The Haryana Elementary Education Department has issued guidelines for those JBT and Head Teachers who either could not be transferred or were in the category of 'anywhere' due to certain reasons as per teachers’ transfer policy during the last general transfers. While stating this here today, a spokesman of the Department said that the teachers, who were transferred in the category of 'anywhere', would be given a chance to participate in the next round of online transfers.

In a written communication addressed to all District Elementary Education Officers (DEEO), they have been informed that the teachers, who had not yet filled up their profile, would get their profile approved within the next 10 days. For this, if there is no vacancy available at their present place of posting, the DEEO concerned should temporarily allot such teachers a school where vacant post is available as per MIS only for the approval of profile.

The DEEOs would forward list of such teacher’s along with their ID numbers to the Directorate so as to ensure their inclusion in transfers during next round of transfers.

The JBT teachers who had got approved their profile on the other designation instead of their own like against Head Teachers or vice-versa, such teachers should be divided into two categories comprising not transferred and already transferred in previous drive. The list of both these categories should be sent to the Directorate.

In case there is no vacancy of original post at current school for such teachers, the DEEOs should send name of such schools where vacancy of original post could be available so that their profile could be corrected. Teacher ID and school code should be properly marked, he added.

China is trying to block Taiwan from diversifying its foreign direct investments, including to India, because Beijing wants the East Asian island nation's investments to be restricted to mainland China, a Taiwanese minister has said.

The self-ruled island nation is seeking to diversify its investments under a new foreign policy billed as "New Southbound Policy" that seeks to engage more closely with 18 Asia-Pacific countries, including India.

"Beijing will try to block our New Southbound Policy only because they will like to see Taiwanese investments to go to mainland China and not to diversify our outgoing investments," Taiwan's First Deputy Minister for Mainland Affairs Council Cheng-yi Lin said in response to a question during an interaction with a group of journalists here on Wednesday.

"Our relationship with mainland China and our New Southbound Policy are equally important for Taiwan and we are not competing with the PRC (People's Republic of China)," Lin stated.

The 18 countries with which Taiwan seeks to have closer investment ties include India and five other South Asian nations, the 10 member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), and Australia and New Zealand.

The policy was adopted after President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) assumed power in 2016.

According to the guidelines of the new policy, it "is a crucial part of Taiwan's economic and trade strategy".

"As an important member of both Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, Taiwan must respond to changing global conditions and the trend toward regional integration by making appropriate adjustments," the guidelines state.

"The New Southbound Policy has been adopted in order to identify a new direction and a new driving force for a new stage of Taiwan's economic development, and to create future value."

"We can offer another dimension of the story to the Taiwan economic development, also Taiwan contributing to the region," Minister Lin said.

The island nation is the world's 22nd-largest economy and was dubbed one of the four Asian tigers in the late 20th century, the others being Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea.

Lin's comments come in the wake of a visit to India of a Taiwanese delegation that included three women parliamentarians earlier this month resulting in a sharp reaction from Beijing.

During the course of the visit, China lodged a protest and asked India to honour its commitment to the "One China policy".

Beijing also said that New Delhi should be cautious in dealing with Taiwan.

New Delhi responded saying that no political meaning should be read into the Taiwanese delegation's visit.

"Such (Taiwanese) informal groups have visited India in the past as well for business, religious and tourist purposes," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said following Beijing's remarks.

"I understand that they do so to China as well. There is nothing new or unusual about such visits and political meanings should not be read into them."

In his interaction with the media on Wednesday, Lin said that mainland China has been benefiting from Taiwan's investments since 1990.

"Any other country in the region too should have the opportunity to have Taiwanese investments," he said. "For example, India."

Lin said that compared to other countries in Southeast Asia like Vietnam, Malaysia or Indonesia, Taiwanese investments in India have been "very low".

China is trying to block Taiwan from diversifying its foreign direct investments, including to India, because Beijing wants the East Asian island nation's investments to be restricted to mainland China, a Taiwanese minister has said.

The self-ruled island nation is seeking to diversify its investments under a new foreign policy billed as "New Southbound Policy" that seeks to engage more closely with 18 Asia-Pacific countries, including India.

