GS-II

India and other Group-4 (G-4) countries reaffirmed their commitment to multilateralism and called for the early reform of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Tuesday. Hours after U.S. President Donald Trump pilloried multilateralism in this address to the UN General Assembly, Foreign Ministers of Brazil, Japan and Germany — Aloysio …

Barely 48 hours after outgoing Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen conceded poll defeat, the Opposition coalition that dislodged him has raised alarm over his alleged attempts to hold on to power. Its members on Wednesday accused Mr. Yameen of preparing to move the Supreme Court, seeking annulment of Sunday’s presidential election, …

It said it was not trivialising the problem of exclusion faced by the elderly, the very young, the disabled and several others during the authentication process. Authentication was found to be only having a .232% failure, Justice Sikri pointed out. It was accurate 99.76% times, Justice Sikri said. He reasoned …

The Election Commission on Wednesday said the supply of VVPATs for use in the Lok Sabha polls in 2019 was on track and that it was committed to 100% deployment of machines at all polling stations in the future. The Commission has placed an order of 17.45 lakh VVPATs to …

The Supreme Court held that whenever there is tension between two rights — privacy of a few and dignity of a majority — the court should intervene to balance it. Justice A.K. Sikri, writing for the majority on the Constitution Bench, “whenever such tension arises, the task of balancing is …

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday notified new rules amalgamating police forces in six Union Territories. The rules effectively mean that officers who are not direct IPS recruits could be posted in any of the six UTs and will be at the disposal of the Ministry. The National Capital …

The majority opinion on the Constitution Bench that the Aadhaar Act was a Money Bill prevailed on Wednesday, but the dissenting judgment by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud questioned how a statute about an identity proof, Aadhaar, can be possibly passed as a Money Bill. Justice A.K. Sikri, who wrote the majority …

The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce a judgment on Thursday on whether to refer the question if a “mosque as a place of prayer is an essential part of Islam” in the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid appeals to a Constitution Bench. A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra …

In a move to enhance governance and quality of medical education, an ordinance was issued on Wednesday, dissolving the Medical Council of India (MCI) and replacing it with a seven-member Board of Governors led by NITI Aayog Member Dr. V.K. Paul. A Bill to replace the MCI with a National …

The government on Wednesday welcomed the verdict on Aadhaar, with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad terming it a ‘historic judgment’ that would bolster good governance, and the delivery of services to the poorer sections of society. “The Supreme Court decision is a historic one,” Mr. …

Says it fulfils government’s aimto provide dignity to marginalisedIt’s a unique ID that cannot beduplicated unlike PAN, ration cardMajority opinion upholds it as a reasonable restriction on privacyUpholds the passage of the Aadhaar Act as a Money Bill The Supreme Court, in a majority opinion on Wednesday, upheld Aadhaar as …

The European Union (EU) said on Monday that its members would set up a payment system to allow oil companies and businesses to continue trading with Iran in a bid to evade U.S. sanctions. Iran and the European Union (EU) announced their defiance towards U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration after …

China on Tuesday signalled its expectation that the newly elected government in the Maldives will continue to back the Beijing-led Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as well as the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) reached with the outgoing administration of Abdulla Yameen. “China and the Maldives enjoy traditional friendship and in …

The Brexit spokesman of Britain’s main Opposition Labour Party on Tuesday raised the possibility of staying in the European Union (EU), more than two years after Britons voted to leave. Keir Starmer told the conference that another vote on Britain’s relationship with the EU should still be an option, in …

Sweden’s centre-right Opposition and the far right ousted Prime Minister Stefan Löfven in a vote of no-confidence on Tuesday, as the left and right blocs wrangle over who can form a new government after neither won a majority in September 9 elections. Mr. Löfven’s departure was widely anticipated. The head …

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe spoke to outgoing Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen and said he was always welcome in Colombo, official sources said on Tuesday. Mr. Wickremesinghe also met former President Mohamed Nasheed for lunch on Monday — after Ibrahim Mohamed Solih dislodged Mr. Yameen in the election — …

On the rapid rise of criminalisation in politics, the Supreme Court on Tuesday reproduced the words of the freedom fighter and last Governor-General of India, C. Rajagopalachari, to show how Independent India’s founding fathers apprehended the slow slide of honesty and integrity in politics. Heading the five-judge Constitution Bench, CJI …

Cleansing politics from criminal elements begins with purifying political parties itself, as they are the central institution of India’s democracy, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court observed on Tuesday. The verdict by the five-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India referred to the Law Commission reports which pointed …

The Centre has held meetings to discuss if Khango Konyak, former chairman of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang), who was impeached and expelled by the Myanmar-based outfit could be allowed to enter India. In 2015, the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approved banning the …

Says political patrons had a nexus with criminal gangs, police, customs officials The presence of criminalisation of politics was felt in its strongest form during the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, said in a 100-page judgment …