Senior BJP leader Smriti Irani visited Kasaragod in Kerala yesterday, April 4. Addressing a public meeting in support of NDA candidate ML Ashwini at Kanhangad, she challenged the Congress leadership to face the general elections, without the support extended by the SDPI, the political wing of the banned outfit, Popular Front of India. The BJP leader also referred to the Cooperative Bank scams in which several crores of public money were siphoned off by local leaders of the Congress, CPI-M and CPI in the state. She charged that the I.N.D.I.A bock was formed to loot the people, while the Narendra Modi’s government aims to ensure the country’s development and to make it the third largest economic power in the world.

Young Indian badminton player Anmol Kharb advanced to the women’s singles quarterfinals along with four other Indian players at the Kazakhstan International Challenge in Astana today. She defeated Nurani Rattu Azzahra of UAE in straight games 21-11, 21-7. Besides Anmol, shuttlers Devika Sihag, former national champion Anupama Upadhaya, seventh seed Tanya Hemanth and Isharani Baruah also entered into quarters. In mixed doubles, the pairs of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvija Shivani Gadde, Abhyuday Choudhary and Vaishnavi Khadkekar, Sanjai Srivatsa Dhanraj and Maneesha K and Zhakuo Seyie and Alisha Khan also progressed to the quarterfinals.

In IPL Cricket, Chennai Super Kings have set a target of 166 runs for Sunrisers Hyderabad at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Chennai Super Kings scored 165 runs for five wickets in stipulated 20 overs. Earlier, Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and opted to field.

Tax on the super-rich, the law on general wealth tax and inheritance tax as well as reservation in the private sector, state funding for elections and banning corporate donation to political parties are parts of the CPI(M) manifesto released today for Lok Sabha Polls. In the manifesto, CPI(M) also said it is committed to including the Right to Work as a constitutional right. The Party also promised scraping of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and  Politburo members Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat, Nilotpal Basu and Tapan Sen released the manifesto in New Delhi today. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Yechury said, the Party will further strengthen the democracy and secularism in the country. He urged people to defeat the ruling BJP and its allies in the Lok Sabha polls to ensure that an alternative government is formed at the Centre

Oil prices were stable today, as investors mulled supply risks stemming from ongoing Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries and the potential for a widening of the West Asia conflict. The Brent crude oil futures was up to trade at 89 dollar and 67 cents whereas Western Texas Intermediate was higher at 85 dollar and 89 cents when reports last came in.

Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar interacted with the students of Rashtriya Military School, Dholpur at Parliament House, New Delhi today. The students are participating in a three-day Study Visit Programme organised by Rajya Sabha.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Assam Anurag Goel has said that the state is fully equipped to conduct the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in a transparent and fair manner. The CEO participating at the Dristipat programme of Akashvni News Guwahati said that 60 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) have already been deployed across the state and additional forces will arrive on time. He informed that GPS will be installed in the vehicles that will carry the EVMs apart from GPS equipped 20 thousand vehicles to be engaged for election purposes. Mr Goel informed that to conduct the election smoothly, the Election Commission has arranged for webcasting of all the sensitive polling stations and using modern technology. ERONET software used to prepare voters lists in the state and the ECI has launched cVIGIL App to report any Model Code Conduct  (MCC) complaint and Election Commission will resolve the issue within 100 minutes of receiving the complaint, added the CEO. The CEO further informed that individuals of third phase voters can still change their polling station, rectify any errors if any 10 days before the nomination deadline. The visually-impaired voters in the state can now cast their votes through the Braille signage features in the EVMs, persons above 85, and those with 45 percent disability can vote from home. Senior citizens and pregnant women will be given priority in voting at polling stations. Those engaged in the election duty in the state to be covered by insurance and will get free treatment under Ayushman Bharat Jan Arogya Yojona apart from food and lodging facilities. The total electorate in Assam was over 2.43 crore as on 8the February, 2024 and of these, 1,21,79,538 were male and 1,21,22,602 female. There are 414 transgender voters and 4854 voters over 100 years. Total 4 lakh 35 thousand young voters in 18-29 age groups have been added to the electoral roll in the state out of the 7,26,783 new voters. There are 28,650 polling stations in the state and there will be 1,409 women-managed polling stations and 262 model polling stations. Webcasting will be held at 15,777 polling stations. Elections to all 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state will be held in three phases on 19 and 26 April, and 7 May. The counting of votes will be on 4 June.

Equity benchmark indices ended lower for the second straight session today due to profit-booking in select banking and auto stocks amid mixed trends from the global markets and outflow of foreign funds. BSE Sensex declined 27 points, or 0.04 percent, to finish at 73,877. The NSE Nifty fell 19 points, or 0.08 percent, to settle at 22,435. Among the Sensex constituents, Nestle India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Titan and JSW Steel were among the laggards. On the other hand, NTPC, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank ended the day in green. BSE MidCap rose 0.60 percent, while smallcap index gained 1.18 percent. In sectoral indices at the BSE, Utilities sector rose 1.45 percent, Power index jumped 1.20 percent, and Information Technology sector soared 0.80 percent. In contrast, Realty index declined 2.45 percent and Auto sector fell 0.40 percent.

In the forex market, the rupee closed at 83 rupees and 43 paise against the US dollar today. The dollar index, which indicates the US dollar’s strength against a basket of six other leading currencies was trading lower at 104.81 in intra-day trade.

Today, gold was trading up at the Multi Commodity Exchange for June contracts. The precious metal was 272 rupees up to trade at 69,200 rupees per ten grams. Silver futures for May contracts was also up by 984 rupees to trade at 78,020 rupees per kilogram when reports last came in. In the global markets, gold was trading up at 2,292 dollars and 50 cents per ounce at COMEX. Silver was also up at 26 dollars and 39 cents per ounce in the intra-day session.

President Droupadi Murmu will visit Mumbai today, where she will dedicate CAR-T Cell Therapy to the nation at IIT Bombay. The CAR-T Cell Therapy (used to treat cancer patients) has been developed in India by IIT Bombay-incubated Company Immunoadoptive Cell Therapy (ImmunoACT). The CAR-T Cell Therapy product has been developed as a collaborative effort between IIT Bombay and Tata Memorial Centre (TMC). Designed and developed at IIT Bombay, the therapy has undergone integrative process development and manufacturing at ImmunoACT. Clinical investigations and translational studies were conducted by teams at TMH. The CAR-T Cell Therapy product is expected to save many lives at much lower cost compared to the cost of such products available outside India

BJP today hit out at Congress leader Randeep Surjewala for his alleged derogatory remark against Party MP Hema Malini. Briefing the Media in New Delhi, the Party’s spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said that this is a new low to disrespect and demean the dignity of women in Indian politics by the Congress party. He alleged this is not just merely an isolated statement by a Congress leader but a structured and well-thought-of dastardly mindset of the Congress party regarding the dignity of women. Meanwhile Congress leader Randeep Surjewala clarified that he never intended to insult or hurt the actor turned politician Hema Malini. A video has come to the fore on social media in which Mr. Surjewala was seen making some objectionable remarks about MP Hema Malini.