Chinese and American officials began talks on Monday aimed at ending a bruising trade battle between the world’s two biggest economies, as Beijing complained over the sighting of a U.S. warship in what it said were Chinese waters. It was unclear if the ruckus over the warship might disrupt the …

Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg on Monday suggested that third parties could help solve the Kashmir issue if India and Pakistan started a movement for greater talks. At an event to inaugurate the new building of the Norwegian Embassy here, Ms. Solberg indicated at international mediating support for solving the …

Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said here on Monday that electronic voting machines (EVMs) were tamper-proof and a highly qualified technical committee was monitoring their functioning. Delivering the inaugural address at a seminar at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Mr. Arora said, “There are several technocrats …

Lok Sabha on Monday passed a Bill seeking to remove leprosy as ground for divorce stating that this was a “discriminatory” provision for a disease that is now curable. “Leprosy is being removed as a ground for divorce as it is now a curable disease as against the earlier notion …

A three-judge Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, is scheduled on January 8 to pronounce its judgment on a petition filed by exiled CBI Director Alok Verma against his “overnight” divestment from the top position in the country’s premier investigation agency. The Bench, which also comprises Justices …

The Rajya Sabha witnessed repeated adjournments on Monday amid protests by members of various parties, including those of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party who alleged misuse of the CBI. The Congress demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee to investigate the Rafale deal, while SP and BSP members gathered …

Principal Scientific Adviser slams remarks made at of the 106th Indian Science Congress Responding to pseudo-scientific discourse at the ongoing 106th Indian Science Congress (ISC) in Punjab, India’s Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA), K. VijayRaghavan, in blog post, said that a formal complaint should be lodged against the speaker, and India’s …

Over three years after it struck down Section 66A of the Information Technology Act as unconstitutional, the Supreme Court on Monday said it was shocked to hear that authorities still continued to book people under the now-extinct draconian provision. A Bench led by Justice Rohinton F. Nariman, who wrote the …

It is time to stand by those who are being jailed for activism or persons like Naseeruddin Shah who are raising questions about growing intolerance in the country, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said here on Monday. “There is growing intolerance compared with the past. Many activists are now jailed as …

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Election Commission to respond to a plea that the counts from electronic voting machines and voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) units should be cross-verified in at least 30% randomly chosen polling stations in each Assembly and Lok Sabha constituency, especially in light …

The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 recommended that the Assam government should help settle migrants “especially in places which are not densely populated, thus, causing lesser impact on the demographic changes and providing succour to the indigenous Assamese people”. The Bill paves the way …

A proposed law, which got Cabinet approval on Monday, to provide 10% reservation for upper castes (or the unreserved category) exclusively with reference to their economic backwardness may run into rough weather if challenged in the Supreme Court. A nine-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in the Indira Sawhney …

A stint in the National Cadet Corps has to be made compulsory in all educational institutions, said Vice-President M.Venkaiah Naidu, speaking to NCC cadets at the inaugural ceremony of the Republic Day camp on Monday. Source : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/ncc-has-to-be-made-compulsory-venkaiah/article25936479.ece

The government has projected GDP growth for the full year 2018-19 to come in at 7.2%, which implies that growth in the second half of the year would slow significantly to 6.8% from the 7.6% clocked in the first half of the year, according to the first advance estimates of …

The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) on Monday decided to snap its two-year-old alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam after the Joint Parliamentary Committee submitted its report on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, in Parliament. However, the AGP’s departure is unlikely to affect the Sarbananda Sonowal-led government as …

Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan has convened the joint session of Telangana legislature to meet at 11.30 a.m. on January 19. The State government had also issued separate notifications in this regard for the Assembly and Legislative Council in the name of Mr. Narasimhan on Monday. Source : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/joint-session-on-june-19/article25936594.ece

The Union Cabinet on Monday approved a Constitution Amendment Bill to provide 10% reservation to the economically backward sections in the general category, a senior government official said. The Bill will also cover those from the Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist and other minority communities. The quota will be over and …

The Kerala Government has decided to constitute two new districts and to integrate the taluks and the community development blocks as units of administration, said the Governor, Mr. V. Viswanathan in his address to the Assembly to-day [January 3, Trivandrum]. The decisions were aimed at improving administrative efficiency and giving …

The Food Stuff Commissioner for India has issued the following note [in Calcutta]: The Government of India have been in communication with His Majesty’s Government with a view to arranging for the sale to India of Australian wheat, considerable quantities of which are expected to be shortly on passage to …

In facilitating the entry of two women, albeit in stealth and under the cover of darkness, the Kerala government has displayed some resolve in breaking the illegal blockade imposed by some devotees on permitting females in the 10-50 age group into the Sabarimala temple. This is the first time women …