Digest year-ender for domestic stories for month of February, 2018

Digest year-ender for domestic stories for month of February, 2018

Press Trust of India

Feb 1: New Delhi: The government today announced the "world's largest" health insurance scheme for India's 50 crore poor in its last full budget before general elections, focusing heavily on uplifting agriculture and rural sectors while paying little attention to the middle class.

Feb 2: New Delhi: Former Haryana chief minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda and 33 others have been chargesheeted by the CBI in a case of alleged corruption in Manesar land deals worth over Rs 1,500 crore, in which around 200 farmers were cheated, an agency spokesperson said here today.

Feb 3: Guwahati: Highlighting "path breaking" economic reforms undertaken by his government, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi todaysaid India's growth story will further pick up speed when there is an all-round development of the Northeast. Feb 4: New Delhi: Chief of US Air Force General David L Goldfein has said Indian and US air forces will significantly ramp up operational cooperation to complement the strategic interests of the two countries in the Indo-Pacific region where China has been expanding its military influence.

Feb 5: New Delhi: The CBI has booked diamond merchant Nirav Modi, his brother, wife and a business partner for allegedly cheating the Punjab National Bank (PNB) of over Rs 280.70 crore in 2017, officials said.

Feb 6: New Delhi: The Delhi High Court today sentenced seven Uttarakhand policemen to life imprisonment for killing a MBA student in a fake encounter in 2009 in Dehradun, holding that extra judicial killing has no place in a system governed by the rule of law. Feb 7: New Delhi, Feb 7 (PTI) The government today approved enhancing the number of beneficiaries under the Ujjwala Yojana for receiving deposit-free new cooking gas connection to 8 crore with an additional allocation of Rs 4,800 crore.

Feb 8: New Delhi: Maldives' beleaguered President Abdulla Yameen wants to send his foreign minister as special envoy but the Indian side did not find the dates "suitable", the Maldivian ambassador says, even as officials here maintained that no "real action" was taken by that country on India's concerns over democracy there. Feb 9: New Delhi: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi today called upon all political parties to unite on the issue of grant of special status for Andhra Pradesh and other demands, including the speedy completion of the Polavaram project. Feb 10: Sunjwan (Jammu): Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists today struck at an Army camp on the outskirts of Jammu city, killing two junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and injuring six others, including a Major and a daughter of an Army personnel. Feb 11: Sunjuwan (Jammu): A day after the pre-dawn audacious terror strike at the military camp here, the Army today said it has found the bodies of three of its personnel and a civilian, taking the toll to six, and gunned down three suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists. Feb 12: Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India today came out with a revised framework for expeditious resolution of bad loans, harmonising the existing guidelines with the norms specified in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

Feb 13: New Delhi: In a major decision, the defence ministry today approved capital acquisition proposals worth Rs 15,935 crore which included purchase of 7.40 lakh assault rifles, 5,719 sniper rifles and light machine guns to bolster the strength of the armed forces. Feb 14: New Delhi: State-owned Punjab National Bank today said it has detected a USD 1.77 billion (about Rs 11,400 crore) scam where billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi allegedly acquired fraudulent letters of undertaking from a branch in Mumbai to secure overseas credit from other Indian lenders.

Feb 15: New Delhi: Central investigation agencies today turned up the heat on embattled jewellery designer Nirav Modi in a huge bank fraud case, by seizing diamond and gold jewellery worth Rs 5,100 crore in nationwide searches and initiating the process for revoking his passport, officials said.

Feb 16: New Delhi: Observing no state can claim "exclusive ownership" of inter-state river water, the Supreme Court today hiked Karnataka's share of Cauvery water by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu's quantum by an equal amount in its verdict to resolve the decades-old dispute.

Feb 17: Mumbai/New Delhi: Raids by the ED in connection with its money laundering probe against diamond czar Nirav Modi and others in the alleged Rs 11,400-crore bank fraud continues for the third day with the agency saying it seized Rs 25 crore worth diamonds and jewellery, taking the total seizure value to Rs 5,674 crore.

Feb 18: Shillong: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate Jonathone N Sangma was killed tonight after militants attacked his convoy in Meghalaya's East Garo Hills district, officials said.

Feb 19: New Delhi: Days after the Nirav Modi-PNB scam, the banking sector took another big hit with Rotomac pen promoter Vikram Kothari allegedly swindling Rs 3,695 crore from banks, prompting central probe agencies to register cases, question him and carry out searches at his Kanpur premises today.

Feb 20: New Delhi: The Income Tax Department today raided 20 premises linked to Gitanjali Gems promoter Mehul Choksi and suspected shell firms in connection with an alleged tax evasion case against them, official sources said.

Feb 21: New Delhi: Scripting history, flying officer Avani Chaturvedi has become the first Indian woman to fly a fighter aircraft, an IAF official said.

Feb 22: Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced a Rs 20,000-crore defence industrial corridor in Bundelkhand for development of one of the most backward regions of Uttar Pradesh and said the Yogi government has pulled the state out of prevailing negativity.

Feb 23: Balasore (Odisha): India today successfully test-fired the nuclear-capable 'Dhanush' ballistic missile with a strike range of 350 kms from a naval ship off Odisha coast, defence officials said.

Feb 24: Mumbai/New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today attached 21 properties, including a penthouse and a farmhouse, of Nirav Modi and his group worth over Rs 523 crore in fresh action against the beleaguered jeweller in the alleged Rs 11,400 crore fraud in the PNB.

Feb 25: Mumbai: Bollywood star Sridevi, who charmed the audience with stellar performances in several films such as 'Mr India', 'Chaalbaaz' and 'Lamhe' during her career spanning over four decades, passed away in Dubai last night.

Feb 26: Dubai/Mumbai: Bollywood actor Sridevi died of accidental drowning in her hotel bathtub after losing consciousness, the Dubai government said today, giving a dramatic twist to her sudden death that has stunned legions of fans and industry colleagues.

Feb 27: New Delhi: Seventy-five per cent polling was recorded in Nagaland and 67 per cent in Meghalaya in the assembly polls held today in the two northeastern states, Election Commission (EC) officials said.

Feb 28: New Delhi: The simmering row between the Delhi government and its bureaucrats today refused to die as Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia shot off a terse letter to Lt Governor Anil Baijal, equating the IAS officers' association with a "khaap panchyat", and attacked him for "backing" its "fatwa" to boycott official meetings with AAP ministers.

(Source PTI)