NEWS

Amid demands of easing Covid-19 curbs in the national capital, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) is scheduled to meet on Friday (February 4, 2022) to review the coronavirus pandemic situation, and take a call on lifting night curfew and reopening of schools in the city.

The number of daily Covid-19 cases in Delhi has been on the decline after touching the record high of 28,867 on January 13. The national capital had recorded a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on January 14, the highest during the ongoing wave of the pandemic.

The Supreme Court on Thursday was outwitted for a moment on Thursday by the Andhra Pradesh High Court's strange reasoning - it would be an abuse of process of law if police registered a case against a person who forged land records but did not use it to cause revenue loss to the state.

What a bench of Justices Sanjay K Kaul and MK Sundresh found even more strange was the Andhra Pradesh government's decision to accept such an unusual decision and not appeal against it before the apex court. A private person, after reading the unusual HC order, moved the SC and senior advocate Sidharth Luthra pointed out that this is being misused in private civil disputes between parties, who now could take the liberty of forging land records without the fear of law as long as they paid the prevalent rate of land revenue.

Congress leader and MP Rahul Gandhi will arrive in Panaji on Friday (February 4, 2022) on his day-long visit to the coastal state.

As per an official statement from Amarnath Panjikar, Chairman of Goa Pradesh Congress Committee Media Department, Rahul Gandhi was earlier scheduled to visit on February 2, which was postponed to February 4 as he had parliamentary commitments and also his visit to Raipur on February 3 for `bhoomi poojan` of the memorial in honour of martyrs.

Rahul Gandhi will interact with representatives of the Tourism Sector, Anganwadi staff and others.

A reduction in fertiliser subsidy by around Rs 35,000 crore as announced in the Union Budget is expected to hit Punjab real hard. The state, which is one of the highest per hectare consumers of fertilisers in the country, is set to lose almost Rs 3,141 crore on subsidy and this burden is likely to get transferred to farmers.

The subsidy amount on fertilisers has been slashed from Rs 1,40,122 crore in the 2021-22 budget to Rs 1,05,222 crore in the current budget 2022-23 presented on Tuesday. This is a reduction of around Rs. 34,900 crores (25 per cent).

Punjab -- with just 1.53 per cent area of the country -- has been using around 9 per cent of the total fertilisers, which include di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), urea, Muriate of Potash (MOP) and Super, used in India. It is one of the highest usage per hectare. Punjab's loss would come to around Rs 3,141 crore, which is 9 per cent of the total reduction of Rs 34,900 crore in the subsidy amount.