GS-II

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 …

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 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 …

Ireland will seek hundreds of millions of euros in aid from Brussels if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal, the Agriculture Minister was quoted on Thursday as saying.“You’re looking at hundreds of millions here,” Michael Creed told The Irish Independent .The emergency aid would aim to buttress …

North Korea’s top diplomat in Italy has sought asylum and gone into hiding, Seoul lawmakers told reporters after a closed-door meeting with South Korean intelligence officials on Thursday.It would mark the latest high-profile defection by a senior North Korean envoy since the Deputy Ambassador in London abandoned his post in …

One of the leaders of the “yellow vest” anti-government demonstrations was detained by police in Paris late on Wednesday for organising an unauthorised protest, signalling a harder line by the authorities against the movement.Eric Drouet — who already faces a trial for carrying a weapon at a previous protest — …

Members of four Opposition parties — the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) — have moved a dissent note against the report of the joint committee on Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016.The Bill proposes to give citizenship to six persecuted minorities — Hindus, …

Several Real Estate Regulatory Authorities (RERAs) are pushing for more enforcement power, similar to what is enjoyed by consumer forums, including the authority to issue arrest warrants. At the first meeting of a new RERA implementation committee held on Thursday, there was broad consensus that the RERA Act needed to …

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Thursday suspended 21 members of the Lower House for four days for creating a ruckus in the House. They included MPs from the TDP, AIADMK and an unattached YSR Congress leader. The action was taken under Rule 374 A of the Lok Sabha, meaning …

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said the government had no objection to holding Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir along with the Lok Sabha poll later this year if the Election Commission (EC) so desired.Replying to a discussion related to a statutory resolution on the President’s proclamation under …