THE HEADLINES::
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi says, this decade is ‘India’s Techade’ and country’s initiatives in technology, AI, semiconductors are going to benefit entire planet.
- World’s largest and first digitally conducted India’s Census-2027 begins today; Phase I of House Listing and Housing Census to be completed by September this year.
- New Income Tax Act, two-factor authentication for Digital payments, and revised rules for applying PAN card to come into effect today.
- Nine Maoists surrender in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district.
- US President Donald Trump announces ending Iran war within 2 to 3 weeks.
- In IPL Cricket, Punjab Kings beat Gujarat Titans by 3 wickets in New Chandigarh.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said, this decade is ‘India’s Techade’ and country’s initiatives in technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI), semiconductors are going to benefit the entire planet. Prime Minister Modi said this after inaugurating the OSAT plant of Kaynes Semiconductor in Sanand, Gujarat yesterday. He said, India is emerging as a leading partner in the field of semiconductors.
Later in the day, the Prime Minister inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for development projects worth around 20 thousand crore rupees at Nani in Vav-Tharad district of Gujarat. Speaking on the occasion, he said, despite the West Asia conflict, India has kept the situation under control.
The Prime Minister also inaugurated the Samrat Samprati Museum in Koba, Gandhinagar yesterday.
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Prime Minister and Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi is on a visit to Assam for election campaign for assembly polls. The Prime Minister landed in Dibrugarh last night.
“Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi arrived in Dibrugarh last night and stayed overnight at the Manohari Resorts. The Prime Minister is scheduled to address two public rallies today as part of his campaign in support of BJP candidates. The first rally will be held at Gogamukh in Dhemaji district at 11 AM. Following this, the Prime Minister will travel to Behali in Biswanath district to address a second rally at 1 PM targeting voters across three crucial constituencies-Biswanath, Behali, and Gohpur. After completing his engagements in Assam, the Prime Minister is scheduled to return to New Delhi later in the day. WITH Aminul’S REPORT FROM GUWAHATI THIS IS CHIRAG JHA, AKASHVANI NEWS, DELHI.”
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The first phase of India’s Census-2027, world’s largest population census exercise will begin from today. This will be the 16th Census in the series and the 8th since Independence. The census will be conducted in two phases. Phase I of House Listing and Housing Census will be completed by September this year. Phase II of Population Enumeration (PE) will be conducted during February next year (except for Union Teritorry of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, where Phase II will be conducted during September this year).
“For the first time, the Census will be conducted digitally with the option of Self-Enumeration, to be held from today till 15th of this month. House Listing and Housing Census will begin from 16th April and will be carried until 15th May. The House listing will involve listing all buildings and structures and collecting information on housing conditions, amenities, and assets. It will also include geo-tagging of buildings and assigning a unique identification number to each structure. Eleven states and Union Territories including Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Goa, Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Odisha, Sikkim, NDMC area and Delhi Cantonment Board of the National Capital will undertake the HLO process. The second phase, which is Population Enumeration will be conducted during February next year. Caste enumeration will be part of the second phase of the Census. The Centre has approved an outlay of over 11 thousand 718 crore rupees for Census 2027. The Self-Enumeration exercise is a secure web-based facility through which citizens will be able to directly enter their details online in 16 languages before the door-to-door survey. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India Mritunjay Kumar Narayan has assured that necessary measures for data security have been taken. He urged citizens to provide accurate and correct information to surveyors. With Rishu Jaiswal AND TRIPTI SRIVASTAVA’S REPORT ASHISH P ABRAHAM, Akashvani News, DELHI.”
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With the start of the new financial year today, a set of reforms including key financial rules changes will come into force.
“Over six decade old Income tax Act will be replaced by the new Income Tax Act, 2025 from today. It is designed to simplify the tax system by removing outdated provisions, streamlining complex rules and making compliance more straightforward for taxpayers. All digital payment transactions in the country will be required to meet the norms of two-factor authentication from today as directed by the Reserve Bank of India. The revised FASTag annual pass fee for financial year 2026-27 will also be in force from today. The revised rules for applying for or updating a Permanent Account Number PAN card will also come into effect from today. With ANUPAM MISHRA, RISHU JAISWAL AKASHVANI NEWS, DELHI.”
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In a significant development in Maharashtra’s anti-Naxal operations, nine Naxalites carrying a combined bounty of 30 lakh rupees surrendered before the Gadchiroli Police yesterday. All nine surrendered cadres were reportedly associated with the Indravati Regional Committee and the National Park Regional Committee operating in Chhattisgarh. The Gadchiroli Police welcomed them into the mainstream by handing over copies of the Constitution of India.
Earlier, 33 Maoists also surrendered in the Bastar division of Chhattisgarh yesterday, including 17 women Maoists.
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External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar had a conversation with his Portuguese counterpart Paulo Rangel last evening. In a social media post, Dr Jaishankar said, both sides exchanged views on the West Asia conflict. He added that they also spoke about further strengthening bilateral cooperation between India and Portugal.
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The Lok Sabha is scheduled to discuss the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026 today. The Lower House is also scheduled to discuss the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026 today. It will amend certain enactments for decriminalising and rationalising offences to further enhance trust-based governance for ease of living and ease of doing business.
In the Rajya Sabha, the Central Armed Police Forces (General Administration) Bill, 2026 is scheduled for discussion. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2026 is also scheduled to be taken up in the Upper House today.
