India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, is favoured to win reelection when India’s 970 million voters start heading to the polls on April 19 in the country’s massive, six-week general election. Modi, who has been prime minister since 2014, has benefited from a divided opposition, glowing mainstream media coverage and high economic growth rates. However, recent polling indicates significant voter discontent over inflation and unemployment. While 44% of respondents want the Modi government to return to power, a sizeable 39% do not want his Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) to be reelected. Moreover, Modi’s election campaign has been tainted by several events

Aditya Srivastava has topped the prestigious civil services examination 2023, with Animesh Pradhan and Donuru Ananya Reddy getting the second and third ranks respectively, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) announced on Tuesday. Srivastava qualified the examination with electrical engineering as his optional subject. He has done his graduation (Bachelor of Technology) in electrical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, according to the results of the civil services examination 2023 announced by the UPSC on Tuesday. Animesh Pradhan, a graduate (BTech) in computer science from National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela, secured the second rank with sociology as

Unhealthy lifestyle and social habits such as smoking, consumption of alcohol and processed food and excessive use of cell phones can cause damage to sperm DNA, experts at AIIMS, Delhi said. They said that many people are also not aware that infertility, recurrent abortions in women and birth defects in children may happen because of poor sperm quality in men. The father’s role in conception and embryo development cannot be ignored, Dr Rima Dada, Professor at the Department of Anatomy, AIIMS, said, adding that sperm has minimal antioxidants and its DNA repair machinery is silent. ”Thus, unhealthy lifestyle and social

New Delhi, April 16 (Reuters): Popular Indian yoga guru Baba Ramdev said on Tuesday he made a mistake and apologised to a court for defying its orders to stop misleading advertisements that claim his traditional ayurvedic medicines can cure chronic diseases like diabetes. Ramdev, dressed in a saffron-coloured robe, pleaded before two Supreme Court judges with folded hands and said he felt provoked to react after his firm Patanjali Ayurved’s hugely popular medicines were called “pseudo-science” by critics, but added he was not justifying his action. The Supreme Court has previously refused to accept two formal apologies from Ramdev and