India continues to witness a steady decline in daily new coronavirus infections as only 19,556 new COVID-19 cases were reported in last 24 hours, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

With the addition of new cases, the country's coronavirus count reached 1,00,75,116 on Tuesday. At present, the active coronavirus cases in the country dropped to 2,92,518 after 30,376 new recoveries were recorded. The overall recoveries have now mounted to 96,36,487.

Gold price today jumped to Rs 53,720 from Rs 53,410 per 10 gm, while silver price was trending at Rs 70,700 per kg, according to the Good Returns website.

Gold jewellery price varies across India, the second-largest consumer of the metal, due to excise duty, state taxes, and making changes.

IDBI Bank on Monday said it had option to draw Rs 1,500 crore as equity capital from its promoter Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). The bank, with LIC and the government of India as its promoter, raised equity capital Rs 1,435 crore through Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) last week.

Rakesh Sharma, MD and CEO, said the shareholding of LIC had come down (fell below 51 per cent), so the bank could take up to Rs 1,500 crore capital from LIC.

Farmers have started a 'relay' hunger strike on various borders of Delhi adjoining Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to demand repeal of the new agricultural laws of the Center. On Monday, farmer leaders claimed that there is nothing new in the Center's letter regarding the next date for talks. Gurmeet Singh of Krantikari Kisan Union said that there is a possibility of meeting on Tuesday for the next step of the farmer leaders. Farmers' organizations are also trying to get support from farmers of other states like Bihar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to address the centenary celebrations of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) today (December 22), the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said on December 20.

The prime minister will be joining the 100-year anniversary event via video conferencing at 11 am, according to a press release by the PMO. This is the first time that PM Modi will be participating in an event at the AMU.

Counting of votes for the first-ever District Development Council (DDC) elections, which concluded on December 19, began at 9 am on Tuesday at all district headquarters across the Union Territory amid tight security.

Section 144 has been imposed by the administration in Doda to maintain the law and order situation. Three-tier security arrangements have been made to ensure free fair and smooth counting of votes. Counting agents of different political parties reached the centres.

Superstar Rajinikanth has been in the news for making an entry in politics with his new political party. However, the 'Thalaiva' actor seems to be engulfed in a controversy as a court has reportedly summoned him over a controversial statement in the Sterlite factory protest case.

The case is related to the violence which took place in the year 2018 in Vedanta's Sterlite factory in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu. About 13 protesters were killed in this incident.

US President-elect Joe Biden received his first injected dose of the COVID-19 vaccine live on television on Monday in an effort to boost confidence in its safety ahead of its wide distribution next year.

Biden has said he would make the fight against the coronavirus, which has killed more than 315,000 Americans and infected more than 17.5 million, his top priority when he takes office on Jan. 20. At age 78, he is in the high-risk group for the highly contagious respiratory disease.

GMR Infrastructure on Monday said it has received consent from stock exchanges, with no adverse observations, on its proposed restructuring involving demerger of its non-airport vertical business.

The company said it will file the scheme with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) within six months.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) on Monday said it will hike prices of its its range of tractors from next month in order to partially offset the impact of rise in input costs.

In a regulatory filing, M&M's Farm Equipment Sector said, effective January 1, 2021, it will increase the price of its range of tractors, across models.

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