A look at the headlines right now:

  1. Priyanka Gandhi takes on Modi in first election speech, tells voters their ‘vote is a weapon’: The Congress Working Committee accused PM Narendra Modi of exploiting the issue of national security to divert attention from his failures, while Patidar activist leader Hardik Patel joined the Congress in Ahmedabad.
  2. Retail inflation rises to 2.57% in February, surges for the first time in four months: Industrial production, on the other hand, slipped to 1.7% in January from December’s 2.4%.
  3. Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft is ‘highly sophisticated’, implemented precautionary measures, says SpiceJet: Jet Airways clarified that while it has five of the aircraft, it is currently not flying any of them. SpiceJet is operating 12 such aircraft.  
  4. Mamata Banerjee releases list of TMC candidates for West Bengal for Lok Sabha elections, 41% are women: The chief minister said her party will also field candidates in some constituencies of Jharkhand, Odisha, Andamans, Assam and Bihar.  
  5. Mayawati  rules out possibility of BSP allying with Congress in any part of India: Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav, however, had the Rahul Gandhi-led party was part of the Opposition’s alliance in Uttar Pradesh.  
  6. Kerala man sets woman ablaze allegedly after she rejected his marriage proposal: The woman, who sustained 65% burns, is in a critical condition and is currently undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Thiruvalla.
  7. ‘Vehicles cause more pollution than firecrackers,’ says Supreme Court: The court added that banning fireworks will generate unemployment.
  8. Javed Akhtar says row over elections during Ramzan is a ‘distorted version of secularism’: The Trinamool Congress had claimed that the Centre wanted to ensure that minority community could not vote, by holding elections during Ramzan.  
  9. Court allows ED to investigate Agustawestland alleged middleman Christian Michel inside Tihar jail: Michel also claimed that ex-CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana had threatened him in Dubai and told him to toe the agency’s line during investigation.  
  10. Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi warns of ‘war-mongering’ by journalists: Satyarthi and 70 other Nobel Prize winners jointly called upon both countries to defuse tensions at the border.