A look at the headlines right now:

  1. Stricter curbs in Maharashtra from 8 pm on Wednesday for 15 days, announces CM: Uddhav Thackeray also sought the air force’s help to tackle oxygen supply shortage in the state.
  2. Centre fast-tracks emergency approvals for foreign vaccines amid surge in cases: Sputnik V got the DCGI’s approval; meanwhile, the Centre claimed the problem was not of vaccine shortages but of planning.
  3. Mamata Banerjee stages dharna in Kolkata to protest against EC’s 24-hour campaign ban: Rajnath Singh castigated Banerjee and said her conduct was unbecoming of a CM.
  4. Goa Forward Party quits NDA, cites BJP government’s ‘anti-Goan policies’: The Goa Forward Party chief wrote a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, saying the National Democratic Alliance has ‘miserably failed’ the people of Goa.  
  5. India reports 1,61,736 new coronavirus cases, nearly 81% of them in 10 states: More than 40 lakh people were vaccinated on Monday.
  6. Kerala minister KT Jaleel resigns after state Lokayukta finds him guilty of nepotism: On April 9, the anti-corruption body said that Jaleel ‘misused’ his powers to appoint a family member in State Minorities Development Finance Corporation.
  7. At Kumbh Mela, 102 test positive for Covid, top police official says it isn’t a super-spreader event: Meanwhile, Uttarakhand reduced night curfew timing, CM cited festive celebrations.   
  8. Scania audit confirms Nitin Gadkari received luxury bus from Swedish firm for personal use, say  reports: Last month, the Union minister had denied allegations that the bus was given to him as a bribe to win contracts in seven Indian states.
  9. New York stock exchange removes Adani Ports from index due to links with Myanmar military: The group was reportedly paying over Rs 225 crore to the military-backed Myanmar Economic Corporation in ‘land lease fees’ for a port in Yangon.
  10. Japan to dump over 1 million tonnes of Fukushima nuclear plant water into sea: China called the decision ‘extremely irresponsible’.