March 23: Must-read stories

Ajmer blasts case: Life term for two ‘ex-RSS pracharaks’

Two persons were sentenced to life on Wednesday for the 2007 Ajmer dargah blasts, which killed three people and injured 15. The Special NIA Court also imposed a fine of ₹5,000 and ₹10,000 respectively on “RSS pracharaks” Devendra Gupta, 41, and Bhavesh Patel, 39. A report by The Indian Express.

Westminster terror attack: Police officer among five dead, 40 injured

In the first mass casualty terrorist attack on Britain in over a decade, five people died and at least 40 were wounded after a single terrorist attacked Westminster, stabbing a police officer to death as he tried to storm parliament in a 4x4 vehicle, reports The Guardian.

Cash cloak for political parties

Finance minister Arun Jaitley slipped in a surprising amendment to the Companies Act, 2013, through a last-minute change in the Finance Bill, 2017, which removes the cap that barred a company from donating more than 7.5% of its average net profit in the three immediately preceding financial years to a political party, reports The Telegraph.

PM presses the loan waiver button

With the Centre apparently realising that it is not only the UP farmers—who have been promised a loan waiver—but the peasants across the country might be requiring assistance in some form, NITI Aayog had been asked to firm up a plan in that regard, reports The Tribune.

Central Ministry, state departments publicly expose personal data of lakhs of Indians

At least one central government ministry and multiple Indian state government departments currently expose the personal information of thousands of Indian citizens through their websites—information that shouldn’t actually be available so freely, says The Wire.