The confirmed death toll in the Uttarakhand disaster rose to 36 with the recovery of another body in Gauchar and 169 people remain missing since Sunday, after an avalanche or a glacier break triggered a surge of water in the Alaknanda river system. The rescue operations continued at Tapovan tunnel in Chamoli district on the sixth day following the flash floods, informed the State Government on Friday.

Drilling through the debris has become more difficult with the silt inside the tunnel drying up and getting harder.

More than 600 Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) personnel are engaged in the search-and-rescue operations.

Over 6.76 lakh Indians gave up Indian citizenship in 5 years

Over 6.76 lakh Indians gave up Indian nationality between 2015 and 2019 and took up citizenship of other countries, Lok Sabha was informed.

Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai also said that as per information available with the Ministry of External Affairs, a total number of 1,24,99,395 Indian nationals are living in foreign countries.

Rai said 1,41,656 Indians gave up Indian citizenship in 2015, 1,44,942 in 2016, 1,27,905 in 2017, 1,25,130 in 2018 and 1,36,441 Indians gave up Indian nationality in 2019.