The Electoral Bond Scheme inhibits the citizen’s capacity to meaningfully participate in political and public life Early this year the government introduced an Electoral Bond Scheme purportedly with a view to cleansing the prevailing culture of political sponsorship. But the programme’s failings have been so blindingly obvious, and its consequences …

With farm distress becoming a major electoral issue in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Vikas Pathak visits two pockets of rural India, Mandsaur inMadhya Pradesh and Jodhpur district in Rajasthan, and finds that the political instincts of the rural voter are not necessarily rooted in agriculture A …

Literary bodies oppose MHRD plan Kashmir-based literary bodies are up in arms against a move by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to withdraw Kashmiri translations from its language-promoting portal, Bhasha Sangam, after Kashmiri Pandits objected to the “regional script” of the language. “We appeal to the MHRD to …

Over half of world population online Some 3.9 billion people are now using the Internet, meaning that for the first time more than half of the global population is online, the United Nations said on Friday. The UN agency for information and communication technologies, ITU, said that by the end …

The liquidity stress affecting non-banking finance companies and housing finance companies since September 2018 has abated significantly, and the Indian markets have performed better than several developed markets despite high global volatility this year, the chief of India’s stock market regulator Ajay Tyagi said on Friday. The Securities Exchange Board …

Trade deficit rises to $50 bn compared with $32.5 bn a year ago: RBI Current account deficit (CA) widened to 2.9% of GDP for the July-September quarter due to higher trade deficit compared with 1.1% during the same period of the previous year, the Reserve Bank of India said on …

Fresh flows into liquid schemes, recovery in stock markets boost AUM in November Despite stock market volatility, assets under management (AUM) of mutual funds (MFs) in November increased 8% to Rs. 24.03 lakh crore from Rs. 22.23 lakh crore reported in October. This was primarily on account of fresh fund …

Situation on Korean peninsula is in flux: Xi Chinese President Xi Jinping told North Korea’s Foreign Minister on Friday that he hoped Pyongyang and Washington will address each other’s concerns so that peace talks on the Korean peninsula “continue to make positive progress”. Mr. Xi met with Ri Yong Ho …

Says U.K. should use risk of Ireland food shortage in talks Britain’s Indian-origin former Cabinet Minister Priti Patel has faced condemnation in the U.K., Ireland and beyond for suggesting that Britain should use the food shortages that Ireland would suffer in the event of a no-deal as leverage to improve …

A U.S. resolution championed by Ambassador Nikki Haley to condemn the Palestinian Hamas movement at the United Nations for firing rockets at Israel failed to win enough votes for adoption on Thursday. The proposed measure won 87 votes in the General Assembly, falling short of a two-thirds majority. Fifty-eight countries …