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Oil marketing companies have increased the prices of commercial LPG gas cylinders by 195 rupees and 50 paise, across Metropolitan Cities. As per the Indian Oil Corporation Limited website, retail price of commercial LPG gas cylinders in Delhi is now 2 thousand 78 rupees and 50 paise. Similarly, commercial LPG prices have been increased to two thousand 208 rupees in Kolkata, 2 thousand 31 rupees in Mumbai, and 2 thousand 246 rupees and 50 paise in Chennai. The revised price of the 19-kilogram commercial LPG cylinder has come into effect from today. However, there has been no change in the price of domestic LPG cylinders.
Meanwhile, the price of domestic LPG cylinders remained unchanged in the country despite uncertainty in fuel prices due to the West Asia conflict.
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In Assam, polling is scheduled to be held in a single phase for all 126 Legislative Assembly constituencies on 9th of this month. Dispur LAC is one of the prominent and prestigious constituencies in Assam.
“Polling for the upcoming election is scheduled to be held on 9th April. The Dispur constituency, on the other hand, is predominantly an urban seat. It serves as the capital region and is a key constituency in the Kamrup Metropolitan district. Following the 2023 delimitation exercise, the constituency now comprises 13 wards of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation. In the current Assembly election, five candidates are in the fray from Dispur. The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Pradyut Bordoloi, who is contesting against Mira Borthakur Goswami of the Indian National Congress. Ballav Patra is the nominee of the Aam Aadmi Party, while Jayanta Kumar Das and Ayush Kumar Singh are contesting as independent candidates. According to the Election Commission of India, Dispur has over 2 lakh 43 thousand voters, over 1 lakh 26 thousand are female and over 1 lakh 17 thousand are male. Additionally, there are 12 transgender voters across 272 polling stations. Aminul Haque Jwadder, AKASHVANI NEWS, GUWAHATI.”
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The Election Commission has suspended Sayantan Bhattacharya, the Block Development Officer of Hanskhali Nadia (Nodia) district of West Bengal, following the assault of a polling official during a training session in Ranaghat. The Commission has also directed the state Chief Secretary to initiate a departmental inquiry against him immediately. According to the Commission, Bhattacharya failed to follow prescribed protocols despite being in charge of the training programme. An FIR regarding the assault has been lodged at the Ranaghat police station.
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Odisha is celebrating its 91st Foundation Day (Utkal Divas) today. Odisha has a special place in Indian history because it was the first state created on the basis of language, giving identity to Odia-speaking people. This day is also called Odisha Day or Utkal Diwas. The Day is marked across the state through cultural events, public functions, and tributes to leaders who played a key role in the statehood movement.
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US President Donald Trump has said that the United States will end war on Iran within 2 to 3 weeks. Speaking to the press, Mr Trump said that US Military’s Operation Epic Fury will be concluded soon. Mr Trump further said that US want to knock out every single thing Iran have before leaving the region. He also hinted at a possible deal before ending the war.
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In IPL Cricket, debutant Cooper Connolly’s unbeaten 72 runs helped Punjab Kings beat Gujarat Titans by three wickets in the fourth match of the tournament at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium at Mullanpur in New Chandigarh last night. Cooper was declared Player of the Match.
Today, Lucknow Super Giants will take on Delhi Capitals in the fifth match of the IPL Cricket at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. The match will begin at 7:30 PM.
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TODAY’S NEWSPAPERS,
The tensions in West Asia continue to dominate headlines in most of the dailies this morning. “US drops massive 900-kg bomb on nuke city Isfahan as Trump hints at ending war” leads The Tribune.
Hindustan Times in its editorial piece “A new sunrise in the Red corridor” writes that “The government’s declaration of a “Naxal-free India” closes one troubled chapter in central India. A different but equally challenging phase now begins.” The paper writes “It might be difficult to imagine today but just two decades ago, the Maoist movement held large swathes of central and eastern India in its grip. Roughly a fourth of India’s districts had seen Left-wing extremism in some form, and chunks of its tribal heartland were under the writ of insurgency.”
On the voter list controversy in Bengal, The Pioneer says “Mamata Banerjee writes to Chief Election Commissioner over suspicious Form 6 entries.”
“IATA Head Willie Walsh to pilot IndiGO as CEO” informs Business Standard.
“NASA begins countdown for Moon launch on Wednesday” reports The Pioneer.
“Leander Peas joins BJP, says it is a ‘responsibility'”states The Financial Express.
And finally, in Football, “Confident India ready to face Bhutan in SAFF under 20 Championship Semi Final” in Malé, Maldives today, reports The Statesman.
And with that, it’s back to you, ABHISHEK.
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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi says, this decade is ‘India’s Techade’ and country’s initiatives in technology, AI, semiconductors are going to benefit entire planet.
- World’s largest and first digitally conducted India’s Census-2027 begins today; Phase I of House Listing and Housing Census to be completed by September this year.
- New Income Tax Act, two-factor authentication for Digital payments, and revised rules for applying PAN card to come into effect today.
- Nine Maoists surrender in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district.
- US President Donald Trump announces ending Iran war within 2 to 3 weeks.
- In IPL Cricket, Punjab Kings beat Gujarat Titans by 3 wickets in New Chandigarh.
