NEWS

In a break from the COVID-19 trend that was ongoing in Kerala for past week, the Pinarayi Vijayan-led state on Monday reported less than 50,000 new cases on Monday. While Kerala reported 42,154 fresh COVID-19 infections, other major cities of the country also reported a significant fall in the cases, namely, Delhi (2,779 cases), Mumbai (960 cases), Bengaluru (10,692 cases), Chennai (2,897 cases), and Kolkata (179 cases).

About 90 per cent of India’s adult population has received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine whereas over 70 per cent adult population is now fully vaccinated, President Ram Nath Kovind told a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament on the inaugural day of Budget session.

Among the metropolises, Mumbai’s daily caseload fell below 1,000 for the first time since December 27.

The Supreme Court on Monday protected SAD functionary Bikram Singh Majithia from arrest in a drug trafficking case till February 23 and told the Charanjit Singh Channi-led Congress government in Punjab that in a democracy governments must not slap election-eve criminal cases on political opponents to prevent them from contesting.

A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli ordered reprieve to Majithia, against whom the FIR under the NDPS Act was registered on December 20 for offences that allegedly took place between 2004 and 2015. The breather means that the fate of the Akali firebrand will be decided by the new government after the February 20 voting in the state. It also leaves him free to campaign against Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu in the latter's stronghold of Amritsar East.

Union Minster of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday announced that 16 new airports will be built in five Central Indian states.

Addressing the PM-Gati Shakti Conference(Virtual) for the Central Zone, Scindia said that 16 new airports will come up in Madhya Pradesh's Rewa, Chhattisgarh's Ambikapur, Bilaspur and Jagdalpur, while nine airports will be built in Uttar Pradesh, one in Rajasthan and two in Maharashtra.

Scindia also highlighted the need of better integration between the central and state governments for the success of PM-Gati Shakti scheme.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched "PM Gati Shakti - National Master Plan" on August 15 last year to develop multi-modal connectivity through integrated planning and coordinated implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects.

Scindia said that the success of PM Gati Shakti will catalyse the multi-model connectivity in the country, leading to realise the vision of USD 5 trillion economy. Gati Shakti initiative will not only help in bringing more investment in the country but also help create great employment, he said.

Scindia further said that many countries of the world, including South Asian countries, have focused on investment in infrastructure sector in the last 70 years and all of them have become developed countries now.

Scindia stressed that PM Gati Shakti initiative, which will cost Rs 100 Lakh crore, is a "campaign to transform India into a global superpower".

"16 ministries of the central government will work in close coordination to make this possible. The scheme envisages multi-modal connectivity, economic zones, industrial zones, agriculture zones, cargo zones and smart cities, which will boost production, transport, demand and employment in the country," he said.

(With inputs from agencies)

The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the Maharashtra government to not keep any applications, filed by kin of Covid-19 victims seeking ex-gratia compensation, pending merely because they are not filed online.

The bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice VG Bisht was hearing a petition filed by an NGO seeking ex-gratia payment to those whose claims were delayed since they had filed the same offline and not through the online portal.

Appearing for the petitioner trust Prameya Welfare Foundation, advocate Sumedha Rao contended that the claimants were mostly slum dwellers who were not adept at filing claims and annexing documents online.