Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], March 8 (ANI): The Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021 was passed in Assembly on Monday.
The Bill had been approved earlier in December last year, by the state Cabinet in a special meeting chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
“We won’t allow forced conversions in Madhya Pradesh. Under the new bill, anyone who does it will face jail term up to 10 yrs and minimum Rs 50,000 fine. Many incidents came to light where minor girls were converted, married & made to contest Panchayat polls,” Shivraj Singh Chouhan had said.
“Under the new Bill, forcing religious conversion on someone will attract one to five years of imprisonment and a minimum Rs 25,000 fine,” said Narottam Mishra, State Minister.
“Under the new MP Freedom of Religion Bill 2020, forced conversion of a minor, woman or person from Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, would draw a minimum jail term of 2-10 years with a minimum penalty of Rs 50,000,” he added.
Uttar Pradesh State Legislative Assembly too passed a similar law called the Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Bill, 2021 by voice vote on February 24.
Earlier, the Yogi Adityanath Cabinet cleared the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, proposing a maximum punishment of 10 years for ‘love jihad’-related offences. (ANI)

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], March 8 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari will file his nomination on March 12 for contesting West Bengal Assembly elections from Nandigram constituency, informed the party’s media cell on Monday.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who has been representing Bhawanipur, had earlier announced that she will file her nomination from the same constituency on March 10.
BJP on Saturday released its first list of 57 candidates for the polls and fielded Adhikari from Nandigram against Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee, setting the stage for a high-profile contest from the seat in the state Assembly elections.
Adhikari, once a close aide of Banerjee has switched to BJP in December, last year.
West Bengal is likely to witness a triangular contest this time with TMC, Congress-Left alliance and the BJP in the fray.
The TMC had on Friday released its list of candidates with Mamata Banerjee announcing that she will contest from Nandigram.
West Bengal Assembly elections will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. (ANI)

New Delhi [India] March 8 (ANI): Eight States and Union Territories in India including Maharashtra and Delhi are displaying an upward trajectory in COVID-19 daily new cases, the Union Health Ministry informed on Monday.
Among other states include Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana and Gujarat.
Eight states and UTs have a weekly positivity rate more than the national average (2.29 per cent) whereas Maharashtra has the highest weekly positivity rate with 11.13 per cent.
According to the health ministry, Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to report a surge in fresh Covid-19 cases and they account for 86.25 per cent of the cases reported in a span of 24 hours.
As many as 18,599 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours out of which Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 11,141. It is followed by Kerala with 2,100 while Punjab reported 1,043 new cases.
India’s total active caseload has reached 1,88,747 today and the present active caseload now stands at 1.68 per cent of total positive cases.
The cumulative tests conducted in the country have surpassed 22 crores (22,19,68,271) and the national cumulative positivity rate currently stands at 5.06 per cent.
More than 2.09 crore (2,09,89,010) vaccine doses have been administered through 3,76,633 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am today.
“These include 69,85,911HCWs (1st dose), 35,47,548 HCWs (2nd dose), 66,09,537 FLWs (1st dose) and 2,13,559 FLWs (2nd Dose), 4,80,661 beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities (1st Dose) and 31,51,794 beneficiaries aged more than 60 years,” the ministry said.
97 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.
Seven States account for 87.63 per cent of the new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (38). Punjab follows with 17 daily deaths and Kerala reported13 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Eighteen states and UTs have not reported any COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours. These are Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh (UT), Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura.
The Central Government has also deputed high-level teams to Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Jammu and Kashmir to support them in their fight against the recent spike in COVID-19 cases.
These teams interact with the state and UT authorities and get a firsthand understanding of the challenges and issues being faced by them so as to strengthen their ongoing activities and remove bottlenecks if any.
Recently, the Centre rushed High-Level Public Health teams to Maharashtra and Punjab to assist in COVID-19 control and containment measures in view of the recent spike in cases in these states. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], March 8 (ANI): The first woman driver of Indian Railways, Surekha Yadav drove all women-staffed Mumbai-Lucknow Special train on the occasion of International Women’s Day, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal informed on Monday.
“#NariShakti Rail: The first woman driver of Indian Railways, Smt. Surekha Yadav drives the all women-staffed Mumbai-Lucknow Special, in celebration of #InternationalWomensDay,” Goyal tweeted.
He also said operation and onboard management of Bundelkhand Special train between Jhansi and Gwalior is being carried on by a team of women on International Women’s Day.
“Empowerment all the way with Railways: On International Women’s Day, operation and onboard management of Bundelkhand Special train between Jhansi and Gwalior is being carried on by a team of women. Nari Shakti,” Goyal tweeted.
Each year on March 8, International Women’s Day is observed in order to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day commemorates women, who despite various challenges posed by society have proven their mettle in every sphere across the world. (ANI)

Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], March 8, (ANI): Health Minister of Chhattisgarh TS Singh Deo has tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday.
“I would like to inform you all that I have been tested positive for COVID-19. No serious symptoms have surfaced yet but as a precautionary measure, I am practicing self-isolation for the next few days,” he tweeted.
“My humble appeal to all who have come in direct contact with me in last few days, if you notice any symptoms, please get yourself tested & follow all necessary precautions. It is our responsibility to keep ourselves & others safe preventing any further spread of the virus,” he added.
According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Chhattisgarh has 2,820 active cases with 3,07,642 recoveries. As many as 3,858 people have died so far due to the disease. (ANI)

By Ashoke Raj And Amit Kumar
New Delhi [India], March 8 (ANI): The second part of the budget session of parliament began on March 8 amid the uproar on fuel price hike in the Rajya Sabha.
Many leaders of five poll-bound states and political parties also demanded the curtailment of the budget session due to the upcoming assembly elections.
Today, a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of Rajya Sabha was held in parliament for allotment of time for discussion on budget allocations of different ministries and agenda of several bills which are pending for passing in the Rajya Sabha.
“During the BAC meeting, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) raised the issue of curtailment of the upper house. Some parties from the election-bound states supported the idea but other political parties including BJD, RJD and Samajwadi Party-disagreed,” a Rajya Sabha MP, who was present in the meeting, told ANI.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced poll dates for upcoming assembly elections and the first phase of voting will begin on 27th March in Assam. Thereafter, elections will be held in other states.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha said in the meeting, “two opinions should not come out, therefore, I will discuss with the speaker of Lok Sabha then we will be able to take the final decision on reducing days of the budget session,” a floor leader of the regional party, who attended the meeting, told ANI.
The second budget session that began on March 8 is scheduled to end April 8, but it is likely to conclude before Holi. (ANI)