The CISF has apprehended four people and seized foreign currency worth Rs 59 lakh from them at the Delhi international airport.

The interception of three passengers and an accompanying visitor at the terminal-3 of the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport was done on June 28, a senior CISF officer said.

A total of 2,19,740 Saudi Riyals and USD 15,200 worth about Rs 59 lakh was recovered from a tiffin box kept in the registered baggage of the passengers who were travelling to Dubai.

The four were later handed over to customs officials for further investigation, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officer said.

Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde left Goa for Mumbai on Thursday afternoon, where he is scheduled to meet Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.

Shinde and other rebel MLAs, who arrived in Goa on Wednesday night from Guwahati, stayed at a resort at Dona Paula near here. While other MLAs continued to be at the resort, Shinde stepped out amid a tight police security around 12.20 pm.

“I am going to Mumbai to meet the Maharashtra Governor. All other MLAs are staying in Goa at present,” Shinde told reporters outside the resort.

Party sources said that Shinde is also likely to meet senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who is expected to make a comeback as chief minister.

On Wednesday night, Uddhav Thackeray resigned as Maharashtra chief minister, which paved the way for the return of the BJP to power. The rebel Shiv Sena MLAs led by Shinde are likely to support the BJP to form a government.

Daily coronavirus cases in India were recorded over 18,000 after a gap of 130 days, taking the COVID-19 tally to 4,34,52,164, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

The active cases crossed the one-lakh mark again after 122 days.

A total 18,819 new Covid cases were reported in a span of 24 hours while the death toll climbed to 5,25,116 with 39 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The active cases increased to 1,04,555 comprising 0.24 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.55 per cent, the ministry said.

An increase of 4,953 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.16 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 3.72 per cent, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,28,22,493, while the case fatality rate was 1.21 per cent.

According to the ministry, 197.61 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year. It crossed four crore on January 25 this year.

The 39 new fatalities include 17 from Kerala, seven from Maharashtra, four from Uttar Pradesh, three from Punjab, two each from Haryana, Karnataka and West Bengal and one each from Delhi and Sikkim.

A total of 5,25,116 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,47,922 from Maharashtra, 69,993 from Kerala, 40,117 from Karnataka, 38,026 from Tamil Nadu, 26,261 from Delhi, 23,538 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,218 from West Bengal.

The ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.

The election for the post of vice president will be held on August 6, the Election Commission said on Wednesday.

The notification for the election to decide the successor of M Venkaiah Naidu will be issued on July 5 and the last date for filing of nomination papers will be July 19.

The scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on July 20 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is July 22.

The election will be held on August 6 and the votes counted on the same day.

Members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, including nominated members, form the electoral college for the vice presidential election.

Naidu’s term as vice president ends on August 10.

The schedule for the vice presidential election was finalised at a meeting of Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey.

Over a month since a blaze ripped through a building in Mundka here killing 27 people, Geeta Devi, the victim last to be identified, was cremated by her relatives on Wednesday, a senior police officer said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (outer) Sameer Sharma said that last rites of Geeta Devi were performed in a cemetery in northwest Delhi’s Sultanpuri area.

May the soul of all the 27 deceased in this incident rest in peace. The relatives of Geeta came from Bihar. After the post mortem, our staff went with them for cremation, Sharma said.
In a picture shared by police, a policeman is seen helping in the funeral of the deceased.
Earlier, police had said that the body of Geeta Devi was kept in the hospital, as she was an orphan and her husband too had died. She did not have any children.

The Forensic Science Lab had initially faced difficulty in confirming her identity due to unsatisfactory results from the blood samples collected from her “siblings”, but at length she was connected with her relatives, who cremated her.

On May 13, at least 27 people were gutted or asphyxiated after a roaring fire engulfed a commercial building in Delhi’s Mundka area.

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha has invited heads of all political parties of Jammu and Kashmir for a high-tea at Raj Bhawan in the evening today for discussions on the smooth conduct of Amarnath Yatra, which is commencing on June 30 and other issues.

The LG Sinha, a local news agency said,  sent invitations to all political parties of the union territory for a meeting at 6 pm.  Sinha was in Jammu to flag off the first batch of Amarnath Yatra pilgrims from Jammu base camp toward the cave shrine in Kashmir today morning.

Those invited to the meeting include BJP state president, Ravinder Raina, NC president Dr Farooq Abdullah, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, People’s Conference chairman Sajad Lone, Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari, CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, JKPCC president G A Mir, PDF president Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen and several others.

