‘Grand welcome’ for AAP as party wins 14 seats in Chandigarh civic polls [Representative image]  |  Photo Credit: ANI
Key Highlights
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New Delhi: With Kerala emerging as the best state on NITI Aayog’s health parameters, the Centre extending the existing COVID-19 national guidelines till the end of next month, and the Aam Aadmi Party winning the most number of seats in Chandigarh civic body poll, Monday witnessed major newsbreaks. Below are the day’s biggest headlines.
Kerala best state on health parameters, Uttar Pradesh worst: Health Index by NITI Aayog
Kerala has been ranked at the top on the list of the states with the best overall health performance among larger states, as per the fourth Health Index launched by NITI Aayog. Uttar Pradesh ranks the lowest in the list. In the fourth round of the Health Index, the period 2019-20 was considered (reference year). Tamil Nadu and Telangana appear to be the second and third best performing states on health indicators, according to the report by the government think tank. Read More
Missionaries of Charity itself asked SBI to freeze its accounts: Home Ministry counters Mamata Banerjee’s claim
The Home Ministry on Monday issued a clarification after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that the Centre had frozen all bank accounts of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity (MoC).
Taking to Twitter to voice her shock, the TMC supremo had said that the decision had left 22,000 patients and employees without food and medicines. “While the law is paramount, humanitarian efforts must not be compromised,” she added.
As per a government press note however, the MoC’s renewal application under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) was refused on December 25 for not meeting the eligibility conditions. The Home Ministry has denied Banerjee’s allegations, stating that the organisation had sent a message to the State Bank of India requesting the bank to freeze the accounts. Read More
MHA extends existing COVID-19 national directives till Jan 31, asks states to impose need-based curbs
The Union government on Monday extended the prevalent COVID-19 national directives/guidelines till the end of next month. In a letter to the Chief Secretaries of states and UTs, the Ministry of Home Affairs stressed that there is a “need for greater foresight, data analysis, dynamic decision making, and strict and prompt containment actions at the local and district levels” in view of existing COVID-19 situation. Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla further asked state governments in the letter to impose need-based restrictions to tackle the COVID-19 threat. Read More
Chandigarh MC election 2021 result: ‘Grand welcome’ for AAP as party wins 14 seats, BJP – 12, Congress – 8, SAD – 1
New entrant has emerged victorious in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation polls as it won 14 of 35 wards. The AAP contested the Chandigarh local body polls for the first time
In a major blow to the ruling BJP, the saffron party won only 12 wards while Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) managed to bag eight and one ward, respectively.
Traditionally, the civic body election – held every five years – sees a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress, but the AAP’s debut made the contest this time triangular.
This victory of the Aam Aadmi Party in Chandigarh Municipal Corporation is a sign of the coming change in Punjab,” tweeted AAP chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. Read More
Punjab polls 2022: Amarinder Singh, BJP, SAD (Sanyukt) forge pre-poll alliance, to issue joint manifesto soon
The BJP will contest the Assembly polls in Punjab in alliance with Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa’s SAD (Sanyukt). BJP’s poll in-charge for Punjab, Gajendra Shekhawat said to finalise the seat sharing agreement, a joint committee will be formed comprising two leaders from each party. He also announced that the three-party alliance will come up with a joint manifesto. Read More
These 6 Indian cities will be among first to witness 5G services rollout
Metros and a few other big cities will be the first to see the rollout of 5G services as the government plans phased rollout in cities where trials are already underway. The Department of Telecom (DoT) has selected Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Gurugram, Ahmedabad and Pune where 5G services will be launched, ET Now has learnt.
It is to be noted all major telcos such as Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea (Vi) are already conducting tests of different use cases in these cities.
Sources say DoT will hold 5G spectrum auctions in the first half of the calendar year 2022. Currently, DoT awaits recommendations from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on the matter. The telecom industry regulator has already floated a consultation paper seeking stakeholder recommendations on 5G base prices, the quantum of allocation, among other queries.
The development comes after the telecom industry in general and Vodafone Idea, in particular, received a shot in the arm from the government in the form of reforms and also raised tariffs by 20-25% to meet increased input costs in a high-inflation environment. Read More
Sensex ends 296 points higher amid buying in pharma, IT and banking stocks; Nifty settles at 17,086.25
Benchmark equity indices recovered from their opening losses and ended higher on Monday on the back of buying in banking, IT and pharma shares while global indices were mixed. The Sensex finally closed, 295.93 points or 0.52% higher at 57,420.24 while the Nifty50 index settled 82.50 points or 0.49% higher at 17,086.25. Nifty Pharma, the pharma sub-index of NSE, advanced 1.62%, to become the top gainer among sector indices.
Among Nifty stocks, Tech Mahindra was the top gainer, up 3.43% followed by Cipla and Dr Reddy’s Labs, which rallied 2.17% and 1.94% respectively. UPL, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI Life Insurance, Sun Pharma, HDFC, Cipla, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Steel, Axis Bank were the other prominent gainers in the Nifty, rising between 0.83% and 1.76%.
Hindalco was the top loser among Nifty stocks, down 1.33%, followed by ONGC and Britannia Industries, which fell 0.83% and 0.79% respectively. IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, Maruti Suzuki, ITC, Reliance Industries, Shree Cements, Tata Consumer Products were the other losers in the Nifty. Read More
Ex-IPL winner Bipul Sharma retires from Indian cricket, moves to USA
Former Indian Premier League (IPL) winner Bipul Sharma has retired from Indian cricket and decided to follow the footsteps of Unmukt Chand and move to the United States of America (USA). As Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) rules don’t allow Indian players to feature in overseas leagues, Bipul will be able to play in USA following his retirement announcement. The veteran spinner is yet to announce which team he will play for but is expected to feature in the Minor Cricket League like fellow Indians in Unmukt, Smit Patel, and Harmeet Singh. Read More
Salman Khan confirms Shah Rukh Khan’s appearance in Tiger 3; reveals Pathan will release before his movie
It’s a piece of happy news for Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan fans as Salman on his 56th birthday made a big revelation that SRK would be a part of his upcoming action-drama Tiger 3. To add more to this, it has been reported that Salman will have a cameo appearance in SRK, Deepika Padukone, and John Abraham’s Pathan. Now Salman has confirmed SRK’s appearance in his film. During a media interaction, Salman confirmed that SRK would be a part of the film. Read More