Breaking News, March 1

The Supreme Court has termed the decision taken by the Bihar government in 2016 to declare 'Lohar' caste as Scheduled Tribe as illegal and arbitrary. A bench of Justices K.M .Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy said: "What is the basis for the respondent state to take it upon itself to issue the impugned notification by which referring to the 2016 amendment repealing the 2006 Act, it proceeded to give approval to caste certificate of Scheduled Tribe to Lohara, Lohar community? Lohar is not the same as Lohara. Including Lohars alongside Lohara is clearly illegal and arbitrary."

The world's single largest ecosystem, covering nearly three-fourths of the earth's surface, oceans are vital to the economies, security, and livelihoods of lakhs of communities in India that has a coastline of 8,118 km, spanning nine states and four Union Territories, an official statement said on Tuesday. The Centre said that it is at the forefront in transforming the fisheries sector to formulate fisheries management plans along with regulatory framework towards effective fisheries governance to ensure sustainable and responsible development through an ecosystem approach.

Meta-owned WhatsApp on Tuesday said that it banned 1,858,000 bad accounts in India in the month of January in compliance with the new IT Rules, 2021. The company said that it also received 495 grievance reports in the same month from the country and took action on 24 of those in January. "In accordance with the IT Rules 2021, we've published our eighth monthly report for the month of January 2022," a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has condoled the death of Naveen Gyangoudar, an Indian student who was killed in Ukraine's Kharkiv on Tuesday morning. Naveen hails from Haveri in Karnataka, and is the first Indian casualty of the deadly face-off between Ukraine and Russia.

Satish Kumbhani, founder of cryptocurrency platform BitConnect who has been indicted in the US for running a $2.4 billion crypto ponzi scheme, has likely "relocated from India to an unknown location" abroad. A federal grand jury in San Diego last week indicted Kumbhani with orchestrating a global Ponzi scheme. BitConnect is an alleged fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platform that reached a peak market capitalisation of $3.4 billion.

Concerns over lower supply amid escalating Russia-Ukraine conflict pushed up global crude oil prices to $102 per barrel on Tuesday. The rise in crude oil prices comes after negotiations failed to resolve the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The Brent-indexed crude oil prices had risen by 5 per cent to over $98 per barrel on Monday. Russia is the third-largest producer of crude oil in the world. It is feared that sanctions against Russia will start to curtail global supplies and stifle growth.

The consent of parents for attending offline classes or exams for students of class 10 and 12 in the national capital will not be mandatory anymore. In an order issued by the Directorate of Education, the Delhi government has allowed all government schools to conduct offline classes and exams for students of class 10 and 12. The order says that the consent of parents will not be required to attend the offline classes for students.

Sri Lankan hoteliers have decide to look after standard Ukrainian tourists, while the government plans to extend their visas. A number of hotel owners from southern coastal lines to central hills where Ukrainian tourists frequent most have announced that they would provide free food and lodging to Ukraine nationals who are held up due to Russian invasion back home.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday accused the Congress of "nurturing and encouraging militancy in Manipur". Addressing an election rally in Manipur virtually from Delhi, Pm Modi hit out at the Congress accusing it of the instability, backwardness and corruption in Manipur. He said people would not support the party again in this election. "In the first round of assembly elections in Manipur (on Monday), people gave their blessings to the BJP. With the enormous support in the second round of elections, the people would facilitate the double engine government in Manipur."

Dean of the School of Drama and Fine Arts in Thrissur was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly raping a first year student. Based on the girl's complaint, the Thrissur West Police registered a case against S.Sunilkumar on Monday. The alleged incident had taken place during the pandemic early this year, when regular classes were not being held and the student was staying at the residence of Sunilkumar, who was living in with his partner.

Taking note of a plea stating serious environmental degradation due to decade-old dumping of waste and sewage in Ashtamudi Wetland, the gateway to Kerala's backwaters, the National Green Tribunal has stressed the need for an integrated management plan for the protection of the vulnerable Ramsar site in Kollam district. "The situation mentioned in the complaint, if true, shows the unsatisfactory state of affairs calling for immediate remedial action on the part of the State Authorities," said the NGT bench headed by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel.

Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday called for imparting value-based education to children, with emphasis on Indian culture and heritage. Naidu stressed that education is meant for empowerment, enlightenment and employment not for mere acquisition of degrees and certificates. Deploring the commercialisation of education, Naidu said that education and medicine were treated as missions in the olden days.

