HIGHLIGHTS

These are the top stories at 9.15 pm: DEL114 CAB-3RDLD TELECOM-PACKAGE Relief to Voda-Idea: Cabinet approves moratorium on payment of levies, other reforms New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a big-bang relief package for the stressed telecom sector that includes a four-year break for companies from paying statutory dues, permission to share scarce airwaves, change in the definition of revenue on which levies are paid and 100 per cent foreign investment through the automatic route.

DEL104 BIZ-3RDLD AIR INDIA-BIDS Tatas, SpiceJet chief Ajay Singh put in financial bids for Air India New Delhi: Tata Sons, the holding company of India's largest conglomerate, and SpiceJet chief Ajay Singh are among those who submitted financial bids on Wednesday to acquire loss-making state airline Air India.

NATION DEL105 UNHRC-LD INDOPAK Don't need lessons from ''failed state'': India hits out at Pak, OIC for raising Kashmir issue at UNHRC New Delhi: India on Wednesday castigated Pakistan and the OIC for raising the Kashmir issue at the UN Human Rights Council, saying it does not need lessons from a ''failed state'' and the ''epicentre of terrorism'' and chided the 57-nation bloc for ''helplessly'' allowing itself to be held ''hostage'' by Islamabad.

DEL119 LD SANSAD TV Parliament more about policy than politics: Modi New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that Parliament is not only about politics but policy too and noted that content is about ''connect'' that is as much applicable to the parliamentary system as to the media.

DEL34 NCRB-CRIME Crimes against women, children drop in 2020; disobedience cases go up drastically: NCRB New Delhi: The Coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown resulted in a drop in traditional crimes like theft, robbery, and assault on women and children in 2020, but there was a drastic jump in disobedience to government orders, primarily arising due to violations of COVID-19 norms, official data showed.

BOM14 GJ-PATEL-LD MINISTRY Gujarat: New ministers to take oath on Thursday Ahmedabad: New ministers of the Bhupendra Patel-led government in Gujarat will take the oath on Thursday, a state BJP spokesperson said.

DEL55 MOE-LD JEE-MAIN-RESULTS JEE-Main result: Record 44 candidates score 100 percentile, 18 share top rank New Delhi: A record 44 candidates have scored 100 percentile in the engineering entrance exam JEE-Main this year while 18 candidates have shared the top rank, according to National Testing Agency (NTA).

DEL12 VIRUS-LD CASES India records 27,176 fresh cases of COVID-19 New Delhi: Daily new cases of coronavirus in India continued to remained below 30,000 with the country recording 27,176 fresh COVID-19 cases, while 284 new fatalities were recorded, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

DEL107 VACCINE-SPUTNIK-RUSSIA-INDIA Russia seeks Govt's nod for export of Sputnik Light COVID vaccine manufactured in India by Hetero Biopharma New Delhi: The Russian ambassador has urged the Indian government to allow the export of single-dose COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik Light produced by Hetero Biopharma, one of the RDIF's partners in the production of the jab, to his country till the vaccine gets emergency use authorisation from India's drug regulator. By Payal Banerjee DEL86 RAHUL-LD BJP BJP-RSS 'fake Hindus', indulge in 'brokerage' of religion: Rahul Gandhi New Delhi: Calling the BJP-RSS people ''fake Hindus'', Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that they use religion for their benefit and indulge in its 'dalali (brokerage)'.

DEL52 SPACE-GAGANYAAN-JITENDRA Gaganyaan mission likely to be launched by 2022 end or early 2023: Jitendra Singh New Delhi: India's 'Gaganyaan' mission is likely to be launched by the end of 2022 or early 2023, Union minister Jitendra Singh said on Wednesday.

BUSINESS DEL96 BIZ-VAISHNAW-TELECOM 5G spectrum auction most probably in Feb 2022: Telecom Minister New Delhi: The 5G spectrum auctions will ''most probably'' be held in February 2022, and the government may even try for a January timeline, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday. By Moumita Bakshi Chatterjee DEL39 CAB-LD-PLI-AUTO-SCHEME Govt approves Rs 26k crore PLI scheme for automotive, drone industries New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a Rs 26,058 crore production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for auto, auto-components and drone industries to enhance India's manufacturing capabilities, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said on Wednesday.

DEL29 BIZ-CAIRN-AIRINDIA Cairn, Air India seek stay on New York court proceedings New Delhi: Cairn Energy and Air India have jointly asked a New York federal court to stay further proceedings in the British firm's US lawsuit targeting the airline for enforcement of a USD 1.2-billion arbitral award. By Ammar Zaidi LEGAL DEL113 SC-LDALL TRIBUNALS SC pulls up Centre for ''cherry-picking' candidates in appointments in Tribunals; says ''very unhappy'', situation ''unfortunate'' New Delhi: The Supreme court on Wednesday pulled up the Centre over the recent appointments in some tribunals, saying it was ''cherry-picking'' candidates from the recommended list and that there was ''no consistency'' in the selection process.

FOREIGN FGN52 PAK-QURESHI-TTP Pak govt open to pardon TTP members if they give up terror activities, says Qureshi Islamabad: The Pakistan government would be ''open to giving'' a pardon to members of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) if they promise not to indulge in terrorist activities and submit to the country's Constitution, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said.

SPORTS SPD9 SPO-CRI-IPL-LD CROWD Limited spectators to be allowed at IPL matches New Delhi: Limited spectators will be allowed into the stadiums when the much-awaited Indian Premier League resumes in the UAE this weekend, the event's organisers announced on Wednesday.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)