Hindustan Times News l 8th February l 6 PM

HT Daily News Wrap

The Bharatiya Janata Party released its manifesto for the Uttar Pradesh polls,Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on the Congress,After missing out on a substantial amount of cricket due to injury and Covid, India .

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on the Congress during his reply to Motion of Thanks in the Rajya Sabha. The prime minister said had there been no Congress, there would be no Emergency, or Sikh genocide. The PM also attacked the opposition over vaccines, saying immaturity by some leaders had left the country disappointed.

The Bharatiya Janata Party released its manifesto for the Uttar Pradesh polls. Released by Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and chief minister Yogi Adityanath, the Sankalp Patra announced a slew of promises to farmers and women voters. The BJP has promised free electricity for farmers, formulation of minimum support price for wheat and rice in its manifesto. The saffron party has also promised financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh for marriage of girls belonging to poor families and other sops for women. Bharatiya Janata Party MP Varun Gandhi on Tuesday described as ‘atrocious’ the appointment of Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit as the new vice-chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), as he pointed out ‘multiple grammatical mistakes’ in her press release thanking the Prime Minister and Minister of Education for appointing her as the first woman VC of the Delhi-based university. After missing out on a substantial amount of cricket due to injury and Covid, India pacer T Natarajan looks to make a strong comeback in the upcoming calendar. The left-arm medium pacer will be seen in action in India’s premier domestic tournament Ranji Trophy, where he will be representing Tamil Nadu. The 30-year-old will go under the hammer in the upcoming IPL mega auctions, which is slated to be held on February 12, 13.

Covid-19 forced children to stay isolated and indoors for more than a year. The precious formative years of a child are for it to explore, touch, hear, speak, feel and see things, outside their home. This opportunity, unfortunately, was snatched from them. Now, a recent study has shed light on the impact of isolation on children. The study, led by the University of Oslo, found that, during lockdown, children who were read to more frequently were reported by their caregivers to have learned more words, relative to their peers who were read to less frequently. However, children with increased exposure to screens learned to say fewer words, relative to their peers with less screen time.