A man attacked his 20-year-old daughter with a sickle in Tamil Nadu's Tenaki district as he was opposed to her relationship with a village youth. The incident occurred on Monday in Ariyankavu near Pavoorchatram. The woman, identified as V.A Sudha, was rushed to Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital where her condition is stated to be critical.

Oil marketing companies (OMCs) have hiked the price of 19 kg commercial LPG cylinder by Rs 105 in Delhi and Rs 108 in Kolkata. New rates are effective from Tuesday. Now, the 19 kg commercial cylinder will cost Rs 2,012 in Delhi and Rs 2,095 in Kolkata, data available on Indian Oil Corporation website showed.

GST collections in February stood at over Rs 1.33 lakh crore in February, an 18 per cent growth over the year-ago period, the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday. The February mop-up was impacted by the Omicron wave that swept through the country and hence, the gross sales tax collection was lower than the record Rs 1,40,986 crore netted in January.

"The gross GST revenue collected in February 2022 is Rs 1,33,026 crore of which Central GST is Rs 24,435 crore, State GST is Rs 30,779 crore, Integrated GST is Rs 67,471 crore (including Rs 33,837 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 10,340 crore (including Rs 638 crore collected on import of goods)," the ministry said in a statement.

The revenues for February 2022 are 18 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year and 26 per cent higher than the GST revenues in February 2020.

An undertrial prisoner was injured after a group of inmates allegedly attacked him in Goa's Central Jail on Tuesday, an official said. Prison officials then intervened and prevented the situation from escalating, he said.

In the morning, a group of inmates attacked undertrial Gajendra Singh, who is in the Colvale-based jail in connection with the case of ransacking a popular shack at the Calangute beach.

Singh received injuries and was shifted to a state-run hospital in Mapusa town, where he was provided medical treatment and then taken back to the jail, the official said.

Puducherry on Tuesday saw a steep fall in the number of new COVID-19 infections with the active cases now at 100. The Union Territory recorded only six cases in the last 24 hours taking the overall tally to 1,65,726.

In a release, Director of Health G Sriramulu said Puducherry region registered three cases, while Yanam reported two and Karaikal one case.

Mahe, an enclave of Puducherry in Kerala, did not see any new case, the Director said.

The active cases in the UT came down to 100 with 10 patients undergoing treatment in hospitals while the other 90 patients were in home quarantine.

Jammu & Kashmir: Several injured in cylinder blast at Maternity & Child Care Hospital, Shairbagh in Anantnag

Arunachal Pradesh's COVID-19 tally rose to 64,427 on Tuesday as 14 more people tested positive for the infection, a senior health official said. The coronavirus death toll remained unchanged at 296 as no fresh fatality was recorded, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Dr Lobsang Jampa said.

The state had reported five new cases and zero deaths on Monday.

Jammu & Kashmir Police arrest one terrorist associate from the Santnagar area of Srinagar, 10 magazines of AK-47 rifle and other ammunition recovered from him; further investigation underway

The portals of Kedarnath Temple will open on May 6 at 6.25 am. Badrinath Temple will open on May 8

With the addition of 20 new cases of coronavirus, the infection count in Maharashtra's Thane district has gone up to 7,08,302, an official said on Tuesday. These new cases were reported on Monday, he said.

The death toll remained unchanged at 11,875, he said, adding that the COVID-19 mortality rate in the district is 1.67 per cent.

In neighbouring Palghar district, the COVID-19 case count has gone up to 1,63,385, while the death toll stands at 3,392, another official said. 

Toyota plans to resume production at all of its 14 plants as of Wednesday, after they were idled for a day due to a cyberattack on a domestic supplier. The supplier, Kojima Industries Corp., said Tuesday it had found a virus in its computer server. Details were under investigation, it said.

The two companies had worked out alternative ways to carry on with manufacturing even though the server problem was not yet resolved, said Toyota Motor Corp. spokeswoman Shiori Hashimoto.

A team of Delhi Police Outer North Dist arrests 2 sharpshooters associated with gangsters Goldie Brar & Kala Jathedi after encounter. The suspects were part of a conspiracy to kill gangster Sunil aka Tillu Tajpuria & a constable. 22 rounds of bullets fired from both sides: Police

Prices of 19kg commercial LPG cylinders increase by Rs 105 in Delhi and by Rs 108 in Kolkata; price of 5kg commercial LPG cylinders also rises by Rs 27. 

No increase in rates of domestic LPG cylinder. New rates are effective from today.

India reports 6,915 new cases, 180 deaths and 16,864 recoveries; Active caseload stands at 92,472

1325 fresh infections reported in Mizoram; Active cases stand at 6,880, death toll 657