The Polish government’s decision to rescind the forced retirement of several Supreme Court judges is a welcome sign of its willingness to improve compliance with the rule of law. This could begin a process to resolve the stand-off between Poland’s Law and Justice party (PiS) government and the European Union. …

The announcement by India and Pakistan of plans to operationalise a visa-free corridor between Dera Baba Nanak in Indian Punjab and Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan’s Punjab heeds a longstanding plea of Sikh pilgrims. That demand had gathered pace in 1995, when Pakistan renovated the Kartarpur gurdwara, situated on the site …

President Ram Nath Kovind’s choice of Vietnam as the first Southeast Asian country to visit in his capacity as the President is not surprising. A close ‘ally’ of India for over 70 years, and not limited to official diplomatic ties, Vietnam is critical for India’s foreign policy at the regional …

There is a clamour by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Sangh Parivar for an ordinance and later a statute (i.e. Act) for building a Ram temple over the ruins of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya immediately. No more waiting, they say. The supposedly neutral Justice J. Chelameswar, who retired …

Maya Madan, 22, lives in a brick hut in Hamid Khedi village. A few feet from her home, which is in Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh, is a narrow street, criss-crossed by ditches full of dirty water. The buzz of mosquitoes breeding in these pools fills the air. It does …

Manoj Kumar Moharana, a youth from Odisha’s Ganjam district, set a Guinness World Record by making 36 vertical rotations of a toothpick in the mouth in one minute.For the 24-year-old post graduate in mathematics, this is his second record. On August 28, 2017, he broke a Guinness World Record title …

The recent notification issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate change allowing local bodies to stipulate environmental conditions while granting building permission will improve the launch pipeline and at the same time, help save time and cost for developers.As per the notification, municipalities, development authorities and district panchayats …

The 11 state-run banks under the Reserve Bank’s prompt corrective action (PCA) framework have seen a 400 basis points increase in their share of retail loans at 19% of the system in the four years ended September 2018, says a report.The Reserve Bank began to place state-run banks under the …

Mahindra First Choice Services (MFC), part of the $20.7 billion Mahindra group, is open to talks with strategic investors to raise Rs. 125 crore. “We need at least Rs. 125 crore to accelerate our expansion programme,” said CEO YVS.Vijaykumar. “The funds will be invested in technology and brand building.”He said …

The Finance Ministry would not curtail its capital infusion plan for this financial year even as state-owned banks would be needing lesser funds following the Reserve Bank’s decision to defer the deadline to meet Basel III norms by a year, according to sources.Under the new dispensation, the capital infusion by …