LEAD

Maharashtra, India's worst-affected state by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), recorded 25,681 new cases of the infection in the last 24 hours, which pushed the statewide tally to 24,22,021. The state also recorded 70 related fatalities in the said timespan which took the death toll to 53,208, according to heath department data.

Maharashtra's capital Mumbai recorded 3,063 cases of the infection and 10 related fatalities which pushed the caseload to 3,55,914 and death toll to 11,569, respectively.

The number of active cases in the city is 20,140. Mumbai also saw 1,334 people recover from the infection, which took the total recoveries to 3,23,281.

Even as most of last year saw Indian and Chinese soldiers engaged in a eyeball-eyeball standoff near LAC in eastern Ladakh and violent clashes between troops in Galwan valley, China continued to remain on top of the list of countries from where India imported goods during January-December, 2020.

In 2020, India imported goods worth $ 58.71 billion from China, MoS (commerce and industry) Hardeep Singh Puri told Lok Sabha on Wednesday in reply to a question by Trinamool Congress MP Mala Roy.

In his written reply, the minister said China, USA, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Iraq were the top five countries (in that order), from where India sourced its imports.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said it was critical to stop what he called the "emerging second peak" of Covid with decisive steps including micro-containment zones, increased testing and enforcement of restrictions like masks.

At a virtual meeting with Chief Ministers amid a worrying spike in Covid cases in some states, PM Modi said nearly 70 districts in the country had seen an increase in the positivity rate by over 150 per cent recently.

"If we don't stop this right now, then there could be a situation of a nationwide outbreak. We have to immediately stop the emerging second peak and take big and decisive steps," PM Modi told the Chief Ministers.

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday told the Lok Sabha that the Indian Railways will never be privatised. He however said private investment should be encouraged for more efficient functioning.

The heavy industries and PSU minister Prakash Javadekar also told Lok Sabha on Tuesday that Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) will not be privatised.

The railways minister said the country can progress towards high growth and create more employment opportunities only when the public and private sectors work together. “Indian Railways will never be privatised. It is a property of every Indian and will remain so,” he said, adding that it will remain with the Government of India.

BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Monday demanded the cancellation of the nomination of TMC chief Mamata Banerjee from Nandigram in East Midnapore citing reason that she hid six cases filed against her by the Assam police and the CBI.

Speaking to the media persons, Adhikari said, “She hid facts and suppressed police cases against her while filing her nominations from Nandigram. I have informed the Election Commission and demanded that they should look into the matter urgently.”

He said, “I have full faith in the EC that the poll body will take necessary actions in this matter. There are six cases and one CBI case which were suppressed by her.” It was learnt that a letter of complaint was submitted to the EC by Adhikari’s election agent Meghnad Pal.