Here are the top 5 news updates of November 24, 2021:
The Union Cabinet today approved a bill to repeal the three farm laws, which triggered protests at Delhi borders by thousands of farmers. This was announced by I&B Minister Anurag Thakur after the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Thakur said the Cabinet completed the formality of approving the repeal of three laws, as announced by the Prime Minister on November 19. The new bill will now be introduced in Parliament for passage in the upcoming Winter session beginning November 29. The repeal of these three legislations has been one of the key demands of around 40 farmer unions protesting against these reforms for nearly a year now.
In view of an "improvement" in the air quality, the Delhi government has decided to resume physical classes in schools, colleges and other educational institutions and reopen government offices from November 29, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said today. Only CNG and electric vehicles, barring those engaged in essential services, will be allowed to enter Delhi from November 27, the minister said after a meeting to review curbs to tackle air pollution. The ban on the entry of vehicles operating on other fuels will remain till December 3, he said. Rai also urged the government staff to use public transport. Earlier, the ban on construction and demolition activities was lifted on Monday.
Dnyandev Wankhede, father of NCB's zonal director Sameer Wankhede, today approached the Bombay High Court challenging its single-judge bench order that had refused to restrain Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik from making comments and putting social media posts against the anti-drug agency officer and his family. Dnyandev Wankhede mentioned for urgent hearing his appeal challenging the single bench order and urged a division bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and Milind Jadhav to grant him relief. His appeal is likely to be heard by the division bench on Thursday. On Monday, a single-judge bench of Justice Madhav Jamdar had refused to grant Wankhede any interim relief in his defamation suit filed against Malik, a leader of Maharashtra's ruling party NCP.
International passenger flight services are expected to be normalised "very soon" and possibly by the end of this year, Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal said today. Scheduled international passenger flights to and from India remain suspended since March 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic. The suspension has been extended till November 30. Normalisation of international flights is expected "very soon" and by the end of this year, Bansal said. Currently, India has air bubble arrangements with more than 25 countries for operating international flights. Under an air bubble arrangement between two countries, international passenger flights can be operated by their respective carriers into each other's territories subject to certain conditions.
Market benchmark Sensex tumbled over 323 points after an intense last-hour sell-off today, triggered by losses mainly in index heavyweights Infosys, Reliance and HDFC. After trading in the green for most part of the session, the BSE gauge settled 323.34 points or 0.55 per cent lower at 58,340.99 -- marking its fifth decline in the last six days. Likewise, the NSE Nifty fell 88.30 points or 0.5 per cent to end at 17,415.05. On the Sensex chart, Maruti, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, ITC, Reliance, L&T, UltraTech Cement and HDFC were the major losers, dropping as much as 2.62 per cent. On the other hand, ICICI Bank, NTPC, Kotak Bank, Bajaj Finance, and PowerGrid closed with gains.
