The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the wink of 18-year-old actor Priya Prakash Varrier in a Malayalam movie song as an expression of her right to creative freedom and quashed FIRs that accused her of committing a “blasphemous act.” A three-judge Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, …

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a series of bilateral meetings, including with his Thai counterpart, Prayut Chan-o-cha and Myanmar President Win Myint, on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit here on Friday. “Mr. Prayut Chan-o-cha and I had a great meeting. Our talks focussed on boosting cooperation between India and …

It said the way forward may not be UCC, but the codification of all personal laws so that prejudices and stereotypes in every one of them would come to light and can be tested on the anvil of fundamental rights of the Constitution. “By codification of different personal laws, one …

Census 2021 will for the first time collect data on Other Backward Classes (OBC), the Centre said on Friday. The decennial exercise will involve 25 lakh trained enumerators and the use of “maps/geo-referencing at the time of house listing is also under consideration,” a statement issued by the Home Ministry …

Inspector Nicholas of D II Police station [in Madras] charged one Subbaraya Nathan, a hackney carriage driver, Syyed Omar, piece goods merchant, Esplanade, and Hassan for being in possession of and transporting 6 visses and 3 ½ palams of opium valued at Rs. 900 on the night of the 17th …

Printed notices over the signatures of Messrs. M.T. Subramania Mudaliar (President and Treasurer of the Labour Union), K.L. Venkataram, V. Ramachandra Aiyar, George Joseph, S.G. Dastagir, and R.S. Nayudu were widely circulated, convening a public meeting in the Victoria Edward Hall yesterday evening [August 28, in Madura] when it was …

The India-U.S. “2+2” dialogue will see External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman meet U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary James Mattis on September 6 in Delhi. The purpose is to get four key policymakers on the same page. This stems from the idea …

The Allahabad High Court on Monday dismissed a plea from private power producers seeking relief from an RBI diktat to banks to take cognisance of a stressed loan if repayments were missed even by a day. The RBI decision, of February 12, requires banks to complete insolvency resolution proceedings within …

If the arrest of five prominent activists by the Pune police in a coordinated operation across four States has resulted in such indignation, it is because of the widespread suspicion that this is part of an orchestrated crackdown on political dissent. The intervention of high courts and later the Supreme …

China’s leaders have exuded confidence in countering a political storm which apparently targeted President Xi Jinping, after his counterpart from the U.S., Donald Trump, unleashed a full-blown trade war against Beijing. In private conversations, and in a section of the non-state media, many said that instead of a tit-for-tat tariff …

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit in Kathmandu this week, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to attend, will be another milestone for India after the BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit hosted by it in 2016, as the grouping has gradually emerged as a …

The “redevelopment” projects of Delhi which have been in the news are caught up in legal tangles. In these, it is the ones related to their environmental approvals that stand out. This article outlines three ways in which these projects have used the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process to subvert …

The material loss due to the Kerala floods has been estimated at Rs. 26,000 crore, but beyond this there has been an immense loss of natural, human, and social capital for which no estimates are available. There is no doubt that the short-sighted attempts in building man-made capital (buildings in …

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the modern democratic state, armed with technologies of surveillance and control, possesses the kind of power that has never ever been exercised by any other state in history. In a democracy, the individual transits from subject to citizen. Yet there is no one …

India remains a preferred destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) as domestic consumption remains strong, according to the RBI Annual Report. With manufacturing sector gathering momentum, helped by both services and agriculture sectors, consumption demand remains robust in the country making it an attractive investment destination, the report said. India …

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved an increase of 79.3% in the project outlay for setting up the India Post Payments Bank to Rs. 1,435 crore. The move comes three days ahead of the nationwide roll-out of the payment bank by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The additional sum of Rs. 635 …

Power generator NTPC is undertaking due diligence of some of the stressed power assets in the country. NTPC was not averse to acquiring them as long as they met a certain criteria, a top official of the public sector enterprise said, adding: “We are evaluating… already due diligence is being …

Production of refined copper has slumped by 47.1% during the first quarter of FY19. This is primarily attributed to the shutdown of the 400 KT (kilo tonne) Thoothukudi smelter of Sterlite Copper, which accounted for 40% of the country’s copper smelting capacity. Domino effect The decline in domestic production has …

Beginning September 1, motor third party (MTP) insurance for new cars and two-wheelers will be issued for a longer duration as opposed to one year now. From next month, motor third party insurance for new cars will have to be purchased for a period of three years. For new two-wheelers, …

The number of cases of fraud reported by banks increased both in terms of numbers and value in 2017-18, the Reserve Bank of India said in its annual report. Fraud cases, which were generally hovering at about 4,500 in the last 10 years, increased to 5,835 in 2017-18, the report …