Delhi

New Delhi, Apr 23 (PTI) Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday accused the BJP of spreading the virus of communal prejudice and hatred in the country, asserting that "grave damage" is being done to social harmony

Addressing a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, Gandhi said it should worry every Indian and her party will have to work hard to repair this damage.

New Delhi, Apr 22 (PTI) The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 640 and the number of cases to 19,984 in the country on Wednesday, according to the Union health ministry.

The number of active COVID-19 cases is 15,474, while 3,869 people have been cured and discharged, and one patient has migrated, the ministry said.

Mumbai, Apr 21 (PTI) The Indian rupee settled for the day lower by 30 paise at 76.83 (provisional) against the US dollar on Tuesday, tracking weak domestic equities and strengthening of the US dollar overseas.

Forex traders said the decline in the rupee was largely due to sharp drop in oil prices and stronger greenback which edged higher past the 100 level mark.

Ghaziabad, Apr 21 (PTI) The district administration on Tuesday banned the movement of people between Ghaziabad and Delhi as per lockdown orders, an official said.

However, people with valid passes and engaged in essential and emergency services will be allowed to move between the two cities, District Magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said.

New Delhi, Apr 21 (PTI) Delhi Police has booked Jamia students Meeran Haider and Safoora Zargar under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in a case related to communal violence in northeast Delhi over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, said a lawyer.

Haider and Zargar, arrested for allegedly hatching a conspiracy to incite the communal riots in February, are in judicial custody. While Zargar is the media coordinator of Jamia Coordination Committee, Haider is a member of the committee.

New Delhi, Apr 20 (PTI) Shares of HDFC Bank on Monday surged nearly 6 per cent after the lender posted a 15.4 per cent rise in consolidated net profit for the March quarter on healthy interest income.

The scrip jumped 5.54 per cent to Rs 960.85 on the BSE. It was the top gainer on the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex.

New Delhi, Apr 20 (PTI) The Centre has come down heavily on the Kerala government for its decision to allow opening of restaurants, bus travel in cities and opening of MSME industries in urban areas, saying it amounts to dilution of lockdown guidelines and also a Supreme Court observation

However, the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left government in Kerala said there was some "misunderstanding", due to which the Centre had objected to dilution of the lockdown protocol for controlling coronavirus

New Delhi, Apr 18 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has declined to interfere with the Centre and Air India's decision to operate chartered flights to repatriate foreign nationals to their respective countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A bench of justices J R Midha and Jyoti Singh was of the view that the Centre and the national carrier have taken measures such as issuing protection kits to the pilots and crew of the flights to protect them from the novel coronavirus.

New Delhi, Apr 18 (PTI) All postal employees, including Gramin Dak Sevaks, will get Rs 10 lakh compensation in case they succumb to COVID-19, the government said on Saturday.

The postal services come under essential services and apart from regular services, the post offices are also delivering food packets, rations and essential medicines, among others, across the country by liasioning with local administration and police.

New Delhi, Apr 18 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi thanked the government on Saturday for amending the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy after his warning on takeover of Indian companies by foreign players during the COVID-19 crisis.

"I thank the Government for taking note of my warning and amending the FDI norms to make it mandatory for Government approval in some specific cases," he wrote on Twitter.