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Support is growing swiftly for the ongoing farmers’ agitation in Haryana with a large number of farmers turning up at dharna sites at toll plazas on the national highways on Tuesday.

At the Landhri toll plaza on Hisar-Sirsa national highway near Hisar, thousands of farmers vowed to wage a long battle against the three farm laws that they described as “anti-farmer”.

A large number of women also participated in the meeting, which was addressed by farmer leaders Ashok Dhawale, Kulwant Singh Sandhu and Gurnam Singh Chaduni. The women had arrived singing revolutionary songs.

On the day, the farmers also blocked the Patiala-Jind-Rohtak-Delhi national highway at Khatkar toll plaza near Narwana town along the Jind and Hisar-Chandigarh national highway Tuesday to oppose internet curbs in some parts of the state.

Central Government unveiled a spending plan worth almost a half-trillion dollars as Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s government seeks to dig Asia’s third-largest economy out of a
pandemic-induced slump.
Fueled by a bigger-than-expected spending deficits and borrowing, as well as sales of
government assets and dividends from state firms, the ₹35 trillion ($480 billion) budget sent
bonds tumbling and stocks rallying. It also aims to bolster the nation’s financial stability,
including setting up a company to manage a growing pile of bad loans.
The Central Govt's spending plan, delivered by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on
Monday, is among India’s most highly anticipated and closely watched annual events, and more
so this year as Modi’s government seeks to recover from the country’s deepest-ever recession.
The new budget also comes as the nation’s financial sector faces increasing pressure from an
expected record level of bad loans this year, escalating border tensions with China and
widespread anger from farmers, whose protests against market reforms overwhelmed parts of the
capital New Delhi last week.
It will be followed by the Reserve Bank of India’s rate decision Friday, with expectations for
policymakers to possibly resume rate cuts as inflation cools.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has presented the Union Budget 2021-22 in Parliament. In significant changes to the taxation process, Sitharaman announced the scrapping of income tax for senior citizens under certain conditions, new rules for removal of double taxation for NRIs, and a reduction in the time period of tax assessments among other measures. Startups will get an extension in their tax holiday for an additional year. Sitharaman also announced that the advance tax liability on dividend income shall arise after declaration of payment of dividend. At the conclusion of her speech, Sensex was at 47451.62, up 1165.85 points.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not announce change in income tax slabs for individuals in the Union Budget 2021. The only change announced in regards to individuals' income tax was that senior citizens aged more than 75 years will now be exempted from filing Income Tax Returns.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday will deliver her promised budget like no other that is expected to provide relief to the pandemic-hit common man as well as focus more on driving the economic recovery through higher spending on healthcare, infrastructure and defence amid rising tensions with neighbours.

As India emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, the ninth budget under the Modi government, including an interim one, is widely expected to focus on boosting spending on job creation and rural development, generous allocations for development schemes, putting more money in the hands of the average taxpayer and easing rules to attract foreign investments.

Sitharaman, who had in her first budget in 2019 replaced leather briefcase that had been for decades used for carrying budget documents with a traditional red cloth 'bahi-khata', had earlier this month stated that the budget for the fiscal year beginning April will be "like never before".

New Delhi: A day after Serum Institute of India (SII) sought the Drugs Controller General of India’s approval to conduct a small domestic trial of the Novavax coronavirus vaccine, its Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla on Saturday the company is hopeful of launching the vaccine by June this year. The vaccine will be launched under the local brand Covovax.

Poonawalla said that SII's partnership with Novavax, a vaccine undergoing trials for effectiveness against the novel coronavirus, has published 'excellent efficacy results'. “Our partnership for a COVID-19 vaccine with @Novavax has also published excellent efficacy results. We have also applied to start trials in India. Hope to launch #COVOVAX by June 2021!” he said in a tweet.

Pune-based SII, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, and the Indian Council of Medical Research have a tie-up with the company and bridging studies will be done once the regulators give the approval. SII's application with the DCGI is being examined. A bridging trial is a supplementary trial performed in a new region or country to get more clinical data on efficacy, safety and dose regimen.