Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday approved a special assistance package of Rs 200 crore for the poor and extremely poor families in the State affected due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Patnaik approved the package while reviewing the COVID-19 situation and its management in the state with senior government officials and Collectors through Video Conferencing.

In a new development in the Sushant Singh Rajput death probe, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has, on Wednesday, registered a criminal case against actress Rhea Chakraborty over drug conspiracy reports.

Apart from Rhea, who was also Sushant's girlfriend, the agency booked a few other people in connection with the case, against whom the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had already been investigating earlier, Zee News reported.

While the Narendra Modi-led central government is facing opposition flak over the NEET and JEE exams, a long list of academicians including professors from Delhi University, JNU, Central University of Kerala, California University among others have written to the PM supporting the conduct of the exams in the hope that students will not lose a year.

Coordinated by a group of concerned academicians, the letter said that the academic fraternity fully supports the Centre's decision.

The Indian Meteorological Department has predicted heavy rainfall over various parts of Indian in the next four days.

Heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely to take place at isolated places with extremely heavy falls over Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh while heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places over Uttarakhand and heavy rainfall at isolated places over Jammu division, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, and Odisha.

Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday stated that Indian Railways is looking to reduce carbon emission to zero by end of 2030.

By 2030 we will be a net-zero railway, our carbon emission will be zero. Indian Railways transports nearly 8 billion passengers and 1.2 billion tonnes of freight every year. Ours will be the world's first railways of this scale to go green, Piyush Goyal tweeted.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday posted the petition, challenging the Rs 20,000 crore Central Vista project in Lutyen`s Delhi, for further hearing on August 28 as the arguments in the matter on Wednesday remained inconclusive.

A bench of the apex court, headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar, posted the petition filed by Rajeev Suri challenging the redevelopment of Central Vista, for further hearing to August 28.

Footwear major Bata India is planning to open around 100 outlets during this financial year despite the COVID-19 outbreak, an official said on Wednesday.

The shoemaker, which currently has around 1,500 stores across India, plans to add 500 outlets by 2023 to strengthen its network in semi-urban and rural markets, he said.

The rupee appreciated 7 paise to 74.26 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday supported by foreign fund inflows and optimism surrounding trade the deal between the US and China.

The local unit opened at 74.34 against the US dollar, then gained ground and touched 74.26, up 7 paise over its previous close, even as the domestic equity market was trading in the negative territory.

With more than 67,000 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 count on Wednesday crossed the 32 lakh-mark, while the death toll is nearing the 60,000-mark as well.

At 9:30 AM on this day, the COVID-19 tally in the country has reached 32,34,475 cases, which include 7,07,267 active cases; 24,67,759 cured, discharged, or migrated patients, and 59,449 deaths.

A petition has been moved in the Supreme Court seeking a direction for the appointment of a government nominee to the Ayodhya mosque trust constituted for the construction of the mosque.

The petition was filed by one of the lawyers from Hindu side in the Ayodhya case, Karunesh Shukla, through his lawyer, Vishnu Jain.

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