Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was reinstated as Prime Minister on Sunday, pointed to the constitutional provision prohibiting the dissolution of Parliament prior to the completion of four and half years of its term. ‘In national interest’ Defending his earlier actions sacking Parliament and calling for snap polls — which the Supreme …
Read More »Daily Archives: December 17, 2018
Key questions remain unanswered
Key questions on whether developed countries would come good on earlier commitments to make available $100 billion annually by 2020 remained unsolved at the end of the Katowice climate summit. Moreover, a fundamental tenet — that developed countries and developing countries have ‘differentiated’ responsibilities towards addressing emissions — appeared to …
Read More »India welcomes end of uncertainty in Sri Lanka
India on Sunday welcomed the end of political uncertainty in Sri Lanka with the return of Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister. A statement by the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the latest developments indicated the resilience of Sri Lankan democracy. “This is a reflection of the …
Read More »Climate talks deliver ‘rule book’
Nations on Sunday struck a deal to breathe life into the landmark 2015 Paris climate treaty after marathon UN talks that failed to match the ambition the most vulnerable countries need to avert dangerous global warming. Delegates from nearly 200 states finalised a common rule book designed to deliver on …
Read More »‘JPC cannot review SC order’
Attacking the Congress’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation into the Rafale deal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Sunday that a JPC could not go into the “correctness or otherwise” of a Supreme Court verdict. “The court conducts a judicial review; it is a non-partisan, independent and fair …
Read More »PAC may not call A-G or CAG
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) may not summon the Attorney-General and the Comptroller and Auditor-General over the public auditor’s report on the Rafale deal, as a majority of the members, even those from the Opposition parties, do not favour the proposal by its Chairman, Mallikarjun Kharge. Congress president Rahul Gandhi …
Read More »No headway in rescuing coal miners in Meghalaya
More than 100 rescue workers, comprising the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and police personnel, could not rescue or recover the bodies of at least 13 miners trapped in an illegal coal mine in the East Jaintia Hills district. The mine got flooded when …
Read More »Maharashtra to give leave to male staff for childcare
The maximum limit of this leave would be 180 days and can be availed in three spells in a calendar year Male employees of the State government are now entitled to child care leave in case their wives are bed-ridden or incapacitated due to mental health problems and unable to …
Read More »India is the closest friend of the Maldives: President Solih
Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih began his trip to India on an upbeat note by declaring his country’s commitment to trade with foreign partners. Addressing a public event on Sunday, Mr. Solih said there were no obstructions to doing business with his country, and described India as the “closest friend” …
Read More »India recorded 95 tiger deaths in 2018, 41 outside reserves
According to the National Tiger Conservation Authority’s (NTCA) records till December 15, 2018, there were 95 cases of tiger deaths in the country. Of this, 41 cases of tiger deaths outside tiger reserves have been reported. Of them, 14 occurred in Maharashtra, which accounted for over 34% of all deaths …
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