Government Policy

Many of the nearly 2,500 centres for updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) were short of forms on Tuesday, the first day of the claims, objections and corrections round of the exercise. This phase provides a 60-day window of hope for 40,07,707 of the 32.9 million applicants who were …

Onus on Parliament to bar persons facing charges from polls The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed political parties to publish online the pending criminal cases of their candidates and urged Parliament to bring a “strong law” to cleanse political parties of leaders facing trial for serious crimes. Rapid criminalisation of …

The crucial claims and objections round of the exercise to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam is scheduled to start on Tuesday. This phase provides a 60-day window of hope for 40,07,707 of the 32.9 million applicants who were left out of the complete NRC draft published …

A five-judge Constitution Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, is on Tuesday scheduled to pronounce its judgment on petitions to bar politicians facing charges of heinous crimes, such as murder, rape and kidnapping, from contesting elections. Under the Representation of the People Act, convicted lawmakers are disqualified, …

India is the only SAARC country to have a quit-line number India has become the first and only SAARC country to have a quit-line number on tobacco products. The Union Health Ministry has already made 85% pictorial health warning mandatory on both sides of packets containing cigarettes, bidis, and chewing …

Tells Supreme Court that message against mob action will be run on TV and radio within a week The Centre on Monday assured the Supreme Court that the Union and State governments would, within a week, start broadcasting on radio and TV a stern message that mob lynchings and violence …

The court of second appeal in Milan found no conclusive evidence of corruption with a foreign public official in the 2010 sale of helicopters to India by AgustaWestland, according to a document released earlier this week, Reuters (Milan) has reported. The document, which explains the reasons given by the judges …

Congress chief calls for clarification from Modi after Hollande’s statement Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday, “We are absolutely convinced that the Prime Minister of India is corrupt. This question is clearly settled into minds of people that Desh Ka Chowkidar Chor Hai (the country’s watchman is a thief),” …

After revelations by former French President Francois Hollande on the Rafale fighter deal, the Defence Ministry on Saturday said “unnecessary controversies” were being created on the statement, and reiterated that the government had “no role in the selection of Reliance Defence as the offset partner.” The French government and Dassault …

‘Thousands and lakhs of students want to hear about it’ Union Minister of Human Resource Development (HRD) Prakash Javadekar said on Friday that the celebration of September 29 as Surgical Strike Day in universities was not compulsory, but said such an event was decided on the advice of many students. …

UGC writes to V-Cs to mark the event The University Grants Commission (UGC) has written to the Vice-Chancellors of all universities to celebrate Surgical Strike Day on September 29 to mark the event along the Line of Control that day in 2016. The letter also desires that students pledge their …

Gujarat, M.P. likely to opt for new payment scheme Despite patchy rainfall in some parts, the Agriculture Ministry has set a foodgrain production target of 285.2 million tonnes for 2018-19, a marginal increase from the previous year’s harvest of 284.8 million tonnes. Rainfall deficit during the current monsoon season is …

The State School Arts Festival has been trimmed to three days in December. A meeting of the Quality Improvement Programme (QIP) committee for schools here on Tuesday decided to conduct the festival in Alappuzha from December 7 to 9. Only stage events will be held. Of the 231 total events …

Karnataka is likely to follow Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal that have reduced State taxes on petroleum products to provide relief to motorists, who have been hit hard by their rising prices. The State government may take a decision on the issue in a day or two, based on …

Four ‘child friendly courts’ were inaugurated in West Bengal on Saturday to help juvenile victims and offenders. Justice Madan B. Lokur of the Supreme Court inaugurated the State’s first such court at Bankshall court here. He called for all-out efforts to give the affected children a good life. Source : …

The recently-released Global Burden of Disease Study 2016 has shown that the prevalence of diabetes has increased more rapidly in the less-developed States of the country. The report has also highlighted the need for policy and health system action commensurate with the disease burden in each State to ensure more …

Ministry, board to break impasse Seven months after the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the state broadcaster Prasar Bharati locked horns over DD Free Dish, there is hope that the Ministry and the board will soon reach a solution. DD Free Dish reaches 2.4 crore households, which get 80 TV …

Annual research, travel grants to go Citing “continued limitations posed by the budgetary provisions from the Department of Science and Technology (DST)” the New Delhi-based Indian National Science Academy (INSA) has decided to “dispense with” facilities given to researchers who had won the Young Scientist Award given by the Academy. …

The Narendra Modi government is suffering from the “big brother syndrome”, the Congress on Sunday said, criticising the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Bill, 2018, that allows law enforcement agencies to collect DNA samples and create “DNA profiles” and special data banks for forensic-criminal investigations. The Bill was introduced by …

Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal argued that SC/ST are a “homogeneous group and any action to regroup them based on economic or social advancement would not be apt”. Mr. Venugopal said rigorous modalities were prescribed for inclusion of communities in the list of SCs/STs. “For inclusion of communities in the list of …