Digest year-ender for domestic stories for month of March, 2019

Mar 1: Wagah/Attari: After a suspenseful wait lasting hours, Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman finally returned home Friday night from his nearly three-day captivity in Pakistan, a major step towards defusing a near-war situation triggered by India's retaliation over Pakistan's continued support for terrorism.

Mar 3: Srinagar: Two Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants, five security forces' personnel, including a CRPF officer, and a civilian were killed during a 56-hour encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district, police said Sunday.

Mar 4: New Delhi: Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa and its wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation have not been banned by Pakistan despite its announcement a fortnight ago and the two organisations continue to be only in the list of groups under watch.

 

Mar 5: New Delhi: India has given proof to the US about the use of F-16 fighters and AMRAAM beyond visual range air-to-air missile by Pakistan during its unsuccessful aerial raid targeting four Indian military installations on February 27, official sources said Tuesday.

Mar 6: New Delhi: A CISF official died and several files and documents gutted on Wednesday in a major fire at the office of the Ministry of Social Justice in South Delhi's CGO Complex that also houses other important government offices.

Mar 7: New Delhi: In a significant development, the United Nations has rejected an appeal of JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind, to remove his name from its list of banned terrorists, government sources said on Thursday.

Mar 8: Varanasi/Kanpur (UP): Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched a series of development projects in five Uttar Pradesh cities, including his parliamentary constituency Varanasi.

Mar 9: Ahmedabad: Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani Saturday expanded his cabinet by inducting three members, including Congress turncoat Jawahar Chavda, who was rewarded with a ministerial berth a day after he joined the BJP.

Mar 10: New Delhi: Lok Sabha elections will begin on April 11 and continue for over a month till May 19 across seven phases, followed by counting of votes on May 23, the Election Commission announced Sunday, kick-starting a mega electoral battle where the BJP will pitch for a re-election of the Modi government amid the Opposition's efforts for a united fight to unseat it.

Mar 11: Srinagar: The mastermind of the February 14 Pulwama terror attack, which claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel, has been killed in an encounter in south Kashmir's Tral area, officials said Monday.

Mar 12: New Delhi: India Tuesday grounded Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft used by the country's airline companies in light of the Ethopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people.

Mar 13: Chennai: Congress president Rahul Gandhi Wednesday promised 33 per cent reservation of government jobs for women and reforms in the Goods and Services Tax(GST) if the party-led UPA wins the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Mar 14: Attari/New Delhi: India and Pakistan Thursday agreed to work towards expeditiously launching the Kartarpur corridor, a decision taken at a meeting held after the recent escalation in tensions between the two countries.

Mar 15: New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday quashed the life ban imposed by the BCCI on cricketer S Sreesanth for his alleged involvement in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal and asked the apex cricket body to re-consider within three months the quantum of punishment.

Mar 16: New Delhi: India will show patience with China for "as long as it takes" but will not compromise its position on firmly dealing with terrorists, government sources said Saturday, days after Beijing blocked a fresh move at the UN to designate Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed's chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

Mar 17: Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, a former defence minister who had been battling pancreatic cancer for over a year, died at his private residence near here on Sunday. He was 63.

Mar 18: New Delhi: Embattled billionaire Anil Ambani Monday warded off a possible jail term as RCom cleared dues of a Swedish service provider at the eleventh hour with money received from elder brother Mukesh and his wife Nita, whom he thanked for standing by him in trying times and extending "timely support".

Mar 19: New Delhi: Former Supreme Court judge Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose was on Tuesday appointed as the country's first Lokpal, the anti-corruption ombudsman, an official communique said.

Mar 20: Panchkula (Har): A special court here Wednesday acquitted Swami Aseemanand and three others in the Samjhauta train blast case that left 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, dead in 2007.

Mar 22: New Delhi: The Congress on Friday sought an investigation by the Lokpal into allegations that Rs 1,800 crore bribes were paid by former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa to top BJP leadership.