Following are the news highlights

Following are the news highlights
at 1800 hours today:
GENERAL
New Delhi: India's economic growth is likely to dip to 6.5 per cent this fiscal after shock demonetisation shaved off a good 0.5 percentage points but it will rebound to 6.75-7.5 per cent in the next financial year, Economic Survey said, calling for bold cut in tax rates.(DEL55)
New Delhi: Sounding a note of caution on government's digital push, the Economic Survey said that digitalisation is "not a panacea" and cash is not all bad and stressed the need to forge a balance between both forms of payments. (DEL64)
New Delhi: With reports that President Donald Trump is set to sign a new executive order aimed at overhauling H-1B and other work visas, India said it has conveyed its "interests and concerns" to the US. (DEL75)

New Delhi: Lok Sabha MP and former Union minister E Ahamed, who was taken ill during President Pranab Mukherjee's address to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament, has suffered cardiac arrest and his condition is critical.(DEL53)

Etawah(UP): Throwing a fresh challenge to Akhilesh Yadav, his sidelined uncle Shivpal announced that he will float a party after election results are out on March 11 and threatened to back "rebel" candidates. (DEL83)
Ghaziabad/New Delhi: Firebrand BJP MP Yogi Adityanath has compared the situation in western Uttar Pradesh to that in Kashmir in 1990s, when Kashmiri Pandits had to flee the Valley, while the party defended its leaders over their controversial remarks during the poll campaign on alleged exodus of Hindu families from Kairana. (DEL67)

New Delhi: Widely acclaimed as a bright spot in the global economy, India's strong macroeconomic fundamentals have created a platform for sustained growth, President Pranab Mukherjee said. (DEL25)
New Delhi: Invoking Mahatma Gandhi's vision of "wiping every tear from every eye", the Economic Survey made a strong pitch for implementing Universal Basic Income (UBI) that stipulates a certain income for the poor. (DEL61)
New Delhi: Policy making in certain areas like telecom and banking has been severely constrained due to "abundant caution in bureaucratic decision-making", the Economic Survey said. (DEL59)
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked the Modi government after it listed its achievements in the President's address, alleging that it has been a "complete failure" on job creation front.(DEL27)

New Delhi: Several Union ministers took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi for his remark that the Centre was a "complete failure" on job creation front, saying it was indicative of his "disappointment and frustration" at not having a job and suggesting him to join a government-run skill centre to get employment. (DEL72)
Ranchi: In the first money laundering conviction in the country, former Jharkhand Minister Hari Narayan Rai has been sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 5 lakh by a special court here. (DEL40)
New Delhi: The surgical strikes by India at several terrorist launch pads along the Line of Control to prevent infiltration from Pakistan was a "fitting reply" to the repeated incursions on its territorial sovereignty, President Pranab Mukherjee said. (DEL82)

New Delhi: India reacted cautiously to the reports of detention of Mumbai attack mastermind and Jammat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and four others under an anti-terrorism act by Pakistan. (DEL60)
Mumbai: Four persons were arrested in connection with the mishap at an oil mill in Maharashtra's Latur district even as the death toll climbed to nine with two more bodies being recovered from a tank in the factory.(BOM3)
LEGAL
New Delhi: The Supreme Court refused to stay the new
legislation passed recently by the Tamil Nadu assembly allowing bull-taming sport Jallikattu in the state. (LGD6)
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has ordered defreezing of the domestic and non-FCRA bank accounts of 'Lawyers Collective', an NGO run by former Additional Solicitor General of India Indira Jaisingh, observing that FCRA "does not provide for a government to stifle the very functioning of individuals or associations".(LGB1)

New Delhi: All electronic devices, including an alcometer, does not give 100 per cent accurate reading and error is bound to occur, a court here has said while setting aside the jail term given to a man in a drunken driving case. (LGD11)
New Delhi: Three girls from the Philippines and Tunisia, who were alleged to be ISIS sympathisers, were given money by a Dubai-based Indian supporter of the terror outfit on the instructions of a Pakistani national, the NIA has said.(LGD8)
FOREIGN
Rawalpindi/Lahore: In an unusual move, Pakistan's army said the detention of the Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed was a "policy decision in the national interest" as the government announced that the Jamat-ud Dawa leader's 90-day house arrest could be extended if required. (FGN23)

Washington: President Donald Trump is set to sign a new executive order aimed at overhauling work visa programmes like the H-1B and L1, a move that will adversely hit the lifeline of Indian tech firms and professionals in the US. (FGN12)
Washington: America's relationship with India will continue to grow stronger in the Trump Administration, a top White House official has said but remained mum over its stance on India's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.(FGN13)
Washington: In a dramatic move, US President Donald Trump fired two top officials, including Acting Attorney General Sally Yates who refused to enforce his controversial and executive order banning citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations from entering America that has triggered protests across the world.(FGN17)

Washington: Breaking his silence over his successor Donald Trump's immigration policies, former US president Barack Obama said he disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion.(FGN7)
Tehran: Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned the United States against "creating new tensions" with Tehran over ballistic missile tests.(FGN22)
Brussels: The EU warned Iran not to stoke mistrust by continuing ballistic missile tests, after Tehran told the new US administration not to use the issue as a pretext to create fresh tensions.(FGN25)
Washington: US President Donald Trump is taking decisive steps to "defeat and destroy" ISIS, the White House said, terming the destruction of the dreaded terror group's capabilities a "humanitarian imperative".