, ten bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Brazil and nine such meetings in Guyana. Amongst the bilateral meetings in Brazil, this was the first meeting of Prime Minister Modi with President of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto, Prime Minister of Portugal Luis Montenegro, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, President of Chile Gabriel Boric and President of Argentina Javier Milei.

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Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh today met his Japanese counterpart General Nikatani on the final day of his three-day visit to Vientiane, Laos. In a social media post, Mr Singh expressed confidence that the partnership between the two countries will play a significant role in ensuring a free, open and rules-based Indo Pacific region. The two sides reiterated the importance of defence industry and technology cooperation between the two countries.

Mr Singh also met Defence Secretary of Philippines Gilberto Teodoro. He said, Philippines is an important partner in our Act East Policy and Indo-Pacific vision. He said, India is strongly committed to further strengthen and expand defence cooperation with the Philippines.

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India has expressed disappointment at the shift of focus from adequate Climate Finance enablement to emphasis only on mitigation, at the Plenary Session of the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) at Baku in Azerbaijan. The Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry (MoEFCC) said, India aligned its stance with the statement made by Bolivia on behalf of Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDCs). Delivering India’s statement, MoEFCC Secretary and Deputy Leader of the Delegation, Leena Nandan   reiterated India’s stand that the process of the fight against Climate Change has to be guided by the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Paris Agreement, as the Global South continues to face the intense impacts of Climate Change.

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President Droupadi Murmu today emphasised the need to adopt Nation First approach by all citizens to become a developed country. The President was addressing the gathering after inaugurating the 4th edition of Lok Manthan, a unique cultural exchange event in Hyderabad this morning.

The four-day Lok Manthan serves as a platform for dialogue, reflection, and cultural exchange, spotlighting global tales of resilience and preservation. The event is being held for the first time in the southern part of the country. Several ancient and preserved religious communities from various parts of the world including  West Asia are joining together at the unique cultural exchange.

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In Chhattisgarh, at least 10 Maoists were killed in an encounter with security forces in Sukma district today. The gunfight broke out after a joint team of Central Reserve Police Force and District Reserve Guard launched a search operation in Konta area of the district on receiving intelligence inputs about the presence of Maoists in the area. During the operation, a gunbattle ensued in which ten maoists were killed. The security forces have recovered the bodies. Apart from this, a huge cache of arms and ammunition has been recovered from the spot. The search operation is still going on in the area.

In August this year, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had announced that Left Wing extremism will be completely eliminated from the country before March 2026 and the action in Chhattisgarh is a big success in this direction. Sources said, 257 Naxalites have been neutralised while 861 have been arrested and around 800 have surrendered in the country since January this year.

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All preperations are in place for the counting of votes tomorrow for the assembly elections in Jharkhand and Maharashtra along with by-elections in 46 assembly seats in different states and Parliamentary constituencies of Wayanad in Kerala and Nanded in Maharashtra. The counting will commence at 8 in the morning and results are expected to start coming around noon. Postal ballots will be counted first. Elaborate arrangements have been made by the Election Commission for smooth conduct of the counting process.

Byelections were held on 31 assembly seats in different states and Wayanad Parliamentary constituency in Kerala on 13th of November. 15 assembly seats and Parliamentary constituency of Nanded in Maharashtra wen to polls on the 20th of this month.

In Jharkhand, 81 seats went to polls in the state in two phases on the 13th and 20th of this month. Talking to Akashvani News, Senior Superintendent of Police of Jamshedpur Kishor Kaushal said, three-tier security arrangements have been made around strong rooms, where all Electronic Voting Machines are kept.

Our correspondent reports that Counting centers have been set up in all the 24 district headquarters of the state.

“Counting of votes will begin at 8 AM. First, the counting of postal ballots will be done. After that counting of EVM votes will start. As the trends starts coming, the electoral fate of several political heavyweights will be unlocked including Hemant Soren, Babulal Marandi, Sudesh Mahto, Jairam Kumar Mahto, Champai Soren, Saryu Roy and Banna Gupta. This time several seats are in tight contest including Dumri, Mehgama, Jamshedpur (West), Bokaro, Jamtara, Chandankiyari and Nala. If look at the results in 2019 assembly elections, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha secured 30, BJP 25, Congress 16, and AJSU 2 seats. With KK Lal, Bhupendra Singh, Akashwani News, Ranchi.”

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In Maharashtra, voting was held in a single phase on 288 seats and for the lone by-poll to the Nanded Parliamentary constituency on the 20th of November.

“The counting of votes will take place at 288 counting centres across the state tomorrow. For the by-poll to the lone Nanded Lok Sabha seat, a single counting centre has been set up. According to the chief electoral office, 288 counting observers for the legislative assembly seats and two counting observers for the Nanded Lok Sabha constituency have been appointed. The counting of votes will begin at 8 in the morning and first the postal ballots will be counted. Political parties and candidates have been informed in written by the chief electoral office. The sealed strong rooms will be opened in front of the contesting candidates or representatives appointed by the nominees. The CCTVs installed in the counting centres will have a close eye on the counting process. KUNAL SHINDE, AKASHVANI NEWS, MUMBAI.”

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At the 55th International Film Festival of India in Goa, on the second day today, over 70 films are are scheduled to be screened today, spanning various genres, languages, and countries of production.

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The Supreme Court today sought the response of the Gyanvapi Masjid Committee to an application filed by Hindu worshippers for a survey by Archaeological Survey of India of the sealed area of the mosque, the ‘Wuzukhana’. It was claimed that “Shivling” had been found in this area. 

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The air quality in Delhi-NCR has shown minor improvement with an average Air Quality Index (AQI) of 379 in the very poor category as of 1 pm today. 

The India Meteorological Department has forecast that Delhi and NCR are likely to experience smog and shallow fog during the night and morning hours over the next two-three days.

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In Cricket, first Test match of Border Gavaskar Trophy between India and Hosts Australia is underway at Perth. In their first innings, India were all out for 150 runs. The visitors got off to a weak start with debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy being the highest run scorer with 41 runs off 59 balls. Josh Hazlewood was the leading wicket-taker for Australia with 4 wickets.

Australia were 37 for 4 in their first innings when reports last came in.

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In Badminton, Men’s Doubles pair Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will face the Danish duo Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the quarterfinal of China Masters in Shenzhen today.

In Men’s Singles, India’s star shuttler Lakshya Sen will take on Denmark’s Anders Antonsen in the quarterfinal.

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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his way back to New Delhi after successful three-nation tour; Holds meetings with 31 world leaders and heads of organization during his visit to Nigeria, Brazil and Guyana.

• President Droupadi Murmu urges citizens to adopt Nation First approach to make India a developed country; Inaugurates cultural exchange event, Lok Manthan in Hyderabad.

• At least 10 Maoists killed in encounter with security forces in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh.

• All preparations in place for counting of votes for Assembly Elections in Jharkhand and Maharashtra  tomorrow; Counting to also take place for bypolls in two Parliamentary constituencies and 46 assembly seats in different states.

• In Cricket, India were all out for 150 in first innings against Hosts Australia in opening match of Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth.

SOURCE- NEWSONAIR