Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday attacked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for pursuing “appeasement and vote bank politics”, going on to say that on May 2, Banerjee’s khela (game) will be shesh (over) and development will start.

Addressing an election rally in the tribal Jangalmahal region of the state, he alleged the ruling TMC never considered Dalits, backwards and adivasis its own, and these sections were the worst victims of cut money culture and Tolabaji (extortion) by the state's ruling party.

India saw 39,726 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, the highest single day rise recorded so far this year, taking the nationwide COVID-19tally to 1,15,14,331,according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

Registering an increase for the ninth day in a row, the total active caseload has reached 2,71,282, which now comprises 2.36per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 96.26 per cent, the data stated.

HDFC Bank's MSME book grew 30 per cent year-on-year to cross the Rs 2-lakh-crore-mark as of December-end, mainly boosted by the pandemic-induced ECLG scheme under which it disbursed over Rs 23,000 crore.

The growth is also driven by a renewed push towards customers in semi-urban and rural areas, the bank has said.

The Supreme Court on Thursday accepted the standard operating procedure (SOP) statement prepared by SBI Funds Management for disposal of assets to unit holders in six Franklin Templeton debt schemes frozen on April 23, 2020.

The SOP was prepared by FT Mutual Fund and market regulator SEBI.

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) employees staged a protest in Ludhiana on Thursday against the government's decision to raise the Foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the insurance sector to 74 per cent and to bring an IPO of the LIC.

There is a strike across the country. We are protesting against the proposal of bringing an IPO of the LIC. It is an attempt to push LIC towards privatisation. We demand the government to drop this idea. We are also against raising the FDI limit in the insurance sector to 74 per cent, Ritu Aban, one of the protesters told ANI.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is scheduled to address a rally in Nandigram today and tomorrow (March 19 and 20). This will be her second rally in Nandigram after March 10 rally where she injured her leg in an untoward incident.

According to TMC, the Trinamool supremo will address eight places in Nandigram. Though the blueprint is yet to get finalized but the dates are finalised, TMC said.

Mumbai: Coronavirus has been causing havoc in Maharashtra and a record number of cases were registered on Thursday. According to the data of the Maharashtra Health Department, as many as 25,833 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, which is the highest number of Covid-19 cases reported in a single day so far. With this, Mumbai has also recorded the highest number of cases so far and in 24 hours, 2,877 people tested positive for coronavirus.

Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Ahmed Bajwa has called for India and Pakistan to bury the past.

Bajwa's statement is being seen as an outreach to India as relations between the two neighbours have been hostile for some time now. Bajwa, however, said that the burden is on India to create a conducive environment, adding that Washington also has a role to play in ending regional conflicts.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday hit out at Centre for "failing miserably" in rolling out the COVID-19 vaccination for Indians.

I share the pride that India exported 5.9 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines. At the same time, I am disappointed that we have administered only 3 crore doses to Indian citizens, Chidambaram tweeted.

As many as 35,871 new COVID-19 cases and 17,741 recoveries were reported in India in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry informed on Thursday.

With the addition of fresh cases, the total number positive cases in the country reached 1,14,74,605, including 2,52,364 active cases and 1,10,63,025 recoveries.

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