Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the first airport in Sikkim. With this, the number of functional airports in the country went up to 100. “This is a historic day for the State of Sikkim and also an important day for the rest of India. With this inauguration, the …

The crucial claims and objections round of the exercise to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam is scheduled to start on Tuesday. This phase provides a 60-day window of hope for 40,07,707 of the 32.9 million applicants who were left out of the complete NRC draft published …

A five-judge Constitution Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, is on Tuesday scheduled to pronounce its judgment on petitions to bar politicians facing charges of heinous crimes, such as murder, rape and kidnapping, from contesting elections. Under the Representation of the People Act, convicted lawmakers are disqualified, …

Domestic aviation traffic registered a growth of 17% in the month of August, with airlines ferrying a total of 11.3 million passengers as opposed to 9.6 million same time last year, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s monthly data. Gurgaon-based budget carrier SpiceJet was at the top in …

India is the only SAARC country to have a quit-line number India has become the first and only SAARC country to have a quit-line number on tobacco products. The Union Health Ministry has already made 85% pictorial health warning mandatory on both sides of packets containing cigarettes, bidis, and chewing …

Tells Supreme Court that message against mob action will be run on TV and radio within a week The Centre on Monday assured the Supreme Court that the Union and State governments would, within a week, start broadcasting on radio and TV a stern message that mob lynchings and violence …

Indian diplomats are very smart, and we have learnt a fair bit from them, says exiled former Maldivian President Following the upset victory of the joint Opposition candidate, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, in the Maldivian presidential elections, exiled former President Mohamed Nasheed , among the fiercest critics of outgoing President Abdulla …

‘Severely wasted children must befed fresh food’ India’s top nutrition panel has recommended that severely malnourished children must be fed freshly cooked food prepared from locally available cereals, pulses and vegetables, and distributed by anganwadi centres, as part of the country’s first-ever guidelines for nutritional management of children suffering from …

Punjab sounds red alert; Air Force rescues 21 people in Himachal Pradesh Incessant rain triggered flash floods and landslips in hill States of northern India, with at least 11 people killed on Monday in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. In the wake of heavy rain, the Punjab government …

More small, marginal farmers, share-croppers included in scheme The Odisha government on Monday decided to facilitate entry of more small and marginal farmers and share-croppers into the procurement fold by bringing changes in the norms of food and procurement policy for the Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2018-19. “The past practice …

Move is aimed at shoring up the sliding rupee The government has finalised the list of non-essential items on which it will be imposing import tariffs, according to a senior official in the Finance Ministry.The official said the list, to be notified soon, would include electronics, gems, select items of …

Petitions had sought a ban on practice by Dawoodi Bohras The Supreme Court on Monday referred to a five-judge Constitution Bench petitions seeking a declaration that the practice of female circumcision or ‘khafz,’ prevalent in the Dawoodi Bohra sect, amounts to “female genital mutilation (FGM)” and is a violation of …

Joint Opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih gets 58.3% of votes Much to the surprise of his critics and political rivals, Maldives President Abdulla Yameen on Monday conceded defeat in Sunday’s presidential election, making way for the joint Opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. Senior parliamentarian of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) …

The [Imperial] Council resumed this morning [in Simla, Sept. 24], Sir George Lowndes presiding. Mr. Shukul moved for a mixed committee to be appointed by the Provincial Governments to enquire into the economic condition of the agriculturists in a few typical Government Zemandari and Inam villages. He said the resolution …

It will be remembered that during the debate on the Press Act resolution in the Imperial Legislative Council the Hon’ble Mr. J.P. Thompson is reported to have said in the course of his speech that the Editor and Proprietor of the ‘Observer’ were interviewed and the Editor had the amazing …

A good measure of progress in a household is inter-generational mobility — an improvement in social status from the previous generation. How has this varied across social groups and geographies across India since liberalisation? A recent paper, “Intergenerational Mobility in India: Estimates from New Methods and Administrative Data” by Sam …

The new climate reality is raising the bar on disaster resilience It is time to stop thinking of the extreme weather events hitting us with increasing frequency as bolts from the blue. Kerala bravely endured the monsoon storms, but it would be a mistake to think that disasters of this …

Budgetary support must be strengthenedto make Ayushman Bharat a success Ayushman Bharat has been rolled out as a health protection scheme that will provide guaranteed access to treatment that is free at the point of delivery to about 40% of the population selected on the basis of censused socio-economic indicators. …

With her Brexit proposal rejected by the EU, the British PM’s position stands weakened The rejection of Prime Minister Theresa May’s post-Brexit blueprint at the Salzburg summit rules out nothing as yet in Britain’s rocky negotiations on withdrawing from the European Union. All the same, the development is a blow …

Including behavioural insights in policymaking is helpful According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 202 institutions around the world are applying behavioural insights to public policy. While most of them are found in the U.S., the U.K., Europe and Australia, some are found in developing countries in West …