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The Delhi High Court launched an inquiry against one of its judges after allegations that unaccounted cash was found at his home. The Supreme Court said that a proposal has been made to transfer Justice Yashwant Varma to the Allahabad High Court, but maintained that discussions about the proposed transfer were not linked to the inquiry into the alleged cash haul.

Reports said earlier in the day that the cash was allegedly recovered when emergency services responded to a fire incident at Varma’s official residence on March 14. However, the Delhi fire services chief denied later on Friday that fire personnel found any cash during the operation. Varma has not commented on the matter so far.

Earlier in the day, the Allahabad High Court Bar Association opposed repatriating Varma to the Allahabad High Court, saying that it is not a “trash bin”. Read on.

The Karnataka speaker has suspended 18 Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs from the Assembly amid ruckus in connection with allegations of honey trapping made by a Congress minister. A day earlier, state minister KN Rajanna alleged that 48 politicians, including a minister, were honey-trapped in the state and that an attempt was made to trap him too.

When the Assembly session began on Friday, the BJP demanded a judicial inquiry into Rajanna’s claims, and sought a response from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka demanded an inquiry under a sitting judge of the Karnataka High Court.

Despite the chief minister promising a high-level investigation, BJP MLAs continued to protest seeking a judicial inquiry. Some BJP MLAs were seen throwing papers at the speaker’s chair, while some climbed the speaker’s dais.

Later, Speaker UT Khader suspended the 18 BJP MLAs, accusing them of indiscipline. Read on.

The Centre spent Rs 258.9 crore on 38 foreign trips made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi between May 2022 and December 2024, as per figures presented before the Rajya Sabha. The prime minister’s most expensive trip during this period was to the United States in June 2023, which cost more than Rs 22 crore, the government informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

More than Rs 15 crore were spent on the prime minister’s September 2024 visit to the US.

The cost includes the expenditure on accommodations for the prime minister’s delegation, transportation, security and hardware, venue charges and “miscellaneous” expenses.

In 2022, Modi visited Germany, Denmark, France, Nepal, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Uzbekistan and Indonesia. In 2023, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Japan, the US, the UAE, Egypt, South Africa, Indonesia and Greece were among the countries visited by the prime minister.

In 2024, the prime minister travelled to the UAE, Bhutan, Qatar, Italy, Austria, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Brunei Darussalam, the US, Singapore, Laos, Brazil, Guyana and Kuwait. Read more.

A group of food and nutrition activists has demanded that a Union government advisory to reduce oil consumption in mid-day meals be withdrawn, describing it as unscientific. The collective, under the banner of the Right to Food Campaign, said that children need more, not less, healthy fats.

“In our experience, there are barriers for poorer communities to meet the recommended intake of fats and oils,” the activists said. They noted that the advisory came on the “heels of a statement by the Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] expressing ‘concern’ that childhood obesity is increasing among school children in India”.

The Union Ministry of Education, through the advisory issued on March 15, urged state governments to reduce the usage of cooking oil by 10% in the mid-day meal programmes under the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman scheme. The centrally-sponsored scheme is aimed at providing nutritious meals to students enrolled in government and aided schools. Read on.