Man arrested for stealing revolver from police

New Delhi, Feb 12: Cooking gas LPG price on Wednesday was hiked by a steep Rs 144.5 per cylinder due to spurt in benchmark global rates of the fuel.

But to insulate domestic users, the government almost doubled the subsidy it provides on the fuel to keep per cylinder outgo almost unchanged.

LPG price was increased to Rs 858.50 per 14.2 kg cylinder from Rs 714 previously, according to a price notification of state-owned oil firms.

This is the steepest hike in rates since January 2014 when prices had gone up by Rs 220 per cylinder to Rs 1,241.

Domestic LPG users, who are entitled to buy 12 bottles of 14.2-kg each at subsidised rates in a year, will get more subsidy.

The government subsidy payout to domestic users has been increased from Rs 153.86 per cylinder to Rs 291.48, industry officials said.

For Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) beneficiaries, the subsidy has increased from Rs 174.86 to Rs 312.48 per cylinder.

After accounting for the subsidy that is paid directly into the bank accounts of LPG users, a 14.2-kg cylinder would cost Rs 567.02 for domestic users and Rs 546.02 for PMUY users.

The government gave out 8 crore free LPG connections to poor women under PMUY to increase coverage of environment-friendly fuel in kitchens.

Normally, LPG rates are revised on 1st of every month but this time it took almost two weeks for the revision to take place - a phenomenon which industry officials said was due to approvals needed for such a big jump in subsidy outgo.

Others said the decision to defer the increase could have been because of assembly elections in Delhi. Delhi voted on February 8.

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 17: Out of the total 418 samples of suspect coronavirus cases sent for testing to National Institute of Virology from Kerala, 405 have come out as negative, while the results for the rest, barring three, are awaited.

"Out of three persons in whom the disease was confirmed, two persons have been discharged. One person is stable and the repeat sample results are awaited," according to a release by the Health and Family Welfare Department of the Kerala government.

The release added that till Sunday a total of 2,276 people have been placed under surveillance, "out of which 2262 are under home isolation and 14 are admitted in designated isolation facilities."

The health condition of all symptomatic people under isolation is stable, according to the release.

The release added that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (Centre) has informed the Kerala government that 115 people belonging to Kerala are currently in quarantine in two camps in Delhi.

These 115 people have been tested and found negative for coronavirus and they will be allowed to travel back to Kerala on Monday evening.

The people have been requested to remain in home isolation upon their return.

Hubballi, Jan 15: Leaders of the Muslim community, Dalit organisations, Congress Party, and others are staging a hunger strike at Dr B R Ambedkar Circle in Hubballi, opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Raising slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, they demanded the withdrawal of the CAA and not to implement NRC.

"India is witnessing such a dictatorship for the first time. The BJP government is trying to divide people into the lines of religion, through CAA and NRC. This move is a threat for peace and harmony in the country," said AICC member Shakir Sanadi, who led the protest.

Sayed Tajuddin Quadri, Moulana Niyaz Alam, Moulana Nayimuddin and others took part in the hunger strike.

Former minister A M Hindasgeri, former MP I G Sanadi, F H Jakkappanavar, Pitambrappa Bilar, and others also extended support to the protest.