New Delhi: The first session of 17th Lok Sabha commenced here Monday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is also the leader of the House, taking oath as Member.

As soon as the House met, the Members stood in silence for a few minutes as per the convention after the assembling of the new Lok Sabha.

When Modi's name was called out, Members from the ruling NDA thumped the desk greeting the Prime Minister with slogans such as 'Modi Modi' and "Bharat Mata ki Jai.

The panel of presiding officers - K Suresh, Brijbhushan Sharan Singh and B Mehtab - took oath as Members after the Prime Minister.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, and Chemical and Fertilisers Minister D V Sadanand Gowda also took oath.

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Berhampur (Odisha) (PTI): Two girls drowned while bathing in a village pond in Odisha's Ganjam district on Tuesday, police said.

The deceased were identified as Pranjali Dora (11), a class 6 student, and Manini Dora (12), a student of class 7, both residents of Patanda village in Digapahandi police station area, a police officer said.

After returning home from school, they went to the village pond to take a bath like every other day. However, they slipped and fell into deep waters. Locals noticed them drowning and tried to rescue them but failed, he said.

Fire brigade personnel from Digapahandi retrieved the girls after a two-hour search and they were rushed to a nearby community health centre, where doctors declared them dead, Digapahandi police station officer-in-charge Kishor Kumar Samal said.

He said the bodies have been handed over to the respective families after conducting post-mortem examinations at MKCG Medical College and Hospital here.

He said unnatural death cases have been registered and an investigation launched.