Yearly Archives: 2018

Rationalisation of CS schemes mooted

Many Centrally Sponsored Schemes are boutique in nature, with ‘dubious’ outcomes: N.K. Singh Several Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) are just boutique in nature with ‘dubious’ outcomes, the 15th Finance Commission of the Union Government has noted while calling for urgent rationalisation of the CSSs. The pruning of such schemes would …

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Court suspends Sharif’s sentence

Islamabad High Court says NAB could not bring evidence against the Sharifs in corruption case Members of Nawaz Sharif’s party celebrated his release on Wednesday after the Islamabad High Court suspended the jail sentences handed to the former Prime Minister, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Captain Muhammad Safdar (retd.). National …

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Tribal group to protest for Santali teachers

Organisation to hit streets on Sept. 24 Protesting against the absence of permanent teachers to teach in Santali in schools, a tribal organisation has decided to hit the streets in the city. Santali as medium of instruction in the State-run schools of West Bengal was announced a few years ago. …

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A second chance to prove legacy: SC

Justice Ranjan Gogoi on the Special Bench hearing the Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) case observed on Wednesday that by allowing the claimants to file extra papers, the apex court was actually giving them a ‘second chance’ to prove their Indian legacy. “Usually, the process of claims and objections …

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Can’t curb liberty on conjecture, says SC

“You [the Maharashtra government] should make a clear distinction between opposition to government and efforts for mass destruction or violence… We may not like it [resistance], but we must accept the fact that there will be opposition,” Justice Chandrachud told Mr. Mehta. The Maharashtra government claimed that their raids unearthed …

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J&K artists weave life back into the antique shawl

Workshop to revive Valley’s vanishing breed of master darners Once sought after by Mughal emperors for their finesse, Kashmir’s master darners, known as rafugars, have become an endangered species. The Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) government is now making efforts to revive this dwindling breed of craftsmen whose rare ability to …

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Assam foreigners’ tribunal detects use of fake documents

In Morigaon town, most citizenship certificates were forged or tampered with A Foreigners’ Tribunal in central Assam’s Morigaon district observed last month that the process of identifying foreigners and doubtful voters had become “an industry” for “minting money.” The “unfair practices” involved, it noted, turned Indians into foreigners and foreigners …

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‘Will return home and work for peace’

Says situation in Afghanistan is far worse than it was earlier In a dramatic move that has set diplomatic circles in Delhi as well as political circles in Kabul abuzz, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to India Shaida Mohammad Abdaliresigned during President Ghani’s visit to India on Wednesday. He explained his decision in …

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‘Why no such action against Hindu men?’

Opposition parties, women activists question govt. move With the government taking the ordinance route to make ‘instant triple talaq’ a penal offence, Opposition parties and women activists on Wednesday wondered why no similar provisions are made for Hindu men deserting their wives. Some said the ordinance ignored problems it could …

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NRC to process claims from September 25

Exercise will continue for 60 days: SC The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the opening of the process for receiving claims and objections from 40 lakh persons left out of the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam from September 25. A Special Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and …

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Triple talaq is criminal offence

The new law has safeguards, including bail to the accused before the start of trial The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared an ordinance that makes talaq-e-biddat , or instant triple talaq, a criminal offence that will attract a maximum jail term of three years. President Ram Nath Kovind later in …

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Indian Reforms. Sir A.H. Fraser’s Views.

In a letter to the ‘Times’ Sir A.H. Fraser says: He and other members of theIndo-British Association  do not agree wholly with the unfavourable views on the reform scheme expressed by some speakers at a recent meeting of the Association. He welcomes the general principles and tendencies of the Report …

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Inter-Caste Marriages Bill.

At a solemn conclave convened on Friday [September 13] of the Mahamandal Council and other prominent orthodox leaders of Benares including pundit authorities presided over by the Maharajah Darbhanga, the general President of the Mahamandal, it was decided, first, to inform the supreme Government that the proposed Bill of Mr. …

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With protesters in a police station

How an agitation against price rise cost the protesters Journalists have the best seats in the political theatre. This also means that we have to simply hear whatever is being said, whether spectacularly boring or even vitriolic. But there are good days when, for instance, an ironical drama unfolds in …

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