Delhi

New Delhi, Mar 14 (PTI) The government on Saturday hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel by a steep Rs 3 per litre each to garner about Rs 39,000 crore additional revenue as it repeated its 2014-15 act of not passing on gains arising from slump in international oil prices.

Retail prices of petrol and diesel will not be impacted by the tax changes as state-owned oil firms adjusted them against the recent fall in oil prices and the likely trend in the near future, industry officials said.

New Delhi, Mar 13 (PTI) Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday that the novel coronavirus outbreak was at the "containment stage", adding that the Centre and the Delhi government had been working together to deal with it.

Kejriwal urged the people to not hoard sanitisers and masks, which is he said was not needed for those who are healthy as COVID-19 was not an airborne disease.

New Delhi, Mar 12 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Thursday told the Uttar Pradesh government that there is no law as of now to back its action of putting roadside posters of those accused of vandalism during the anti-CAA protests in Lucknow.

A vacation bench of Justices U U Lalit and Aniruddha Bose told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Uttar Pradesh, that it is a matter of "great importance".

New Delhi, Mar 13 (PTI) Investor wealth worth nearly Rs 12 lakh crore was wiped off in less than 15 minutes of trade opening on Friday, with benchmarks crashing over 10 per cent on mounting fears over coronavirus pandemic.

The 30-share BSE Sensex plummeted 3,380.59 points, or 10.31 per cent, to 29,397.55. It hit an intra-day low of 29,388.97, falling up to 3,389.17 points.

New Delhi, Mar 12 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said Jyotiraditya Scindia forgot his ideology as he was apprehensive about his political future and that he would not get respect in the BJP.

Talking about Scindia's move to the BJP ending his long association with the Congress, Gandhi said there is a difference between what Scindia is saying and what is in his heart.

New Delhi, Mar 12 (PTI) Opposition parties on Thursday panned the government as well as the police over the Delhi violence last month that claimed over 50 lives, and warned that the spread of the "communal virus" would eventually pose to a threat to democracy.

Taking part in a short-duration debate in Rajya Sabha on the recent law and order situation in some parts of Delhi, some Opposition members said the "communal virus" being unleashed by the BJP was "no less harmful" than the coronavirus.

New Delhi, Mar 12 (PTI) Retail inflation dropped for the first time after six months in February, easing to 6.58 per cent as prices of vegetables and other kitchen items cooled, government data showed on Thursday.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based retail inflation, however, still continues to rule above the comfort level of the Reserve Bank of India.

New Delhi, Mar 12 (PTI) A PIL was moved in the Delhi High Court on Thursday seeking directions to the Centre to take appropriate steps for stopping religious conversion of socially and economically downtrodden people, particularly of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe community.

The plea claims that the government has done nothing to stop religious conversions.

The plea is listed before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar on Friday.

New Delhi, Mar 13 (PTI) The government on Friday extended the deadline for submitting bids for buying 100 per cent stake in Air India till April 30.

The deadline was originally set at March 17.

The government had allowed access to the virtual data room of Air India to interested bidders late in February and allowed them further time till March 6 to pose queries.

New Delhi, March 13 (PTI) The government on Friday said in Rajya Sabha that there is no proposal to ban the export of buffalo meat or fish.

During Question Hour, Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, said, "There is no proposal to ban the export of buffalo meat or any meat or fish."