A special Air India flight carrying 224 Indian nationals including infants departed from Washington DC to New Delhi on Wednesday under the Vande Bharat Mission, the initiative launched to repatriate Indians stranded abroad due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

The flight from Washington DC bound for Delhi has taken off with 224 passengers including infants. We thank the tireless efforts of @airindiain in Washington DC and the team, the Embassy of India in Washington DC said in a tweet.

The government on Wednesday said the due date for filing income tax return this year will be November 30 as time limits have been extended on various statutory and regulatory compliance requirements further in view of the challenges faced by taxpayers due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

The government had earlier brought the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 on March 31 to extended various time limits. The decision was taken as people were facing issues in meeting the statutory and regulatory compliance requirements across sectors due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting for his intervention to direct the Medical Council of India (MCI) to postpone the MD/MS examinations till December this year as the final-year resident doctors are playing a crucial role in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

As per the letter dated June 18, the Board of Governors of MCI has issued an advisory to all universities to complete these examinations by June 30.

Gold prices in India edged up on Wednesday to Rs 48,120 per kg from Rs 48,075, while silver went up from Rs 48,253 to Rs 48,440, according to Indian Bullion and Jewellers Association.

The prices of gold jewellery vary across India — the second-largest consumer of the metal — due to excise duty, state taxes, and making charges.

Shares of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals declined 7 per cent to Rs 459 in the intra-day trade on the BSE on Wednesday, having fallen 13 per cent in the past two trading days on profit booking.

On Monday, the stock of the drug maker had rallied 27 per cent to Rs 520 after the firm received approval for Favipiravir’s (Fabiflu), a potential Covid-19 drug, by the Drug Controller General of India (DGCI).

The state-run oil companies on Wednesday raised the prices of diesel for the 18th consecutive day.

No increase was witnessed in petrol prices. With the current price hike, diesel has become costlier than petrol.

While petrol costs Rs 79.76 per litre, diesel can be bought at Rs 79.88 per litre. The price of diesel has been increased by 48 paise a litre.

MoS for the Union Ayush Ministry Shripad Naik on Wednesday said that his Ministry will clear its stance on pharmaceutical giant Patanjali's newly-launched ayurvedic drugs 'Coronil and Swasari' for the novel coronavirus after reviewing the report sent by it.

However, the Minister said that it is good that Baba Ramdev has given a new medicine to the country.

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will not be meeting his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe in Moscow on the sidelines of 75th Victoria Parade, as suggested by some Chinese propaganda websites.

The development comes after Chinese media reported that Singh will meet his Chinese counterpart amid the border tensions between New Delhi and Beijing following the last week's violent face-off at Ladakh's Galwan Valley, where 20 Indian troops lost their lives.

A senior official associated with yoga guru Ramdev, and co-founder of Patanjali Yogpeeth Haridwar claimed that all "standard parameters for Randomised Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trials" of Ayurvedic medicine Coronil were followed to a tee, and the information was conveyed to the AYUSH ministry.

The development comes after the Patanjali Ayurved Ltd was asked by the AYUSH ministry of government of India to take down advertisements encouraging the use of Coronil, which was launched on Tuesday, to treat coronavirus.

India on Tuesday said it has asked Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi to reduce by half the staff strength and has also decided to do the same at its mission in Islamabad.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the decision was taken as the behaviour of Pakistan and its officials is not in conformity with the Vienna Convention and bilateral agreements on the treatment of diplomatic and consular officials.

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