Meet Soyeb Aftab, the NEET 2020 topper, who scored 720 out of 720

News Network
October 17, 2020

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Bhubaneswar, Oct 17: Soyeb Aftab, who topped the NEET on Friday with a perfect score of 720, credited his parents for the success, saying he never expected to bag the first rank in the medical entrance exam even though he was optimistic.

Mr. Aftab, the son of homemaker Sultan Razia and Sheik Mohammad Abbas who owns a small business, said it was his mother who motivated him to aspire for becoming a doctor.

“I will like to give all the credit to my mother who motivated me to aspire for being a doctor and stood by me all along,” he said.

Mr. Aftab, 18, said his father extended all the financial support but it was his mother who spent her maximum time supporting him on his studies.

He said that he moved to the coaching hub of Kota in Rajasthan after the class 12 board exam to prepare for the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET).

“My mother and younger sister accompanied me to Kota and made all the arrangements for the

The Rourkela boy said most of his time during the day was spent at the coaching class.

“I studied for only three hours in the night initially, and eventually increased the time as the examination approached,” he said.

Mr. Aftab, who scored a perfect 720 out of 720 in the exam, said, “I am absolutely happy. There is no doctor in my family. I would like to study in AIIMS-New Delhi.”

“All the credit goes to my mother and father,” he said, reacting to his score.

Mr. Aftab said that he was confident of getting a place in the top 50 after verifying the answer key of all the questions but never expected to top the exam.

Mr. Aftab and Delhi’s Akansha Singh scored 720 out of 720 marks but the Odisha boy was ranked first and Singh second as per the National Testing Agency’s tie-breaking policy, officials said.

The tie-breaking policy takes into account factors such as age, subject-wise marks and number of incorrect answers, they said.

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News Network
March 21,2025

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Assembly on Friday passed Bills doubling the salaries of the chief minister, ministers, and legislators, adding an annual burden of ₹62 crore on the exchequer.

The CM's monthly salary will increase from ₹75,000 to ₹1.5 lakh, while ministers will see a 108% hike, from ₹60,000 to ₹1.25 lakh. MLAs and MLCs will get ₹80,000 per month, up from ₹40,000, and their pension will rise from ₹50,000 to ₹75,000.

The Karnataka Ministers Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill and the Karnataka Legislature Salaries, Pensions and Allowances (Amendment) Bill were passed without debate, as the Opposition BJP protested in the well of the House.

The Bills cited the rising cost of living as justification for the hike. The Assembly Speaker and Legislative Council chairperson will now receive ₹1.25 lakh per month, up from ₹75,000.

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Agencies
March 19,2025

Kanpur (UP): The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad on Wednesday arrested an employee of the Kanpur Ordnance Factory for allegedly sharing classified and sensitive information with a Pakistani intelligence operative through social media, according to a statement.

The accused, identified as Kumar Vikas, was employed as a Junior Works Manager at the Kanpur Ordnance Factory, the ATS said in the statement.

He was in contact with a suspected Pakistani agent who used the alias "Neha Sharma", it said. Investigations revealed that Vikas had been sending confidential documents and sensitive data related to ordnance manufacturing, employee attendance sheets, machine layouts, and production charts via WhatsApp.

On March 13, ATS arrested another Ordnance Factory employee, Ravindra Kumar, from Hazratpur, Firozabad, for similar offenses. His interrogation led ATS officials to Vikas, who had also been in contact with the suspected Pakistani agent since January 2025.

Authorities said the Pakistani agent introduced herself as an employee of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and initially contacted Vikas on Facebook. They later exchanged mobile numbers and continued their communication on WhatsApp.

To avoid detection, they used the Ludo gaming app for covert conversations, the statement read. Vikas was allegedly lured by financial incentives to pass on classified information, it said.

Kumar Vikas has been taken into custody and further legal proceedings are under way.

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Agencies
March 24,2025

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The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has warned that the tight Israeli blockade on the entry of humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip is pushing the coastal territory closer to an acute hunger crisis.

Philippe Lazzarini made the remarks in a social media post, in which he noted that the siege, which is preventing food, medicines, water and fuel from entering the region, has lasted longer than what was in place in the first phase of the war.

Israel has banned the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza since March 4, following the expiry of the first phase of a ceasefire and an agreement with Hamas resistance movement on the exchange of Israeli captives for Palestinian prisoners.

Lazzarini warned that Gaza’s population depends on imports via Israeli-occupied territories for their survival.

“Every day that passes without the entry of aid means more children go to bed hungry, diseases spread & deprivation deepens,” he said.

“Every day without food inches Gaza closer to an acute hunger crisis,” the UNRWA chief noted.

Lazzarini described the banning of aid as a collective punishment on Gaza’s population – the vast majority of which are children, women and ordinary men.

He called for the siege to be lifted and for humanitarian aid and commercial supplies to be brought into Gaza “uninterrupted and at scale.”

Backed by the United States and its Western allies, Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the Israeli regime in response to its decades-long campaign of oppression against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed at least 50,021 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 113,274 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under the rubble.

On November 21 last year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its deadly war on the blockaded coastal sliver.

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