Anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Bill protests rage through Assam
- Violent protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB), 2019, continued across several districts in the Brahmaputra Valley on Thursday with an indefinite curfew imposed in Guwahati, Dibrugarh and Tezpur.
- Two persons were killed in firing by security forces in Guwahati. Incidents of police firing were reported from several areas of the State capital, including Hatigaon, Lachitnagar, Bashishta, and Lalungaon. Sources at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital said 11 people were brought with gunshot injuries.
- The government also extended by 48 hours the suspension of mobile Internet and data services in the affected districts.
IIP shrinks again, inflation accelerates
- Food inflation is at a 40 month high
- Retail inflation rose to 5.54% in November while industrial activity contracted for the third consecutive month in October by -3.8%
CAG sees diversion of LPG cylinders for commercial use
- The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in its report on the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), has highlighted the risk of diversion of domestic cylinders for commercial use as 1.98 lakh beneficiaries had an average annual consumption of more than 12 cylinders.
- “Similarly, 13.96 lakh beneficiaries consumed 3 to 41 refills in a month. Further, IOCL and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) in 3.44 lakh instances issued 2 to 20 refills in a day to a PMUY beneficiary having single-bottle cylinder connection,” it said.