"Beijing will try to block our New Southbound Policy only because they will like to see Taiwanese investments to go to mainland China and not to diversify our outgoing investments," Taiwan's First Deputy Minister for Mainland Affairs Council Cheng-yi Lin said in response to a question during an interaction with a group of journalists here on Wednesday.

"Our relationship with mainland China and our New Southbound Policy are equally important for Taiwan and we are not competing with the PRC (People's Republic of China)," Lin stated.

The 18 countries with which Taiwan seeks to have closer investment ties include India and five other South Asian nations, the 10 member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), and Australia and New Zealand.

The policy was adopted after President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) assumed power in 2016.

According to the guidelines of the new policy, it "is a crucial part of Taiwan's economic and trade strategy".

"As an important member of both Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, Taiwan must respond to changing global conditions and the trend toward regional integration by making appropriate adjustments," the guidelines state.

"The New Southbound Policy has been adopted in order to identify a new direction and a new driving force for a new stage of Taiwan's economic development, and to create future value."

"We can offer another dimension of the story to the Taiwan economic development, also Taiwan contributing to the region," Minister Lin said.

The island nation is the world's 22nd-largest economy and was dubbed one of the four Asian tigers in the late 20th century, the others being Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea.

Lin's comments come in the wake of a visit to India of a Taiwanese delegation that included three women parliamentarians earlier this month resulting in a sharp reaction from Beijing.

During the course of the visit, China lodged a protest and asked India to honour its commitment to the "One China policy".

Beijing also said that New Delhi should be cautious in dealing with Taiwan.

New Delhi responded saying that no political meaning should be read into the Taiwanese delegation's visit.

"Such (Taiwanese) informal groups have visited India in the past as well for business, religious and tourist purposes," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said following Beijing's remarks.

"I understand that they do so to China as well. There is nothing new or unusual about such visits and political meanings should not be read into them."

In his interaction with the media on Wednesday, Lin said that mainland China has been benefiting from Taiwan's investments since 1990.

"Any other country in the region too should have the opportunity to have Taiwanese investments," he said. "For example, India."

Lin said that compared to other countries in Southeast Asia like Vietnam, Malaysia or Indonesia, Taiwanese investments in India have been "very low".

The Odisha Assembly on Thursday witnessed uproar when opposition Congress and BJP demanded a discussion on the violence during the three-tire panchayat elections which ended on February 21.

The Opposition legislators shouted slogans standing on their seats on the second day of the budget session. They demanded that the discussion be held immediately after cancelling the question hour. Unable to run the House, the Speaker Niranjan Pujari adjourned the proceedings till 11.45 AM.

When the House reassembled, the Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra of Congress said the Speaker should allow the debate as the violence of this nature was unheard of in Odisha. He alleged that the political activists of opposition parties were killed while police turned mute witnesses to such crimes.

BJP legislature party leader K V Singhdeo also wanted a debate on the matter and expressed apprehension that further violence could take place after results of the panchayat elections were officially announced.

When the results of the sarpanch, panchayat samiti members and ward members are announcedon Thursday, the results of the Zilla Parishad, which were contested on party sysmbols, will be announced on February 25.

Singhdeo said a debate in the House could help reduce the clash and violence. However, government chief whip Ananta Das said that it was up to the Speaker to take a decision on the matter. "I think that Speaker will allow such a discussion after election results are announced," Das said adding that the ruling BJD was in favour of holding a discussion on the poll violence.

Congress chief whip Taraprasad Bahinipati said a bad precedent had been created in this panchayat polls. "There should be no place of violence in the peaceful state like Odisha," Bahinipati said adding that the one youth was killed in Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's Assembly segment. The miscreants killed the youth in the presence of police, Bahinipati alleged.

The ruling party members also alleged that their party activisits had been fallen prey to the poll violence. "Our party supported Sarpanch candidate has been arrested on flimsy ground," said BJD law maker Amar Prasad Satpathy.

However, Speaker Pujari did not say anything on whether to allow a discussion on the poll violence in the House.

