Forced to back off by a British warship, Defence Ministry says; Tehran denies it A British warship forced three Iranian boats to back off after they sought to block a British tanker from passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the Defence Ministry said on Thursday, in the latest escalation of …

Centre committed to privatise Air India The government is committed to disinvestment of Air India but wants the national carrier to remain in Indian hands, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday. He also said though Air India is doing “extremely well”, the debt burden …

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi has said the U.S. Congress was, and continues to be, concerned about the treatment of Muslims in India. Ms. Pelosi’s comments came during a conversation with Chairman of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) John Chambers at a Forum event in …

The Madras High Court on Thursday directed the State government to ban multi-layered plastic wrappers in which consumables such as milk, oil, biscuits, snacks, chocolates and medicines are sold. It also ordered effective implementation of the ban already imposed by the State on products such as plastic bags. Source : …

Centre says it will aid law enforcement The Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS) will not violate privacy of citizens and is only being developed to help the law enforcement agencies to identify criminals, missing children and unidentified bodies in a scientific and speedy manner, a senior government official said on …

Comments invited till August 1 The Centre has proposed a model tenancy law that States and Union Territories can enact to regulate renting of premises, including setting a maximum of two months’ rent as security deposit, a three-months notice for raising the rent and appointment of rent authorities. The draft …

The court had fixed the July 12 hearing to be apprised of the Speaker’s decision on the resignations. In his application, the Speaker criticised the MLAs for casting aspersions on his dignity. The battle for power in Karnataka reached the Supreme Court first on July 9 when the Congress and …

SC to hear petition challenging quota The Supreme Court on Friday will hear a group of social workers, academics and representatives of the Muslim community who have appealed against a Bombay High Court decision upholding a “one-person or one-community” Maharashtra legislation providing reservation to the Maratha community in education and …

More than 900 people from over 50 villages of Madhya Pradesh staged a dharna outside the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) office in Indore on Thursday, fearing flooding of their villages if the Sardar Sarovar Dam was filled to its brim in September as per the schedule set in a meeting …

Amit Shah and Nadda welcome them into the party Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday met BJP president Amit Shah along with the 10 MLAs who had defected from the Congress to the saffron party. He later held deliberations with Mr. Shah over a reshuffle of the State Cabinet. …

200 to be set up in addition to the existing 100 to handle NRC cases after July 31 The Assam government will establish 200 Foreigners’ Tribunals (FTs) for handling cases of people to be excluded from the final National Register of Citizens (NRC). July 31 is the deadline for publishing …

The amended law will also apply to animated content depicting children and videos where adults pretend to be children Watching, possessing or circulating animations or cartoons that depict a minor engaging in a sexually explicit conduct could land you in jail. The Cabinet has approved a new definition for child …

They include MDMK leader Vaiko, PMK leader Anbumani; AIADMK front’s strength in House goes to 10 MDMK founder Vaiko, PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss and two candidates each from the AIADMK and the DMK were elected unopposed as Rajya Sabha members from Tamil Nadu on Thursday. The new AIADMK Rajya Sabha …

The two sides will discuss regulatory changes by India on data localisation, e-commerce and import curbs Visiting U.S. trade officials will meet Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday, after two days of talks with a “composite delegation” from the Commerce and External Affairs Ministries, the first formal effort …

More than 4.23 lakh people have been displaced by floods that affected 17 of Assam’s 33 districts. Torrential rain wreaked misery elsewhere in the northeast, claiming two lives in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang after a wall collapsed on their hostel. Officials said the rising waters of river Brahmaputra and at least …

The Supreme Court will on Friday hear a group of social workers, academics and representatives of the Muslim community who have appealed against a Bombay High Court decision upholding a “one-person or one-community” Maharashtra legislation providing reservation to the Maratha community in education and public employment. Source : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/maratha-quota-sc-to-hear-plea-today/article28394930.ece

Congress petitioned Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar seeking disqualification of eight rebel Congress MLAs for defection on Thursday. Three days ago, the Congress had revived an old petition to disqualify two MLAs — Ramesh Jarkiholi and Mahesh Kumthalli. However, the party is yet to seek disqualification of three other rebel …

Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram said on Thursday that the crises in Karnataka and Goa might appear to be “political upmanship”, but it had a “damaging impact on the economy”. Foreign investors, rating agencies and international organisations did not read Indian newspapers and did not watch the tamed Indian television …

The Kerala government has decided to establish a permanent hub in Palakkad for handling inter-State river water disputes. The Inter-State River Water Hub will become a reality in three months. The decision was taken at the tri-monthly review meeting of the Irrigation Department convened by Water Resources Minister K. Krishnankutty …

Seeks report from mediation panel A Constitution Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, on Thursday decided to commence hearing the Ayodhya title dispute appeals tentatively from July 25 on a day-to-day basis in case a conclusion is reached, on the basis of a mediation committee report, that …