Morning Digest: Roads to be freed of toll booths in a year, says Nitin Gadkari; EU drug regulator backs AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 after safety investigation, and more

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India will implement a GPS-based toll collection system and do away with all toll booths within a year, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday. He also shared details of the vehicle scrapping policy, first announced in the Union Budget for 2021-22, according to which the automobile industry in India will see a jump in turnover to ₹10 lakh crore from ₹4.5 lakh crore.

Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde agreed with advocate Prashant Bhushan on Thursday to urgently hear a plea by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms to stay the sale of a new set of electoral bonds on April 1, before Assembly elections in crucial States such as West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

Top U.S. and Chinese officials offered sharply different views of the world on March 18 as the two sides met face-to-face for the first time since President Joe Biden took office. In unusually pointed remarks for a staid diplomatic meeting, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Communist Party foreign affairs chief Yang Jiechi took aim at each other’s policies at the start of two days of talks in Alaska.

The EU’s drug watchdog said on March 18 it is still convinced the benefits of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine outweigh the risks following an investigation into reports of blood disorders that prompted more than a dozen nations to suspend its use.

The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Insurance Amendment Bill 2021 that increases the maximum foreign investment allowed in an insurance company from 49% to 74%, amid criticism from the Opposition parties on the clause enabling “control and ownership” by foreign investors.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday forbade judges from making gender stereotypical comments like “’good women are sexually chaste”, women who drink and smoke ‘ask’ for sexual advances or presume that a sexually active woman consented to rape while hearing cases of sexual offence.

Union Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Thursday that climate activist Disha Ravi’s arrest was based on law and order and it is under judicial process. He added that the House should consider “should some people abuse social media internationally to defame India to promote secessionism.”

Former Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Arvind Subramanian resigned from Ashoka University on Thursday, days after noted columnist and political commentator Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s exit. In his resignation letter, Dr. Subramanian, said he had been “devastated” by “the circumstances involving the ‘resignation’ of Professor Pratap Bhanu Mehta” two days earlier.

In a major embarrassment to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), two candidates announced by the party on Thursday for the Assembly polls from Kolkata have refused to contest on the party’s ticket.

The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed suo motu proceedings before the Delhi High Court on the administration of COVID-19 vaccine and transferred the case to itself. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde said a similar case concerning the vaccination drive was already pending in the Supreme Court, and the case from the Delhi High Court could be heard along with it.

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to urgently hear a plea to release and protect over 150 Rohingya refugees reportedly “detained” in Jammu. Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde agreed to hear the application filed by a member of the Rohingya community, Mohammad Salimullah, represented by advocates Prashant Bhushan and Cheryl d’Souza, on April 25 (Thursday). Mr. Bhushan made an oral mention before the CJI for an early hearing.

The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the supplementary demand for grants (second batch for 2020-21) but not before significant concerns raised by Opposition leaders on the government’s disinvestment and asset monetisation plans, and rising fuel prices.

If Ishan Kishan was unfortunate to be ruled out of the fourth T20I due to a groin strain, lady luck smiled on his replacement Suryakumar Yadav. The Mumbai cricketer, dropped for the previous outing after not having faced a ball on his debut in the second T20I, grabbed his chance and made it count.

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Morning Digest: Modi, Gotabaya speak over telephone ahead of Geneva vote; Health Minister says pollution contributes to spread and virulence of SARS-CoV-2 infections, and more

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Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed “topical developments” during a telephone call on Saturday, an official press release said, just over a week before a crucial vote on Sri Lanka at the U.N. Human Rights Council, where Colombo has sought New Delhi’s support.

There is emerging evidence to suggest that exposure to ambient air pollutants, especially PM2.5 and NO2, contribute to the spread and virulence SARS-CoV-2 infections, said Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday, while inaugurating the new green campus of Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) National Institute for Research in Environmental Health (NIREH), at Bhopal.

North Korea has not responded to behind-the-scenes diplomatic outreach since mid-February by President Joe Biden’s administration, including to Pyongyang’s mission to the United Nations, a senior Biden administration official told Reuters on March 13.

Politics seems to sit very well on Kamal Haasan. A ‘newbie’ in politics, this veteran of cinema, is comfortable with the new skin he wears. He says he hit the ground running with the launch of his party, the Makkal Needhi Maiam, in 2018, and he’s been running since. Things are hectic, possibly more than ever, but his demeanour says “relaxed” and “confident”. Here, he discusses, with The Hindu his ideology, reasons for choice of candidates, caste-politics in Tamil Nadu and missing his long-time friend Rajinikanth’s company in politics.

Sri Lanka will soon ban the burqa or face veil, a Cabinet Minister said on Saturday, as he announced the Rajapaksa administration’s latest policy decision impacting the minority Muslim community.

AIADMK leader and Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniwami on Saturday said the Puthiya Tamilagam (PT), which was in the forefront of the agitation to classify seven Dalit sub-sects under the common title ‘Devendrakula Velalar’ and to be delisted from the Schedule, has left the ruling alliance.

Eight months after the rebellion of former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, the discontent simmering in the ruling Congress in Rajasthan has come to the fore through three MLAs from the eastern parts of the State.

Just within six months of Srinagar being declared a militants-free zone, the J&K police on Saturday released a list of nine “wanted militants”, with seven recruits identified from the city and operating from the capital.

As Haryanvi singer Ajay Huda croons “Zindabad kisani, zindabad jawani”, his latest song on farmers’ protests, sons of farmers break into a jig at the Bhojpur panchayat called by the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) against the contentious farm laws.

The BJP on Saturday joined the Valley-based Muslim religious organisation in condemnation of Shia leader Waseem Rizvi’s move to approach the Supreme Court to seek removal of 26 verses of the Quran, a holy book central to the faith of Muslims across the world.

China is no longer compliant with Hong Kong’s joint declaration after Beijing announced sweeping changes to the region’s electoral system, Britain said on Saturday. “The U.K. now considers Beijing to be in a state of ongoing non-compliance with the Sino-British Joint Declaration,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The contradictions began even before a ball was bowled. A day after India skipper Virat Kohli had stated that Rohit Sharma and K.L. Rahul would be the first-choice opening pair, the team management decided to rest Rohit for the first T20 in Ahmedabad on Friday.

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