At least eight persons were killed on Thursday when a powerful explosion took place near a restaurant serving Indian cuisine in the Pakistani city Lahore, police said.

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said 21 people were injured and were shifted to the General Hospital where four were in critical condition, Xinhua news agency reported.

Police spokesman Nayab Haider said the blast was triggered by detonation of explosive materials in Defence area.

The bomb disposal squad said a timer device was used to carry out the explosion and that eight to 10 kg of explosives were used in the attack.

The blast occurred in an under-construction building, located right next to Bombay Chowpatty, a restaurant that serves Indian cuisine.

At least four vehicles and 12 motorbikes were destroyed in the explosion. Four nearby building were also damaged.

Heavy contingents of police, army and people from intelligence agencies reached at the blast site and cordoned it off, Xinhua reported.

The army vacated all the nearby buildings in the market and launched a rescue and search operation.

A few days ago, the same market was evacuated and checked by law enforcement agencies after receiving a bomb threat by some outlawed group.

No group has claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack.

Officials, however, denied that a second blast took place in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province. 

Supported by higher opening of European markets, Indian equity markets continued their bullish trend for sixth-day and closed last trading session of the week with marginal gains. The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ended 28 points higher at 28,893, on Friday, and the Nifty at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed 13 points up at 8,940.

Domestic equity markets will remain close on Friday on account of Mahashivratri.

In the broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rose 0.2 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, Telecom index jumped the most, up 1.8 per cent, while Power index became the top loser, down 0.7 per cent.

On Wednesday, the Sensex had closed 103 points up at 28,865 and the Nifty had closed 19 points higher at 8,927.

Top gainers in the Sensex-30 pack: Wipro (up 3.1 per cent), TCS (up 2.8 per cent), Infosys (up 1.7 per cent), Bharti Airtel (up 1.6 per cent) and ITC (up 1 per cent).

Top losers in the Sensex-30 pack: Reliance Industries (down 2.1 per cent), Asian Paints (down 1.1 per cent), Power Grid (down 1.1 per cent), Adani Ports (down 0.9 per cent), and Maruti Suzuki (down 0.8 per cent).

Meanwhile, the Rupee was trading 15 paise higher at 66.82 against the US Dollar.

Demonetisation has significantly impacted credit demand and deposit growth of banks but had a mixed effect on asset quality in the third quarter of current fiscal, Moody's Investors Service said on Thursday.

The cancellation of legal tender of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes has led to a slowdown in economic activity that weighed on demand for credit among companies and retail borrowers during the October-December quarter, it said.

"Demonetisation has significantly impacted credit demand and deposit growth but effect on asset quality has been mixed; retail payment systems have benefited. While commentary from the banks points to a rise in activity in January 2017, it is still below pre-demonetisation levels," Moody's said.

In its report, Moody's said the slowdown in loan growth may also have been in part due to loan repayments using the demonetised currencies.

Deposits at rated banks grew by 13 per cent year-on-year in the December quarter, from 6 per cent in the preceding quarter, but as cash availability increases and restrictions on withdrawals go, a moderation will occur, it said.

It also said that retail payment systems, such as card transactions and mobile wallets, saw a significant uptick in activity post-demonetisation, but "the transition to a cashless environment will take time".

The government had on November 8, 2016, announced junking of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, which accounted for 86 per cent of the currency in circulation. This led to a slowdown in economic activity and weighed on demand for credit among companies and retail borrowers during the December quarter.

"Banks have experienced significant inflows into their deposit base as customers deposit their existing holdings of the demonetised notes. However, we maintain our view that the level of bank deposits will increase by only around 1-2 per cent in the near-term, given the substantial role of cash in the Indian economy as a medium of transaction," Moody's said.

Economic activity suffered in November and December 2016 as households and businesses experienced liquidity shortages following demonetisation.

"We expect asset quality in the quarter ending March 2017 to show more adverse trends as the quarter ended December 2016 may have benefited from the fact that only two of the three months were affected by demonetisation. Nevertheless, it seems that the impact on asset quality from demonetisation will be manageable for the banking sector," Moody's said.

