HIGHLIGHTS

Following are the top stories at 9 pm:

TOP STORIES

PAR177 LD BUDGET Budget cuts personal income tax, raises customs duty

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced cuts in personal income tax, extended tax benefits for affordable housing and gave relief to companies on payment of dividend in the Union Budget for 2020-21 as the government looked to boost consumption to bring the economy out of the worst slowdown in 11 years.

DEL182 LDALL SHAHEEN BAGH Man opens fire at Shaheen Bagh protest site, says 'only Hindus will have a say'

New Delhi: Two days after a youth fired a pistol at a group of anti-CAA protesters near the Jamia university, another man on Saturday fired two rounds in the air at Shaheen Bagh, the epicentre of the protest against the country’s new citizenship law, and was later taken into custody.

DEL185 LDALL NIRBHAYA Nirbhaya case: Prez rejects mercy plea of a 2nd convict; Centre says the 4 convicts taking judicial process for a "joyride"

New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind has rejected the mercy petition of a second convict in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case even as the Centre told the Delhi High Court on Saturday that the four condemned prisoners have taken the judicial process for a "joyride" and are acting in tandem to delay their execution.

DEL161 LDALL CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus: 324 Indians evacuated from Wuhan, admitted to ITBP, Army facilities

New Delhi: As many as 324 Indians, evacuated from China's Wuhan city, on Saturday reached here on board Air India's jumbo B747 aircraft and were admitted at the two quarantine facilities set up by the Army and the ITBP, though none of them have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, officials said.

NATION

DEL120 BUD-FM Govt intends to remove all income tax exemptions in long run: FM

New Delhi: After slashing income tax rates for individuals on condition that they give up exemptions and deductions, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the government intends to remove all I-T exemptions in the long run.

DEL199 BUD-LDALL PARTIES Modi hails budget for 'vision and action'; Oppn dubs it insipid, slams govt for 'all talk'

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday praised the Union budget for its "vision and action" and was joined by top BJP leaders in hailing it, but the Opposition slammed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's announcements as "insipid", saying they show that the government is "all talk".

DEL204 BUD-2NDLD DEFENCE Rs 3.37 lakh crore allocated for defence budget

New Delhi: In a marginal hike, the defence budget was increased to Rs 3.37 lakh crore for 2020-21 as against last year's Rs 3.18 lakh crore, notwithstanding expectations of a significantly higher allocation to fast-track long-pending military modernisation.

DEL196 BUD-2NDLD RAIL Pvt trains, solar power-driven network, transport of perishables form budget blueprint for railways

New Delhi: Private trains, better connectivity to tourist sites, solar power to fuel the rail network and transportation of perishables -- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has proposed a blueprint for the railways in the Union Budget 2020-21 to be implemented with a budgetary support of Rs 70,000 crore.

DEL118 BUD-2NDLD EDUCATION Govt to encourage FDI in education, set up national police and forensic science universities

New Delhi: The government will encourage external commercial borrowings and FDI in the education sector for financing infrastructure, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Saturday.

DEL150 AVI-3RDLD KAMRA-NOTICE Kamra sends legal notice to IndiGo demanding apology, revocation of 6 month ban

New Delhi: Days after IndiGo banned Kunal Kamra for a six-month period for allegedly heckling journalist Arnab Goswami on a flight, the comedian has sent a legal notice to the airline demanding an unconditional apology, revocation of the ban and Rs 25 lakh compensation. By Deepak Patel

FOREIGN

FGN28 CHINA-LDALL VIRUS Coronavirus death toll soars to 259 in China, thousands evacuated from Wuhan

Beijing: Several countries, including India, scrambled to evacuate their nationals from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, as the death toll in China soared to 259 and nearly 12,000 people infected with the deadly virus. By K J M Varma

FGN6 EU-LD BREXIT Brexit done: UK leaves EU as Boris Johnson hails new dawn

London: The UK's divorce from the European Union (EU) came into force on Friday night as it became the first country to exit the economic bloc after 47 years of membership following the vote in favour of Brexit in June 2016. By Aditi Khanna

BUSINESS

DEL179 BUD-2ND LD INDUSTRYREAX Bold reforms missing; FM constrained by state of economy: India Inc

New Delhi: The Budget 2020-21 unveiled on Saturday drew mixed responses from India Inc, with a section of industry leaders saying "big bold" reforms needed to kick-start economic growth are missing while others acknowledged that the Finance Minister had "little room" to manoeuvre.

SPORTS

SPD14 SPO-2NDLD BUD Government allocates Rs 2826.92 crore to sports budget, Rs 50 crore increase from last year

New Delhi: The government on Saturday allocated Rs 2,826.92 crore to the sports budget for the next financial year, which is an increase of a mere Rs 50 crore from the revised estimates of 2019-20.