1. Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar was awarded life imprisonment for murdering two people during the anti-Sikh riots in 1984. However, many Sikh leaders have expressed their unhappiness with the verdict. They want the government to appeal in higher courts to get Sajjan Kumar a death sentence. The judge cited Kumar’s satisfactory conduct in prison, his ailments, social roots, and potential for reform as reasons to grant him a life term and not the death penalty.
2. The CAG report tabled by the Delhi government today points to a loss of Rs.2000 crore due to the AAP liquor policy. The report also enumerates policy lapses and procedural violations of the state administration and how it chose to ignore expert suggestions. In November 2021, the AAP government led by Arvind Kejriwal launched the new liquor policy. Subsequently, in September next year, the policy was scrapped.
3. Amid ongoing efforts to rescue trapped workers from the Telangana tunnel, Telangana minister Jupally Krishna Rao said, “The chances of their survival is very remote.” Going till 50 meters short of the tunnel’s end, the minister said, in this remaining segment 25 out of the 30 feet is filled with mud and there was no response when we called out their names. At a press conference this evening, Telangana irrigation minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said the incident could have happened due to a tectonic shift.
4. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned of a heatwave in Mumbai and its three suburbs–Thane, Palghar, and Navi Mumbai. With Mumbai’s temperature reaching over 38.5 degrees in February, the weather agency warned that the unusual weather could last three more days. Meanwhile, officials fear water levels in the lakes could dip due to heatwave accelerating water evaporation.
5. PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the Advantage Assam 2.0 Investment & Infrastructure Summit 2025 in Guwahati today. Both Adani group and Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited committed an investment of Rs 50,000 Crore each in Assam. Vedanta group chairman Anil Agarwal said his Cairn Oil & Gas would invest over Rs.50,000 Crore “to produce 100,000 barrels of oil and gas per day from Assam.”
6. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw today lauded the collaboration between his government and the IIT Madras for creating India’s first hyperloop test track spanning 422 meters. The Minister said the first pod could lead the way to futuristic transportation using developing technologies. When implemented a hyperloop travel from Delhi to Jaipur (350 km) would take only half hour or less.
7. The Karnataka Rakshana Vedike held a massive demonstration in Belagavi protesting the assault of KSRTC conductor Mahadevappa Hukkeri by a group of Marathi-speaking youths. Hukkeri was attacked for not speaking Marathi. Addressing the Media, DCP Rohan Jagadeesh said, that Karnataka Rakshana Vedike leader Praveen Shetty has been taken into preventive custody to maintain public order.
8. Venjaramoodu in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram district today witnessed a series of cold-blooded murders enacted by a 23-year-old man named Afan. Five people, including the man’s brother, grandmother, uncle, aunt, and girlfriend were killed one after the other. Afan’s mother, Shemi, is attacked with a hammer and is critical at a medical college hospital.
9. Days after netizens lauded and also disapproved of the Digital ‘Snan’ in Maha Kumbh offered by a Prayagraj entrepreneur, a video of a woman dunking her smartphone into Sangan waters has become viral. The woman, who was on a video call with her husband, decided to make him part of her Maha Kumbh sacred dip. The video, though staged, has attracted many serious and humorous comments.
10. The new draft norms approved for CBSE class X provide students the opportunity to take the board exam twice in the same academic year (one in Feb and another in May). The idea is to help students improve their scores. Students can choose to appear in both or skip subjects in which they scored better already. The draft norms have been published for public review and feedback will be collected until March 9.
References: Times of India | India Today | News 18 | NDTV | Hindustan Times