Softer crude oil prices, along with foreign fund inflows, helped the rupee post a gain of over 1% against the dollar on Thursday, giving hope for the current account deficit to remain within the tolerance limit and for a further reduction in petrol and diesel prices.The rupee gained for the …

The National Conference (NC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Congress on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik for dissolving the Assembly and BJP general secretary Ram Madhav for his remarks alleging Pakistani support to the alliance.NC vice-president Omar Abdullah justified his …

West German Economics Minister Karl Schiller said to-day [November 21, Bonn] that financial leaders of the 10 major non-Communist industrial countries were facing very difficult problems in their efforts to solve the current international monetary crisis. He told reporters after a three-hour session on the second day of the conference …

Can States bar the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from functioning in their territory? Yes. The CBI is a national agency with police powers. Its primary jurisdiction is confined to Delhi and Union Territories. As policing (detecting crime and maintaining law and order) is a State subject, the law allows …

The attack on a religious gathering in Kabul that killed 55 people, including several scholars and clerics, is another signal of Afghanistan’s descent into chaos. The clerics had gathered to mark the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammed when the suicide bomber blew himself up. The Taliban denied responsibility and blamed …

The conviction of two rioters for their role in the 1984 anti-Sikh violence in Delhi marks a rare success in the long struggle to bring the perpetrators to justice. Of particular significance is that this case, relating to a mob attack on shop-keepers in Mahipalpur, was resurrected after being closed …

The Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court is examining a public interest litigation (PIL) that could be critical for Indian democracy. The PIL, which seeks the strengthening of the Election Commission of India (ECI), includes a proposal to create an independent mechanism to appoint the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and …

It is either mischievous or ignorant to claim that ‘brahminical’ only refers to brahmins Imagine a celebrity Indian CEO going to the United States and having himself photographed with women of colour while holding a poster that said, “Smash racist patriarchy”. And then, imagine white Americans coming down on him …

Its openness to the board discussing all policy decisions may well be a paradigm shift The angel was in the detail of the terse press note that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued after the meeting of its board of directors on November 19. Every one of the four …

Last month, the Pakistan Supreme Court acquitted Asia Bibi, a Christian woman accused of blasphemy, citing lack of evidence. The verdict must rank as the boldest in the chequered history of Pakistan. The judges showed remarkable courage in going against the far-right ideology responsible for the extralegal lynching of an …