Jharkhand polls to be held in 5 phases, results on December 23
- Elections to the Jharkhand Assembly will be held in five phases from November 30 to December 20. Counting of votes will take place on December 23, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Friday. Elections to the Jharkhand Assembly will be held in five phases from November 30 to December 20. Counting of votes will take place on December 23, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Friday.
- Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said that in the first phase on November 30, 13 seats would go to the polls, followed by 20 on December 7, 17 on December 12, 15 on December 16 and 16 on December 20.
J&K situation is not sustainable: Merkel
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday expressed concern for the people of Kashmir and said the lock- down of the region cannot be supported for long.
- Merkel’s comments came hours after India and Germany agreed to work on bilateral and multilateral platforms to counter terrorism and extremism.
- The German leader, on a three day visit, sealed 17 MoUs and five Joint Declarations of Intent, covering a wide range of issues including agriculture, education, and heritage conservation.
Joblessness rises to 3 year high
- India’s unemployment rate in October rose to 8.5%, the highest level since August 2016, according to data re- leased by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) on Friday.
- According to CMIE, the urban unemployment rate for October 2019 stood at 8.9%, slightly higher than the rural unemployment rate of 8.3%.
India, Germany need to fight terror: Kovind
- Underlining that the Indo- German relations are progressing well, President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday said they needed to strengthen cooperation in counter terrorism and coordinate their positions at meetings of the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental organisation to combat money laundering.
- Welcoming German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is on a two day visit to India, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Mr. Kovind said both countries were rightful claimants to a permanent membership of a reformed United Nations Security Council. “In this regard, our cooperation as part of G4 is important,” he said.