The Income Tax Department on Wednesday searched premises linked to Bollywood actor Taapsee Pannu, Phantom Films, co-promoted by director Anurag Kashyap, and a talent hunt company as well as some others, officials said.

They said the searches are part of a tax evasion probe and conducted at about 20 locations in Mumbai and Pune.

President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday administered the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at the Army hospital (Research and Referral) in New Delhi.

The President received his first shot as the country's vaccination campaign has been widened to include people above 60, and those who are 45 or more and suffering from certain medical conditions.

Digital payments major PayPal on Wednesday said it will hire 1,000 engineers this year for its India development centres across Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad.

PayPal will hire 1,000 engineers for the development centres in these three cities over the course of the year across software, product development, data science, risk analytics and business analytics streams at entry, mid-level, and senior roles, a statement said.

In a surprising decision, Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday (March 2) announced that Texas is lifting its mask mandate. Abbott's decision means that Texas will now become the largest state to end an order which was passed to curb the spread of COVID-19. It is to be noted that coronavirus has claimed over 42,000 lives in Texas.

The Republican governor had imposed the mandate eight months ago.

The locals in Haryana will now get 75 percent reservation in private jobs. The Manohar Lal Khattar government has approved a bill guaranteeing reservation for the youth of the state in private sector jobs. Haryana Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya has approved the bill, Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala said on Tuesday.

In good news, LPG customers will now be able to book their cylinders at three dealers simultaneously. The move will help people who book a refill but the new cylinder isn't delivered in 4-5 days due to unavailability. It creates trouble for them if the cylinder runs out.

Now the cylinders can be booked from three dealers simultaneously and can be taken from any dealer who delivers it first.

The ruling BJP recorded a massive victory in the local body polls in Gujarat on Tuesday by winning clear majority in all 31 district panchayats as well as in 196 out of 231 taluka panchayats and 74 out of 81 municipalities.

The Congress, the main opposition party in the state, won a clear majority in only one municipality and 18 taluka panchayats, while AIMIM and AAP also made their presence felt.

As many as 14,989 new COVID-19 cases and 98 deaths were reported from India in the last 24 hours, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed on Wednesday.

With 13,123 fresh recoveries, the cumulative discharges reached 1,08,12,044.

The total coronavirus caseload in the country has gone up to 1,11,39,516, including 1,70,126 active cases and 1,57,346 deaths.

While rising prices of petrol, diesel and LPG cylinders are already troubling the salaried class, they are likely to suffer another major blow as the interest rate on the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) could be slashed for the financial year 2020-21. Over 6 crore people will be affected from the move.

The will be a huge setback to the PF subscribers who were already worried about not getting the interest till last year.

In a shocking development, a 13-year-old girl's body was recovered from a pit in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr district six days after she went missing.

The girl's family has said that she was kidnapped and raped, after which she was killed and her body was buried in a pit.

According to police, the girl, a resident of Siraura village, had gone to work on a field with her mother and sister on February 25. While working, she felt thirsty and went to a nearby home to ask for water.

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