As on February 3 2017, total currency in circulation was around Rs 9.8 lakh crore, which is about 58 per cent of the level seen before demonetisation.

"The amount of currency in public circulation continues to increase steadily, indicating that the limiting factor is the supply of currency rather than the demand for it," Moody's added.

Dangwimsai Pul, wife of the late Arunachal Chief Minister Kalikho Pul, on Thursday withdrew her letter to Chief Justice of India JS Khehar, saying the Supreme Court has no business to deal with her letter on the judicial side.

She said the letter should have been dealt with on the administrative side.

Senior counsel Dushyant Dave, representing her, indicated Dangwimsai may approach Vice President Hamid Ansari to look into the matter as President Pranab Mukherjee too finds a mention in her husband's suicide note.

Dangwimsai in her letter to Chief Justice Khehar had alleged corruption by politicians and a few higher judiciary functionaries.

A bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit allowed Dangwimsai to withdrew her letter, as her counsel Dushyant Dave said they should recuse from hearing the matter as the same cannot be heard on the judicial side.

Dangwimsai had written the letter to the Chief Justice of India to seek permission to lodge an FIR on the basis of a suicide note allegedly written by Kalikho Pul before his death on August 9 last year.

Dave wanted to know on whose instructions the court Registry had listed the letter for hearing before the bench when it was meant to be dealt with on administrative side.

He questioned how the letter was listed for hearing in court number 13 and not court numbers 3, 4 or 5.

Dave said while a seven-judge bench is hearing the case of Kolkata High Court's Justice CS Karnan, the instant case that names certain judicial functionaries was listed before a two-judge bench.

The senior counsel referred to a Constitution Bench judgment to buttress his point, saying all such communication (letter) should be dealt with on the administrative side.

Kalikho Pul was found dead on August 9, 2016, at his official residence in Arunachal Pradesh capital Itanagar. He left behind a 60-page note in which he accused several top politicians and Supreme Court Judges of seeking bribe.

Earlier, Dangwimsai, the first wife of Pul, demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the case. She claimed the Arunachal Pradesh government was not interested in probing Pul's death.

The talk is, Rajkummar Rao's Trapped is India's first survival drama.

Starring Rajkumar Rao, if the trailer is anything to go by, the film revolves around a one-of-a-kind concept of a survival drama about a man trapped inside a house endlessly for days, without food, water and electricity. 

The trailer launch was held at a suburban theatre in Mumbai on Tuesday and saw the likes of the protagonist Rajkummar Rao, director Vikramaditya Motwane, and producers Vikas Bahl and Shibashish Sarkar. 

Actor Rajkummar Rao spoke about how he prepped hard for the role and even went on a black coffee and carrot diet for 20 days to fit into the skin of his character. 

'Trapped' was screened at the 18th Jio MAMI Mumbai International Film Festival and received a standing ovation for its exceptional storyline and superb performance by National Award winning actor Rajkummar Rao. 

Helmed by ace director Vikramaditya Motwane, Trapped is slated to release on March 17.
 

After the formation of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, the Indian Army's morale got a massive boost and is now at an all time high, BJP chief Amit Shah said on Thursday.

"Earlier indiscriminate firing used to have been initiated by Pakistan, and also ended by that country. Today, Pakistan resorts to indiscriminate firing, but the final answer is given by India," he told an election meeting here.

"A 'goli' (bullet) comes from there (Pakistan), and it is retaliated with a 'gola' (artillery shell," the BJP chief said, adding no one has any right to insult jawans.

Urging the voters to give an overwhelming mandate to the BJP in the UP polls, Shah said the party, on coming to power, would ban all slaughter houses in the state and take a tough stand on land mafia.

TV Series: Big Little Lies

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Alexander Skarsgard, Laura Dern

Genre: Drama-Comedy

Director: Jean- Marc Valle

Taking on Liane Moriarty’s best-selling book, the mini- series TV adaptation boasts a cast that needs no further validation. With an idyllic setting in a town called Monterrey all is not well as it seems, after all nothing is as it seems. Somebody is dead. Yes, at the very onset someone is murdered and then the whole episode flashes back and forth to the incident. As the story flashes backwards, Madeline Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) is driving with her younger daughter to her first grade orientation.