Amarnath Yatra is being held after a gap of two years. The pilgrimage was suspended following Covid-19 pandemic which prohibited large gatherings.

India needs to form Green Hydrogen Corridors and governments can look at providing grants to startups as well as support entrepreneurs to promote green hydrogen, NITI Aayog said on Wednesday.

In a report titled ‘Harnessing Green Hydrogen – Opportunities for Deep Decarbonisation in India’, the Aayog also suggested that there is a need to facilitate investment through demand aggregation and dollar-based bidding for green hydrogen.

“Three hydrogen corridors should be developed across the country based on state grand challenges … The governments can provide grants and loans to startups and projects, support entrepreneurs through incubators and investor networks, and put in place regulations that manage first-mover risks,” the report said.

The government can also use public procurement and purchase incentives (for green hydrogen) to create demand in niche markets and crowd in private investment, it added.

The report suggested that the government should promote export of green hydrogen and green hydrogen-embedded products through a global hydrogen alliance.

Green Hydrogen/ Green Ammonia is defined as hydrogen/ ammonia produced by way of electrolysis of water using renewable energy, including renewable energy which has been banked and the hydrogen/ammonia produced from biomass.
Most large economies including India have committed to net zero targets.

The report predicted that hydrogen demand in India could grow more than four-fold by 2050, representing almost 10 per cent of global hydrogen demand.

In the longer term, steel and heavy-duty trucking are likely to drive the majority of demand growth, accounting for almost 52 per cent of total demand by 2050, it added.

Emphasising that the roadmap should also identify a timeline and scale of manufacturing support for electrolysers, the report said, “India may aim for 25 GW of electrolysers by 2030, while also investing USD 1 billion in R&D to catalyse the development of commercial green hydrogen technologies across the value chain.”

It noted that radically improving the speed of regulatory clearances coupled with preferential treatment in public tenders will help catalyse local manufacturing.

The report suggested that grand challenges, public-private venture capital and financing test bench infrastructure could be part of the R&D investments.

Addressing the nation on the 75th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the National Hydrogen Mission with an aim to make India a hub for production and export of green hydrogen.

The report opined that the government can intervene on the supply side to reduce the cost of green hydrogen to USD 1/kilogram (kg).
The cost of hydrogen from electrolysis today is relatively high, between around USD 7/kg and USD 4.10/kg depending on various technology choices and the associated soft costs.

The report suggested that states should be encouraged to launch their own green hydrogen-based policies in order to complement efforts at the national level.
It also suggested that the government should initiate green hydrogen standards and a labelling programme.

The report aims to serve as a key knowledge base for India’s Green Hydrogen Policy discourse and private sector investment decisions..

The GST Council on Wednesday took no decision on extending beyond this month the compensation paid to states for revenue lost from the implementation of GST.

Puducherry finance minister K Lakshminarayanan said all states sought an extension of the compensation mechanism, but no decision has been taken.

A final decision is likely to be taken at the next meeting of the council in August.

When a nationwide Goods and Services Tax (GST) subsumed 17 central and state levies from July 1, 2017, it was decided that states will be compensated for any loss of revenue from the new tax for five years.

With two years being lost in the pandemic, states have sought an extension of this compensation mechanism.

The Council – the highest decision-making body of the indirect tax regime, which is headed by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprises representatives of all states and UTs – discussed the issue at a meeting here but did not take a decision.

Officials said a group of ministers (GoM) have been asked to further deliberate on the tax rate and the method of valuation of taxing online gaming, casinos and horse racing.

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday appealed rebel MLAs of his party camping in Guwahati to return to Mumbai and talk to him.
It is not too late. I appeal to you to return and sit with me and remove the confusion (created by your actions) among Shiv Sainiks and the public, a statement by Thackeray’s aide quoted him as saying.

If you return and face me, some way could be found. As party president and family head, I still care for you, he said.

Thackeray’s statement comes in the backdrop of rebel goup leader Eknath Shinde daring the party to disclose the names of some of the MLAs camping in Guwahati who were reportedly in touch with the party leadership.

Delhi police on Tuesday produced Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair before a court here in a case related to an objectionable tweet he had posted in 2018 against a Hindu deity.
The police produced Zubair before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria on the expiry of his one-day custodial interrogation.

The court is likely to begin hearing a police plea for Zubair’s custody for five more days.