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 …

China says it is confident that a trade deal could be reached with the U.S. in 90 days Avoiding a knee-jerk response, China is delinking the detention of the daughter of the founder of Huawei in Canada from trade talks with the U.S. On Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry reiterated …

About 1,000 delegates will choose the new chief of CDU German Chancellor Angela Merkel will hand over leadership of her party on Friday after nearly two decades at the helm, with the race wide open between a loyal deputy and a longtime rival. The contest’s outcome is expected to be …

Translocated hyena dies in Guwahati zoo A male hyena, which was recently translocated from Jharkhand to Assam State Zoo, died here following brief illness caused by stress and infection, an official said Friday. The hyena, which arrived on November 26 from Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park in Ranchi, slipped into coma …

For the first time, the country’s civil aviation exhibition will be subsumed into the upcoming edition of Aero India to be held from February 20 to 24, 2019, a defence official said on Friday. So far, Aero India has been defence-oriented while a separate civil aviation exhibition is held in …

As many as 384 tigers have been killed by poachers in India in the last 10 years, according to the reply to a question under the Right to Information Act. Between 2008 and 2018 (till November), 961 persons have been arrested for allegedly poaching tigers. The information was given by …

NTCA panel slams planning, operation The committee constituted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to enquire into the death of tiger T-1 (the official name of the tigress known as Avni) in Pandharkawada on November 2, has concluded that the dart shot to immobilise the big cat had been …

IS men clueless about Islam: ex-IB head Strong religious education acts as a bulwark against radicalisation, and most of the Islamic State members had little knowledge of Islam, Asif Ibrahim, former envoy of the Prime Minister on countering terrorism and extremism, said on Friday. Mr. Ibrahim, former Director of the …

Centre seeks quick take-down of objectionable content The Union government has asked social media platforms to emulate the practices they follow in the U.K. in using tools based on Artificial Intelligence to identify and take down content that incites people to commit violence, a senior Home Ministry official said on …

Sources link Michel’s extradition to role of Coast Guard in ‘repatriating’ runaway Emirati Princess earlier this year Christian Michel, a key accused in the AugustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal case, was brought to India on board a Gulf Stream G3 jet owned by the Aviation Research Centre of the Research & …

Genetically engineered Bt cotton has failed to provide livelihood security for farmers, says article A research paper co-authored by leading agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan, which describes Bt cotton as a ‘failure,’ was criticised by India’s Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA), K . VijayRaghavan as ‘deeply flawed.’ The paper, ‘Modern Technologies for …