A look at the biggest developments of the day:

  1. Atmosphere of pro-incumbency in poll-bound states, says Narendra Modi: In an interview with ANI, the prime minister spoke on various topics, including the upcoming elections and Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
  2. Karnataka High Court refers the matter of whether students should be allowed to wear the hijabs in educational institutions to a larger bench: Police ban protests near educational institutions for two weeks.
  3. Indian Army rescues trekker stuck on a hill in Kerala for over 40 hours:R Babu had been trapped in a niche on the hill in Palakkad district for about two days.
  4. Tribunals in Assam have declared over 1.43 lakh people as ‘foreigners’, Centre tells Rajya Sabha: As many as 329 of them have been deported to their countries till February 1, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said.
  5. Malala Yousafzai urges Indian leaders to stop marginalisation of Muslim women: Sharing a Scroll.in article on Twitter, the Nobel laureate said that not allowing Muslim girls to go to school while wearing hijabs is ‘horrifying’.
  6. I was threatened to be jailed for not helping to topple Maharashtra government, alleges Sanjay Raut: In a letter to the vice president, the Shiv Sena leader also alleged that central agencies were ‘harassing’ his party leaders, family and friends.
  7. Congress will waive all farm loans within 10 days if elected, says Priyanka Gandhi: The Congress has identified unemployment and inflation as the biggest challenges for Uttar Pradesh, she said.
  8. Haryana Cabinet clears anti-conversion Bill: The draft Bill stated that the burden of proof lies on the accused person.
  9. Centre says it doesn’t agree with India’s press freedom ranking, questions methodology: The home ministry alleged that the World Press Freedom Index produced by Reporters Without Borders had a low sample size.
  10. All 2,051 families evicted from Assam’s Garukhuti village to be relocated to Dalgaon: Two residents of Garukhuti had been killed in police firing during an eviction drive in the village in September.