The government has abolished all Empowered Group Of Ministers and Group Of Ministers for expeditious decisions and greater accountability, says official announcement.  

Ministries and departments have been empowered to take decisions pending with GoMs and EGoMs, says the announcement.

After winning four Lok Sabha seats, Aam Aadmi Party's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal has decided to focus on Punjab, keeping the assembly election in mind.        

Kejriwal will visit the state for a day on Tuesday and will also take stock of party's performance. "They will meet volunteers, members, party supporters and take stock of the party's performance in the state. The party units in the state will also be restructured after consulting the volunteers during his visit," said an AAP leader.        

Senior party leader Manish Sisodia and AAP's MP candidate Jarnail Singh, who lost from the West Delhi parliamentary seat, will also visit the state along with Kejriwal.        

The meeting assumes significance as the party is also aiming to repeat its success in the Lok Sabha polls. After its dismal performance in national capital and country, AAP won four MPs from the state, springing a surprise not only to the party, but also to its rivals.

A police jawan was killed and another injured in an encounter with Naxalites in insurgency-hit Narayanpur district of Chhattisagrh, police said today. The face-off took place when the joint party of Special Task Force (STF) and district force was patrolling forests of restive Orchha police station area last evening, Narayanpur Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) O P Sharma told PTI.        

According to the officer, the security personnel were mobilised from Orchha police station of Abhujmad region for an anti-Naxal operation in the region since Thursday night.        

When the search party was returning to its camp last evening, a group of armed rebels ambushed it between forests of Becha and Ilam villages, located around 400 kms from Raipur.        

Ultras opened indiscriminate firing on security personnel leaving two constables injured. However, Naxals fled to the core forests when jawans retaliated, he added.        

Constable Pankaj Suryawanshi (22), a native of Narayanpur succumbed to his injuries while being taken out of the jungle last night while another injured constable Ramesh Kumar Nag (23) admitted to a local hospital, he said.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has met the family members of the two cousins who were gang-raped and hanged in the open in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun district.

All the five main accused, including two policemen, have been arrested in connection with the gang rape and murder of two Dalit sisters in Badaun, police said on Saturday.

Constable Chhatrapal Yadav was arrested late on Friday night and Urvesh Yadav was detained in the wee hours on Saturday, Superintendent of Police A K Saxena told PTI. All the five accused named in the FIR, including constables Sarvesh Yadav, Chhatrapal and three brothers Pappu Yadav, Awadhesh Yadav and Urvesh Yadav have been arrested. The FIR was registered against seven persons including two unnamed men after outrage over the incident.

A day after CNN-IBN learnt that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week, questions are being asked whether the AIADMK is mulling joining the NDA.

AIADMK sources say that the party is likely to provide only issue-based support to the BJP in the Rajya Sabha. Sources say this support is in return for development packages for Tamil Nadu and that as of now, the AIADMK is not joining the NDA. Sources say that Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad have been in touch with Jayalalithaa. Sources also say that an offer has been made by the BJP to the AIADMK.

Read more on CNN IBN

PTI: At least 43 people were injured and 35,000 others evacuated after the 6.1-magnitude earthquake jolted a county in China's southwestern Yunnan Province.        

The quake hit Yingjiang County under Dai-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture of Dehong on Friday.        

About 150,000 residents in 15 townships were affected and of them, 35,000 have been relocated, said Wang Junqiang, the Communist Party chief of Dehong Prefecture.        

Meanwhile, 3,390 rooms were toppled and 18,000 more were severely damaged, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.        

Even though the quake had a higher magnitude compared to one a week ago, it did not cause bigger losses as local authorities had warned of aftershocks and secondary disasters and evacuated residents from damaged buildings, Wang said.        

The Yunnan government has initiated a grade II emergency response, sending a work team of over 50 people for surveying, investigation and disaster evaluation.        

More than 3,500 soldiers, paramilitary officers and policemen are involved in the rescue work.

CNN IBN: Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani on Saturday appealed to the Delhi University to reinstate the suspended officials. The Delhi University suspended five officials for allegedly leaking documents related to educational qualifications of Irani on Friday.

She tweeted, "Since the Delhi University is an autonomous institution I have put forth my personal appeal to the Vice Chancellor to reinstate the officials." After a row broke out over the educational qualification of the HRD minister, she tweeted, "In public life one should be open to scrutiny and criticism. So am I."