Indicating that further simplification of the Goods and Services Tax is on the anvil, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government wants to ensure that 99% items attract sub-18% GST slab. Before implementation of the GST, registered enterprises numbered 65 lakh, which has now risen by 55 lakh, Mr. Modi …

The benefit of the doubt in cases based on a flawed police investigation must favour the accused irrespective of the gravity of the crime, the Supreme Court held in a recent judgment in a 17-year-old case of murder and rioting in Uttar Pradesh. “The accused cannot be expected to relinquish …

The National Green Tribunal on Tuesday rapped the Union Water Resources Ministry over its notification pertaining to groundwater extraction. A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel came down heavily on the Ministry and said that the notification, issued on December 12, was against “national interest”. No-objection certificate …

The Patna Municipal Corporation is said to be considering renaming the city’s main intersection, Kavi Guru Rabindra Chowk, after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The move has stoked a controversy in Bihar. The proposal is said to have been made by Mayor Sita Sahu of the BJP. The Empowered …

In an evaluation of the rapid airlift capability of the Indian Air Force at times of war and natural disasters, the Western Air Command (WAC) airlifted a record 463 tonnes of load from Chandigarh to airfields and drop-zones in the Ladakh region in a single wave on Tuesday. This was …

A code of conduct for employees of all organisations and a declaration signed by them agreeing to ensure the safety of children are some of the provisions included in the Centre’s draft national child protection policy, prepared on the prodding of the Supreme Court in the wake of the Muzaffarpur …

A study is aiming to map the rural population for memory-related diseases, which is said to be the first such exercise in the country. The Srinivaspura Aging Neuro Senescence and Cognition (SANSCOG) project is a joint collaborative initiative between the Centre for Brain Research, National Institute of Mental Health and …

Visakhapatnam, now placed prominently in the tourism map of visitors from States such as West Bengal and Odisha, has two particular seasons when the footfalls grow phenomenally. One is during the Dasara or Durga puja period and the other in December, both before and after Christmas. This is the time …

This is the lowest day temperature recorded this winter, say weathermen For the first time this year, the mercury levels in the city plummeted by about 6 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, forcing the denizens to pull their woollens out of the cupboards. After the city witnessed heavy rain triggered by …

With Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) bidding to operate, manage, and develop the Thiruvananthapuram airport, the Ministry of Civil Aviation may, according to sources, take a positive stance on the State government’s proposal to have a similar management for the Calicut airport. Sources said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has already …

The Home Minister, Mr. Y.B. Chavan said in the Lok Sabha to-day [December 16, New Delhi] that they had the greatest respect for the decisions of the Speakers’ Conference, that when a Chief Minister’s majority was in doubt the Assembly must be convened within a week to decide the fate …

Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani’s decision to stay away from the December 9 Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Riyadh is the latest reminder of the growing disunity among the Gulf countries. Qatar, blockaded by three GCC countries, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, and their non-GCC allies, has …

Whether the Congress erred in privileging members of the old guard to lead the governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh has become a subject of debate. Those who argue that it missed a trick in not picking Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia as Chief Ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya …

A gathering of journalists, academics and the public at “Fourth Pillar: India Journalism Week” turned out to be another open house. This was an initiative by Academe India and the University of Chicago Center in Delhi to examine the role of journalism in democracies. Along with Pamela Philipose, Public Editor …

The last date for filing claims and objections for Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) has been extended by the Supreme Court to December 31, from December 15. This exercise of compiling the NRC in the first place has sparked a debate around its political, economic and humanitarian consequences, and …

India’s national income statistics are under a cloud. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has released official revisions of the GDP estimates for the years 2004-05 to 2013-14 in the Manmohan Singh-led government’s tenure. The revisions make the Narendra Modi government’s performance on the economic front appear better than that of …

New space has emerged for de-escalating Sri Lanka’s political crisis with the timely and judicious intervention by the Sri Lankan Supreme Court. Following the two rulings made by the top court, last Thursday and Friday, Ranil Wickremesinghe — the Prime Minister who was sacked on October 26 by Maithripala Sirisena, …

Scientists have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can successfully predict whether a patient is at risk of developing a serious, and possibly life-threatening infection after surgery. Staphylococcus epidermidis is an ubiquitous coloniser of healthy human skin, but it is also a notorious source of serious infections with indwelling …

Scientists have developed an ingestible capsule controlled using Bluetooth wireless technology, which can be customised to deliver drugs or monitor health over long periods of time. The capsule can reside in the stomach for at least a month, transmitting information and responding to instructions from a user’s smartphone. Source : …

Probiotics may help treat bipolar disorder and other psychiatric mood disorders, a study has found. Bipolar disorder is a psychiatric condition characterised by dramatic shifts in mood from depression to mania. Currently, the standard treatment includes a combination of psychotherapy and prescription medications. Source : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-life/probiotics-may-help-treat-bipolar-disorder/article25760057.ece