DH Evening Brief: January 7, 2022

Here are the top headlines this evening.

PM security breach: Punjab submits report; FIR filed

A Central team probing the "serious lapses" in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security during his Ferozepur visit reached the town Friday, while the Punjab government submitted a report to the Centre saying an FIR has been registered in the matter. Read more

NEET-PG admissions: Supreme Court upholds 27% OBC, 10% EWS quota

The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Centre to go ahead with NEET PG counselling with 27 per centOBC and 10 per centEWS quota in all India seats. Read more

Centre mandates 7-day home quarantine for all international arrivals

India on Friday revised the existing guidelines for all internationalarrivalsin India in view of the rising Covid cases and the Omicron threat, to make seven days home quarantine mandatory. Read more

India's GDP estimated to grow at 9.2% in FY22

The Indian economy is estimated to grow at 9.2 per cent in 2021-22, as against a contraction of 7.3 per cent in the previous fiscal, mainly due to improvement in the performance of agriculture and manufacturing sectors, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said on Friday. Read more

In Chhattisgarh, video shows villagers taking oath to boycott Muslims; probe on

Authorities in Chhattisgarh have initiated a probe after a video purportedly showing residents of a village in Surguja district taking a pledge to neither do commercial transactions with members of the Muslim community nor sell their land to them went viral on social media, officials said on Friday. Read more

India took just 8 days to see Covid-19 surge from 10,000 to over 1 lakh

In the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has taken just eight days for India's daily cases to cross 1 lakh from 10,000. If you compare it with the second wave last year, it took Covid cases 47 days to reach the 1 lakh level from a tally of 10,000. In the first Covid wave in 2020, it took SARS-CoV-2 virus 103 days to reach the near 1 lakh level from the 10,000 Covid cases (the peak registered was 98,795). Read more

Karnataka virologist team develop India's first Omicron testing kit

State genomic surveillance committee chairman and virologist Dr V Ravi and a team of 12 R&D personnel from Tata MD developed OmiSure, India's first indigenously developed Omicron testing kit. Read more

Hairstylist Jawed Habib booked for spitting on woman's hair

The police here have lodged an FIR against famous hairstylist Jawed Habib for spitting on a woman's hair while styling it, officials said on Friday. Read more

Covid-19-positive scion of real-estate mogul 'flees' Bengaluru hospital

The scion of a real-estate mogul who tested positive for Covid-19 upon arrival at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) has allegedly escaped from a private hospital where he had been admitted, police say. Read more

Global brands in India have a mutiny at hand

From Unilever Plc to Colgate-Palmolive Co., consumer goods makers in India are facing distribution blues that have nothing to do with pandemic-induced shortages and bottlenecks. The trusted middlemen that brands have traditionally relied on to reach millions of small neighborhood stores in 8,000 towns and 660,000 villages are in revolt. Read more

ICC introduces in-match penalties for slow over-rates, optional drinks break in T20Is

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday introduced in-match penalties for slow-over rates across men's and women's T20 International matches. It also said that optional drinks break in the midpoint of an innings will be a part of the updated playing conditions. Read more