Government Policy

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to embark on a “fishing enquiry” into the deal to procure 36 Rafale fighter jets merely on the basis of public interest litigation (PIL) petitions spurred by a media interview of former French President Francois Hollande and reports of favouritism shown by the Narendra …

A Parliamentary panel has recommended that the Centre urgently take steps to ensure that the National Security Guard (NSG) — the country’s premier counter-terrorist and contingency force — is equipped with its own dedicated air wing. The committee headed by Congress leader P. Chidambaram observed with anguish that the two …

Priya Prakash Varrier is India’s ‘most searched’ personality Sport-related queries dethroned entertainment as India’s top ‘googling’ obsession in 2018, occupying the top three spots on the list of most searched for ‘items’ online. This is as per the annual trends data released by Google, which it does towards the end …

Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle will help bring back crew members stranded under water The Indian Navy joined a select group of naval forces in the world on Wednesday when it inducted its first non-tethered Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) system at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai. The DSRV is used …

The Bombay High Court on Monday questioned the Maharashtra government on the advertisements issued by the State to fill jobs under reservation granted to the Maratha community A Division Bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice MS Karnik was hearing a bunch of public interest litigations and petitions opposing …

The Supreme Court on Monday decided to examine a plea challenging the legality of amendments brought in by Tamil Nadu and four other States, which allow authorities to bypass the need to take farmers’ consent before their land is acquired for large infrastructure projects. A Bench of Justices Madan B. …

‘Muslim women may go to Haj without Mehram’ A large number of Muslim women may to go to Haj without ‘Mehram’ (male companion) next year, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Sunday. He explained that the Haj Committee has received more than 2,23,000 applications for 2019, including 47 …

The Northeast Frontier Railway Construction Organisation has put in place tall piers near Manipur’s Noney for the tallest railway bridge in the world. The bridge, across the valley of river Ijai, is part of the 111 km Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal project. Once completed, it will have a pier height of 141 m. …

Ex-Generals call for indigenisation Lieutenant-General Vijay Oberoi (Retd.) said on Saturday that despite major advancements in the field, India was still banking on imported information warfare techniques, which could be fatal. He was speaking at a discussion on “Information warfare: the new face of war” at the Military Literature Festival …

With a collection of coaches, locos and other memorabilia, the Railway Museum in Howrah is a delight for train enthusiasts A locomotive carrying coal from East Pakistan crossed over to the Indian territory when the war with Pakistan broke out in 1971. The single-coach, green-coloured locomotive, with clear markings in …

A majority of the 40.7 lakh people excluded from the draft don’t know how to find a place on the list A majority of those excluded from the complete draft of the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam have no clue how to go about getting back on …

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 …

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday reserved its order on a plea seeking deletion of a chapter from school textbooks that refers to the leader of Khalistani movement, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, as a ‘terrorist.’ Advocate Amritpal Singh Khalsa filed the petition in 2017 stating that there was no material, no …

The government is in the last stages of finalising a proposal to amend the Aadhaar Act to give all citizens an option to withdraw their Aadhaar number, including biometrics and the data. This follows the Supreme Court judgment in September that upheld the validity of Aadhaar, however, with certain riders. …

Facing a public outcry, J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik on Tuesday said “the word Public Sector Undertaking (PSU)” for the J&K Bank had no legal connotation. Former State Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu, however, said the Governor’s statement reflected “utter ignorance”. “J&K Bank is registered as a Government company under the …

Cooperation in Mangdechhu power project a sign of strong ties: Vijay Gokhale India is expected to commission a major hydropower project in Bhutan in the coming weeks, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said on Tuesday. Delivering a speech on India-Bhutan relations, the top diplomat said cooperation in the hydropower sector was …

Durgam Chinna’s life turned upside down last October, when her 40-year-old husband Venkatayya was found dead in his cotton fields in the village of Ankushapur, in the Jayashankar district of Telengana. Faced with mounting debts which had touched Rs. 8 lakh, the tenant farmer consumed pesticide. For his widow and …

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the extension of term of the commission examining the issue of sub-categorisation of other backward classes (OBCs) in the Central list till May 31, 2019, according to an official statement.This is the fourth extension of term given to the commission formed in October last …

Govt. to instal instrument for across-the-border view of the gurdwara India plans to install a “high-powered telescope” in Punjab’s Gurdaspur for Sikh devotees to view Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib across the border in Pakistan, the Home Ministry said on Monday. This is part of a series of projects planned to commemorate …

Govt. to instal instrument for across-the-border view of the gurdwara India plans to install a “high-powered telescope” in Punjab’s Gurdaspur for Sikh devotees to view Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib across the border in Pakistan, the Home Ministry said on Monday. This is part of a series of projects planned to commemorate …