One thing leads to another and Madeline meets Jane ‘no middlename’ Chapman (Shailene Woodley), a young-shy single mother who has just moved into the town with her six year-old son. The duo is joined in by Celeste (Nicole Kidman), Madeline’s best friend and a former lawyer. As the leading ladies bond over kids and PTAs, the plot gets interesting as a young girl is hurt and upon asking the finger is pointed at Jane’s son.Battlelines are drawn and the jury is out. But Madeline doesn’t give up so easily. She loves to fight for justice after all. The rest of the episode is basically a build up to the rest of the series as the story shows the struggles of the three moms who are fighting their inner demons in their seemingly perfect upper middle class lives.

Celeste comes across as someone with a lot of mystery surrounding her and an unexplained sadness to her character. Married to a younger Perry (Alexander Skarsgard), she seems to be struggling about something, which is not yet explained to the viewers.

Jane Chapman’s character is also enveloped into a dark mystery. Her real motive of moving to the upscale Monterey is still unknown. Most probably she is running from something or is it someone?

Busybee Madeline is all set and sure in her life. At least that is what she thinks. Life throws enough puzzles her way to leave her confused and incompetent at times. Struggling with her teen aged daughter she feels as if her children are slipping away from her.

A couple of present-day murder investigation scenes are thrown in with the flash back sequences as the parents and other members from the Monterey community are interviewed. As the bits and pieces of mystery are dropped into the story and the intrigue is built into the story as no one knows who is killed and the impending homicide right at the beginning has surely set the tone.

Nuanced performances, high-end production and a glossy look, Big Little Lies ticks off all the right boxes to be one of the most talked about TV dramas today. Will it be able to live up to the expectations built with such a star cast? Only time will tell.

The civil services preliminary examination, to select IAS and IPS officers among others, has been preponed and it is scheduled to be held in June this year instead of August.

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) will be conducting the examination in June after a gap of three years.

The preliminary tests for 2016, 2015 and 2014 were held during the month of August, a senior UPSC official said.

The preliminary exam for 2013 was held on May 26 that year.

The civil services preliminary examination, 2017, will be held by the Commission on June 18, as per an official order.

The number of vacancies to be filled on the result of the examination is expected to be approximately 980 which include 27 vacancies reserved for those in physically handicapped category, it said.

"The final number of vacancies may undergo change after getting firm number of vacancies from cadre controlling authorities. Reservation will be made for candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Physically Disabled Categories in respect of vacancies as may be fixed by the government," the order said.

The civil services examination is conducted annually by the UPSC in three stages – preliminary, main and interview – to select officers for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.

The Commission has also notified rules for the civil services examination 2017.

The last date for receiving the applications for the preliminary test is March 17, 2017 till 6 PM.

"Candidates who are declared by the Commission to have qualified for admission to the civil services (main) examination will have to apply online again, in the Detailed Application Form which would be made available to them. The main examination is likely to be held in October, 2017," the UPSC said.

As per the notification for this year's exam, a candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years on August 1, 2017 ( i.e. he must have been born not earlier than August 2, 1985 and not later than August 1, 1996), to appear in the preliminary exam.

The upper age limit is relaxable for certain categories of candidates.

"Every candidate appearing at the examination who is otherwise eligible, shall be permitted six attempts at the examination. Provided that this restriction on the number of attempts will not apply in the case of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes candidates who are otherwise eligible.

"Provided further that the number of attempts permissible to candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes, who are otherwise eligible shall be nine. The relaxation will be available to the candidates who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates," the exam's notification said.

Two explosions rocked Pakistan's Lahore city on Thursday, the first one killing at least seven people, the media reported.

Fifteen people were also injured in the first blast in a building under construction, police were quoted as saying. The explosion was reportedly detonated with a timer device. 

Police said some persons may still be trapped in the building, the News International reported.

The intensity of the blast shattered windows of nearby buildings. Ambulances rushed to the scene to shift the injured to the nearby General Hospital. 

