Delhi

New Delhi, Mar 31 (PTI) A fourth batch of three Rafale fighter jets landed in India on Wednesday evening after flying non-stop from France, in a further boost to the strike capability of the Indian Air Force.

The jets were provided mid-air refuelling by air force tankers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the IAF said.

The 4th batch of three IAF #Rafales landed on Indian soil after a direct ferry from #IstresAirBase France," it tweeted.

New Delhi, Apr 1 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged people to vote in large numbers in the second phase of assembly polls in Assam and West Bengal to strengthen the festival of democracy.

Polling began at 7 am for 30 constituencies, including the high-profile Nandigram seat, in West Bengal and 39 seats in Assam amid tight security, officials said.

Modi tweeted, "Urging the people of West Bengal in whose seats there is polling taking place today to vote in record numbers.

New Delhi, Apr 1 (PTI) In the first reduction in rate in two months, jet fuel or ATF price on Thursday was cut by 3 per cent in line with softening international crude oil prices.

Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was reduced by Rs 1,887 per kilolitre, or 3 per cent, to Rs 58,374.16 per kl in the national capital, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.

This is the first reduction in rates after four rounds of increase since February.

New Delhi, Apr 1 (PTI) Former India skipper Mohammad Azharuddin feels swashbuckling wicket keeper-batsman Rishabh Pant will be a front runner to lead the 'Men in Blue' in future, having established himself across formats in the past few months.

The highly-rated Pant is set to lead the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League this season in the absence of injured regular skipper Shreyas Iyer.

New Delhi, Mar 31 (PTI) The Supreme Court-appointed committee to study the three new controversial agricultural laws has submitted its report to the apex court on March 19 in a sealed cover, one of its members said on Wednesday.

Farmers have been protesting seeking repeal of the three contentious farm laws on the borders of New Delhi for the last five months now. The Supreme Court had, on January 11, stayed the implementation of the three laws till further orders and appointed a four-member panel to resolve the impasse.

New Delhi, Mar 30 (PTI) More than three years after the defence ministry cleared a proposal to shut 39 military cattle farms across the country, the Army is finally disbanding them, official sources said on Tuesday.

A flag ceremony is being held at Delhi Cantonment on Wednesday, marking winding down of the farms, they said.

In August 2017, the defence ministry had announced a series of reform measures for the Indian Army which included shutting down the military farms, housing around 25,000 head of cattle.

New Delhi, Mar 31 (PTI) India's drug regulator DCGI has extended the shelf life of Covishield, the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, from six to nine months from its manufacturing date.

In a letter to the Serum Institute of India, Drugs Controller General of India V G Somani said the SII is permitted to apply the shelf life of nine months to unlabelled vials available on hand.

New Delhi, Mar 30 (PTI) A BJP functionary hanged himself at a park in west Delhi's Hari Nagar over a family dispute, police said on Tuesday.

Gurvinder Singh (58), a resident of Fateh Nagar, was head of the Legal Department of the BJP's West Delhi district unit.

Singh's body was found hanging at Jheel Wala Park on Monday, following a minor dispute with his family, a senior police officer said.

His son Ishwender Singh reached the spot and identified the body which was later sent for postmortem, the police added.

New Delhi, Mar 30 (PTI) Petrol and diesel prices on Tuesday were cut for the third time within a week on the back of softening international oil prices.

Petrol price was cut by 22 paise per litre and diesel by 23 paise per litre, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.

Petrol now costs Rs 90.56 per litre in Delhi and a litre of diesel comes for Rs 80.87.

New Delhi, Mar 28 (PTI) Seven of the 10 most valued domestic companies witnessed a combined erosion of Rs 1,07,566.64 crore from their market valuation last week, with Reliance Industries accounting for around half of the losses.

Last week, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex declined 849.74 points or 1.70 per cent.

Only Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Hindustan Unilever Limited and HDFC from the top-10 list saw a rise in their market capitalisation.