A look at the top headlines of the day:

  1. LPG price raised by Rs 50, cost of petrol and diesel go up after four months: India’s state-run oil companies had not raised prices since November 4, a move observers attributed to the Assembly elections in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa.
  2. Eight die in West Bengal’s Birbhum as their houses were set on fire after alleged murder of TMC leader: The police have arrested 11 people in the matter so far and are investigating if there is a connection between the killing and the fire incident. Seven bodies were recovered from one house, while one person died of injuries in hospital.
  3. Court rejects bail plea of Mohammad Saleem Khan in Delhi violence case : Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat that allegations against Khan appear to be prima facie true. The court also deferred orders for the second time on the bail plea of co-accused Meeran Haider to March 25, and that of Sharjeel Imam to March 26.
  4. ED freezes assets worth Rs 6.45 crore of Maharasthra CM Uddhav Thackeray’s brother-in-law: The properties attached include 11 residential flats in Thane, belonging to Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Private Limited, owned by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s brother-in-law Shridhar Madhav Patankar.
  5. Man who died in 2016 gets notice to prove his citizenship in Assam: Notably, the same court had closed a case regarding the citizenship of the deceased Shyama Charan Das after his family had produced his death certificate. As per the death certificate issued by the Assam government, Das had died on May 6, 2016, at the age of 74.
  6. Haryana Assembly passes anti-conversion Bill amid walkout by Congress: The Bill prohibits religious conversions through threat, coercion, fraud, allurement, misrepresentation and by marriage or for marriage. Similar Bills have already been cleared in the states ruled by the Bhartiya Janata Party, including Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
  7. Muslim driver beaten up by cow vigilantes on suspicion of carrying beef in UP: Videos on social media showed the driver, identified as Aamir, being beaten by two to three men with belts even as he is pleading with them to stop. Two FIRs have been filed in the case and two members of Hindutva outfit Vishwa Hindu Parishad have been booked in one of them.
  8. Will fulfill poll promise on Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand, says Pushkar Dhami: The chief minister-designate had promised to form a panel to prepare a draft to introduce the set of laws that would replace personal laws of different faiths.
  9. New Delhi was the most polluted capital city in the world in 2021, shows report: Delhi saw a 14.6% increase in concentration of PM2.5 in the atmosphere in 2021 with levels rising to 96.4 micrograms per cubic meter from 84 micrograms per cubic meter in 2020. The PM2.5 concentration in Delhi’s air was nearly 20 times above the safety limit of 5 micrograms per cubic meter set by the World Health Organization.
  10. Sri Lanka deploys troops at petrol pumps amid fuel shortage: The country is facing a shortfall of foreign currencies resulting in the devaluation of its currency and adversely affecting payments for essential imports.