Very few have filed their claims in view of panchayat polls More than 40 organisations from the Barak Valley in southern Assam have demanded an extension of the ongoing phase for submission of claims to be included in the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) in view of the panchayat …

Nirmala Sitharaman gets guard of honour at Pentagon India and the U.S. are planning to “sort out” issues around a U.S. sanctions waiver related to India’s purchase of the S-400 Triumf missile defence system from Russia, U.S. Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis told the press at the Pentagon on Monday. …

Only 12% of pledges have materialised: Ministry paper The Finance Ministry has issued a ‘discussion paper’ that has criticised the accounting methods used by developed countries to report how much money they have given, so far, to developing countries to address climate change. Accounting procedures, regarding the flow of climate …

Poor show in Kashmir region; Jammu registers 84% Kashmir recorded a 30.3% turnout in the seventh phase of panchayat elections on Tuesday, while the Jammu region registered a heavy 84.8%. “An average 75.3% polling was witnessed during the seventh phase in Jammu and Kashmir,” Chief Electoral Officer Shaleen Kabra said. …

Union Minister and LJP president says his stand always has been that the Supreme Court’s decision on the issue will be final and should be acceptable to all Union Minister and Lok Jan Shakti Party president Ram Vilas Paswan completes 50 years in Indian politics, having served in the Cabinets …

Only 10 States have notified rules under Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act A study conducted by the Disability Rights India Foundation (DRIF) on the implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act, across 24 States, has revealed that more than half have not notified the State rules, …

Absence of staff for panchayat polls may hinder filing of claims, say Barak Valley organisations More than 40 organisations of southern Assam’s Barak Valley have demanded an extension of the ongoing claims submission phase of the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) in view of the panchayat elections. Less than …

British national Christian James Michel, wanted in the alleged Rs. 3,700 crore AgustaWestland helicopter deal bribery case, was extradited to India from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday. Mr. Michel was brought to Delhi on an Aviation Research Centre plane of the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) around 10.45 …

The quality of indelible ink manufactured by Mysuru Paints and Varnishes and used during elections in various parts of the country came in for praise from the Madhya Pradesh State Election Commissioner R. Parasuram. “We are absolutely satisfied with the product,” said Mr. Parasuram when asked if there was any …

Miss Ajitha, said to be a top commander of the Naxalite group which attacked the Pulpalli wireless station recently, was apprehended along with eight others in the Kottiyur forest early this morning [December 3] and taken to the Mananthody police station. The police are reported to have seized from Ajitha …

The Prime Ministers of Ceylon and India have agreed that discussions on the sovereignty over Kachchativu and connected matters in the Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar should continue. They exchanged views on a number of issues, including territorial waters, delineation of median line and fishing rights. A joint communiqué …

Mob violence in the nameof cow protection is shredding civic order The violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district is yet another notice of the toll being taken on civic order on account of the failure to crack down on vigilante mobs. Two persons, including a police inspector, lost their lives …

The national framework to improve nutrition for children must be upgraded on priority The health, longevity and well-being of Indians has improved since Independence, and the high levels of economic growth over the past two-and-half-decades have made more funds available to spend on the social sector. Yet, the reality is …

The Principal Economic Adviser to the Ministry of Finance on rural distress, the GDP back series data, NPAs, and slow GDP growth in the second quarter of this FY The government has come under a lot of criticism over its estimates for economic growth during the United Progressive Alliance years …

Practical interventions exist to tackle the issue of stubble burning Incidents of stubble burning — following the harvest of paddy crop in Punjab and Haryana — cannot be averted by imposing fines, or giving notice or giving farmers capital subsidy. Instead, the issue requires long-term vision and strategic policy interventions. …

How a business friendly government has failed to arrest the slide in private investment It may appear that the recent hullabaloo over GDP (gross domestic product) growth in the past decade has cast a shadow over assessment of the economy’s progress since 2014, but it is not so. There exists …

Scientists have discovered a cache over 100 new exoplanets using data from NASA’s Kepler Space telescope as well as ground-based observatories. The diverse planets are expected to play a large role in developing the research field of exoplanets and life in the Universe. Exoplanets, which revolve around stars other than …

A committee of wildlife experts warned on Monday that Canada’s largest land predator, the polar bear, was at risk of disappearing from its vast Arctic landscape as melting Arctic sea ice makes hunting prey a challenge. “It is clear we will need to keep a close eye on this species,” …

It is getting impossible for reporters to understand voters’ choices My first encounter with fake news was so mundane that it is a blur. It happened during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. I was in Bihar’s Vaishali constituency waiting for a campaign rally to start and struck up a conversation …

In order to address farmers’ distress,the entire agricultural chain needs a reboot Last week, tens of thousands of farmers reached Delhi for a two-day Kisan Mukti Morcha and held the country’s attention. They sought a special 21-day Parliament session to discuss the crisis in India’s agrarian economy. Their key demands …