A little while later, another explosion was reported in Lahore, Xinhua news agency said. No further details were available.

 Australia is expected to host the Asean-Australia Special Summit in 2018, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced on Thursday.

It will be the first time that Australia will host an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit of any kind.

In a joint statement with New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Turnbull confirmed that Sydney has been chosen as the host city to the event, to be held in March 2018, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The summit is an historic and unprecedented opportunity to strengthen Australia's strategic partnership with Asean and deliver tangible economic and security benefits to Australia," the statement said.

"This summit provides an important forum to discuss how we can continue to make our region safer and more prosperous," it further said.

The Australian government said it expects that the Asean-Australia Special Summit will create an enormous economic opportunity for Sydney, increasing visitor numbers to the city for the critical global forum.

Turning the tables on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said he took inspiration from donkeys to work tirelessly for the people of the country who were his “masters”.

Addressing a public rally in Bahraich, Uttar Pardesh, Modi said Akhilesh had insulted Gujarat, the land which gave birth to Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabbhai Patel.

“If you have a clean heart and mind, you can take inspiration from a donkey who works hard for its master even if it is tired or hungry. Donkeys are loyal to their masters,” Modi said.

“The 1.25 cr people of India are my masters. I am proud to work for them even if I am tired or hungry and without any break or vacation,” added Modi as the crowd cheered and applauded.

Akhilesh Yadav had on Monday took a dig at PM Modi by asking Amitabh Bachchan to stop promoting "donkeys of Gujarat" — a sarcastic reference to a tourism promo on wild asses that features the superstar.

The remarks amid the hotly contested and bitterly fought Uttar Pradesh elections came a day after Modi told a rally that the ruling SP in the state was appeasing Muslims and said "if a village has a qabristan (graveyard), it should also have a shamshaan ghat (cremation ground)".

Hundreds of students on Thursday protested outside the Delhi Police headquarters on Thursday, a day after clashes between student groups left several injured at the Ramjas College.

The demonstration was organised by the All India Students Association (AISA) demanding action against Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members accused of beating up students on Wednesday at the college.

Some Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University teachers also joined the protest, condemning what they said was the police inaction when the ABVP activists went on the offensive on Wednesday.

The protesters shouted slogans against the ABVP and Delhi Police.

"We are an amorphous group of people from across universities and no one is leading the demonstration," Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) President Nandita Narain told IANS. 

"We are all equally pained. I condemn the violence on the students and teachers and the lawless behaviour of the ABVP," she added.

She criticised Delhi Police for its alleged failure to stop ABVP activists from resorting to violence at the Ramjas College in the Delhi University campus.

She said at least 50 students from her college, St. Stephens, were injured and came back in a distressed state at midnight from Hauz Khas police station where they were taken on Wednesday.

"This is very sad since Stephens is a highly apolitical college. Police even beat up its students," she said.

Thursday's protest came as Delhi Police registered a case of rioting and assault against unknown persons following violence between Left-backed AISA and RSS-affiliated ABVP activists.

The clashes were triggered over an invitation to JNU student Umar Khalid, who was jailed last year over sedition charges, for a literary seminar titled "Cultures of Protest" at Ramjas. 

The two-day event on Tuesday and Wednesday was cancelled after ABVP forced the organisers to withdraw the invite to Khalid, dubbing him "anti-national".

An Indian Air Force (IAF) cargo oil tanker landed at Imphal airport on Thursday, bringing in petroleum products to fuel-scarce Manipur, where assembly polls are slated early next month.

The cargo oil tanker landed around 10.30 am and took off after unloading, airport officials said.

This is the second time a cargo oil tanker of IAF has flown in petroleum products in Imphal as the ongoing indefinite economic blockade has cut off all regular transportation of essential commodities, including fuel in the poll-bound state.

The blockade, which began on November 1 last year, was imposed by United Naga Council along the highways of the landlocked state in protest against the state government's creation of seven new districts.

Election Commission had on Wednesday said sufficient petroleum products are available in the state to ensure smooth transportation of polling personnel for the March assembly election and that the economic blockade in Manipur would not impact the poll process.