Morning Digest: Roads to be freed of toll booths in a yr, says Nitin Gadkari; EU drug regulator backs AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 after safety investigation, and more

India will implement a GPS-based toll assortment system and eliminate all toll booths inside a yr, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari knowledgeable the Lok Sabha on Thursday. He additionally shared particulars of the vehicle scrapping policy, first introduced in the Union Budget for 2021-22, in accordance to which the car trade in India will see a leap in turnover to ₹10 lakh crore from ₹4.5 lakh crore.

Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde agreed with advocate Prashant Bhushan on Thursday to urgently hear a plea by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms to keep the sale of a new set of electoral bonds on April 1, earlier than Assembly elections in essential States akin to West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

Top U.S. and Chinese officers supplied sharply totally different views of the world on March 18 as the 2 sides met face-to-face for the primary time since President Joe Biden took workplace. In unusually pointed remarks for a staid diplomatic assembly, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Communist Party overseas affairs chief Yang Jiechi took goal at one another’s insurance policies firstly of two days of talks in Alaska.

The EU’s drug watchdog mentioned on March 18 it’s nonetheless satisfied the advantages of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine outweigh the dangers following an investigation into experiences of blood problems that prompted more than a dozen nations to droop its use.

The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday handed the Insurance Amendment Bill 2021 that will increase the utmost overseas funding allowed in an insurance coverage firm from 49% to 74%, amid criticism from the Opposition events on the clause enabling “control and ownership” by overseas buyers.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday forbade judges from making gender stereotypical feedback like “’good women are sexually chaste”, girls who drink and smoke ‘ask’ for sexual advances or presume that a sexually lively lady consented to rape whereas listening to circumstances of sexual offence.

Union Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad mentioned on Thursday that local weather activist Disha Ravi’s arrest was based mostly on regulation and order and it’s underneath judicial course of. He added that the House ought to think about “should some people abuse social media internationally to defame India to promote secessionism.”

Former Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Arvind Subramanian resigned from Ashoka University on Thursday, days after famous columnist and political commentator Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s exit. In his resignation letter, Dr. Subramanian, mentioned he had been “devastated” by “the circumstances involving the ‘resignation’ of Professor Pratap Bhanu Mehta” two days earlier.

In a main embarrassment to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), two candidates introduced by the celebration on Thursday for the Assembly polls from Kolkata have refused to contest on the celebration’s ticket.

The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed suo motu proceedings earlier than the Delhi High Court on the administration of COVID-19 vaccine and transferred the case to itself. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde mentioned a related case in regards to the vaccination drive was already pending in the Supreme Court, and the case from the Delhi High Court might be heard together with it.

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to urgently hear a plea to launch and defend over 150 Rohingya refugees reportedly “detained” in Jammu. Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde agreed to hear the application filed by a member of the Rohingya neighborhood, Mohammad Salimullah, represented by advocates Prashant Bhushan and Cheryl d’Souza, on April 25 (Thursday). Mr. Bhushan made an oral point out earlier than the CJI for an early listening to.

The Lok Sabha on Thursday handed the supplementary demand for grants (second batch for 2020-21) however not earlier than vital considerations raised by Opposition leaders on the federal government’s disinvestment and asset monetisation plans, and rising gas costs.

If Ishan Kishan was unlucky to be dominated out of the fourth T20I due to a groin pressure, woman luck smiled on his alternative Suryakumar Yadav. The Mumbai cricketer, dropped for the earlier outing after not having confronted a ball on his debut in the second T20I, grabbed his probability and made it depend.