The Supreme Court directed the Speaker of Madhya Pradesh’s legislative Assembly that a vote test of the government’s majority be done on Friday and the proceedings be complete before 5 pm.

The test, which will be the only agenda item before the Assembly, is to be by raising of hands, said a Bench of judges D Y Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta. The proceeding are to also be recorded on video.

The Kerala government has announced a Rs 20,000-crore financial package for the state to tide over the present crisis being faced by the southern state in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. This includes Rs 14,000 crore to clear all arrears pending in various sectors and a Rs 500-crore health package.

On Thursday, the state has reported one more positive case, taking the total confirmed COVID-19 cases to 28, of which 25 patients are under treatment, said state Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The four death-row convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape case were hanged in Delhi’s Tihar jail at 5:30 am on Friday. This was after the Supreme Court, in a pre-dawn hearing, brought the curtains down on the gangrape and murder case by dismissing a plea by one of the four against rejection of his second mercy plea by President Ram Nath Kovind.

In an indication of public outrage over the case that had shaken the conscience of an entire nation, several posters were seen outside the Tihar premises in the wee hours on Friday ahead of the hanging with placards and posters reading thanks to judiciary and the morning of justice.

The Indian rupee touched almost 75 a dollar, a record low, in morning trade as equities witnessed a rout on Coronavirus fear.

At 10 40 a.m., the partially convertible currency was trading at 74.95 a dollar, from its previous close of 74.26 a dollar. The RBI let the rupee to depreciate, but intervened once it reached the 75 mark to bring it down below the level, currency dealers say.

Shares of auto companies were trading with up to 19 per cent cut on the NSE on Thursday as panic selling continued amid growing fears of economic dislocation due to pandemic Coronavirus (Covid-19).

Nifty Auto index hit a six-year low today. At 10:33 am, the index was trading 7.5 per cent lower at 5,102 levels with 14 out of 15 components declining. In comparison, the benchmark Nifty50 index was hovering around 8,000 levels, down 466 points or 5.5 per cent.

A 30 per cent drop in the S&P BSE Sensex and the Nifty 50 thus far in the calendar year 2020 (CY20) has weighed heavily on the fortunes of state-owned life insurer, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), which has suffered a notional loss of about Rs 1.9 trillion in the past two-and-half months. The insurer, known for making large equity investments, has substantial holdings in many listed companies. The dent comes at a time when the government is drawing up plans of listing LIC at the bourses, subject to legislative changes and regulatory approvals.

The number of positive cases of coronavirus in Telangana rose to 13 after seven Indonesian nationals who were on a pilgrimage tested positive for the virus.

According to the official information, all of them were part of a pilgrimage group and were put into isolation on March 16. They were confirmed to have the virus on Wednesday.

The total number of cases in the state is 13, which includes one person who was cured.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has directed all autonomous organisation under it including UGC, AICTE, NTA, NIOS, CBSE, and NCTE to postpone all examinations till March 31 as a precautionary measure to contain to spread of coronavirus.

The directions have been issued to ensure safety of students, teachers and parents as well as maintenance of the academic calender.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired a high-level meeting to review the ongoing efforts to contain COVID-19 and also discussed ways to further strengthen India’s preparedness as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country jumped to 154.

The number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in India climbed to 154 on Wednesday. Among the states, Maharashtra has the highest number of cases at 45, followed by Kerala at 30.

The global death toll due to the novel coronavirus pandemic has crossed 8,900 while the total number of confirmed cases reported so far is more than 2 lakh.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday noted that over 80% of all cases are from two regions – the Western Pacific and Europe and said that it is talking to ministers of health, heads of state, health workers, hospital managers, industry leaders, CEOs and more – to help them prepare and prioritize, according to their specific situation.

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