Here are the top 5 news updates of September 21, 2021:
India is facing a new war paradigm on its borders and ignoring it won't work, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said today, citing a media report on China ramping up its border infrastructure. The former Congress chief's remarks came over a media report which quoted sources in the security establishment as saying that China appears to have built at least 10 new air bases along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh besides ramping up infrastructure close to the Indian frontier. Gandhi has also repeatedly criticised the government for its handling of the border standoff between the Indian and Chinese militaries that erupted on May 5 last year following a violent clash in the Pangong lake area.
The Indian government today hit out at its British counterpart over recent COVID-19 rules that will see Indians inoculated with Covishield facing quarantine and a slew of precautionary measures. Calling the decision 'discriminatory', Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that India was within its rights to take "reciprocal measures". "The non-recogition of Covishield is a discriminating policy and impacts our citizens travelling to the UK. The External Affairs Minister has raised the issue strongly with the new UK foreign secretary. I am told that certain assurances have been given that this issue will be resolved," Shringla said at a press conference in New Delhi.
A day after taking charge as the state BJP president, Sukanata Majumdar attacked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee on the question of corruption and 'autocracy that is continuing in the state'. He also vowed to fight against the "Talibanisation of the state" and asserted that the party would rectify its mistakes and emerge victorious in days to come. Accusing the ruling TMC of running a Taliban government, Majumdar said, "Can anyone believe that a person has been hacked to death on open road after the election only because he is a supporter of another party? Is this democracy? There were elections in four states but apart from Bengal no person died in any other state. Only in this state so many people lost their lives!"
The Centre has announced a hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) for its employees and pensioners. The DR has been revised from to 356 percent from 312 percent of the basic ex-gratia for surviving CPF beneficiaries who retired from service between November 18, 1960 and December 31, 1985. The increased DR would be provided w.e.f. 1st of July, 2021, the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW) said in an Office Memorandum dated 20th September 2021. The instalments of dearness relief for CPF beneficiaries was due from 01.01.2020, 01.07.2020 and 01.01.2021. The Government has now decided that the DR admissible to the CPF beneficiaries in receipt of ex-gratia payment in the 5th CPC series will be enhanced w.e.f 01.07.2021.
Equity benchmark Sensex rallied 514 points today, led by gains in Infosys, Bajaj Finance and ITC amid a supportive trend in global markets. The 30-share Sensex ended 514.34 points or 0.88 per cent higher at 59,005.27. Similarly, the NSE Nifty surged 165.10 points or 0.95 per cent to 17,562. Bajaj Finance was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 5 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, ITC, Bajaj Finserv, Tech Mahindra and Infosys. On the other hand, Maruti, Bajaj Auto, Nestle India, PowerGrid and Axis Bank were among the laggards.
