GS-II

The difference between Indian and Pakistani intelligence agencies is in their ability to form policy, says Vikram Sood The main difference between the Indian and Pakistani intelligence agencies is in their ability to form policy in the country, said former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing Vikram Sood, listing …

Rules amended by Corporate Affairs Ministry In order to ensure better implementation of the law against sexual harassment at workplace, the Centre has made it mandatory for companies to disclose whether they have constituted an internal complaints committee (ICC) to probe such allegations. Rules amended The Corporate Affairs Ministry has …

Directs Servicesto issue suitable identity cards Junior Commissioned Officers (JCO) in the Indian military are gazetted officers, the Defence Ministry has clarified in an order issued on August 1. The clarification follows a long standing controversy over the issue. The Ministry has instructed the three services to issue suitable identity …

Having learnt his ropes from his father, a ‘moderate’ Hindu Sabha member, the former CPI(M) leader could never be a ‘diehard’ Communist Born into a family of jurists and parliamentarians, the former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had learnt the ropes of politics from his father, Nirmal Chandra Chatterjee, a …

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to a proposal of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) to have hologram-based coloured stickers on vehicles to indicate the nature of the fuel used in them. September 30 deadline The MoRTH told a Bench led by Justice Madan B. Lokur that …

Govt. refuses to sign pact citing ‘privacy issues’ India rejected a proposal by the UK to use DNA sampling to establish the nationality of illegal migrants living there citing “privacy issues.” Although a Memorandum of Understanding on return of illegal migrants was initialled after due approval of the Union Cabinet …

Northeast China has high stakes in North Korea. A durable peace on the Korean Peninsula could mean much needed jobs for China’s industrial rust belt. China’s northeast, historically known as Manchuria, was among the first to industrialise. The region’s plentiful reserves of iron ore and coal premised the rise of …

We could look for new allies: Erdogan President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey’s partnership with the U.S. may be in jeopardy as ties strain, warning Ankara could start looking for new allies, in an op-ed published in the New York Times on Saturday. Relations between the two NATO allies have …

Following a meeting with 18 staff members, Twitter chief Jack Dorsey said he is contemplating systemic solutions to regulate content Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey on Friday gathered with 18 colleagues, including the safety team, to debate ways to make the social media service safer for its users. The discussion …

America’s addiction to sanctions does not allow negotiation to take place: Zarif Iran gave its most explicit rejection yet of talks with the U.S. on Saturday, and accused Washington of an “addiction to sanctions” over its latest spat with Turkey. The U.S. reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran on Tuesday, following …

UN human rights experts have expressed alarm over what they said were many credible reports that China had detained one million or more ethnic Uighurs in the western region of Xinjiang and forced as many as two million to submit to re-education and indoctrination. In the name of combating religious …

Aadhaar of over 30,000 children linked to portal The Aadhaar details of over 30,000 children living in child care institutions have been linked to the TrackChild portal, a central database, following reports of many going missing from shelters, an official said. TrackChild, which has details of missing children, coordinates with …

Policemen in Una barred from carrying over Rs. 200 In a bid to curb corruption, the police chief of Himachal Pradesh’s Una district has issued a unique diktat barring police personnel manning checkpoints from keeping more than Rs. 200 with them. Una Superintendent of Police Diwakar Sharma said the decision …

The Railways will stop free travel insurance for passengers from September 1, an official said on Saturday. Travellers, while booking tickets through the IRCTC website or mobile app, can opt for travel insurance or opt out. The order to charge for travel insurance will be generated in a few days.IANS …

What is the trigger? In July, while the monsoon session of the legislature was on, a group of Maratha protesters launched a sit-in against the BJP government for not fulfilling the promises made to the community, including 16% reservation. The issue, however, spilled outside the Assembly, when Chief Minister Devendra …

Thirteen districts of north Karnataka recently raised a fresh cry for a separate State, pointing out that Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s budgetary allocations favoured only the southern districts. The crisis has blown over and Mr. Kumaraswamy has clarified that he has big plans for the development of the region. Historical …

225 inmates found in six shelters The West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC) has learnt that a number of people suffering from mental illness have been placed in vagrants’ homes run by the State government, and has recommended that they be provided medical intervention. In its recommendation, the WBHRC directed …

Cabinet panel to take a decision soon The Home Ministry has moved the Union Cabinet to increase the number of seats in the Sikkim Assembly from 32 to 40. The State goes to the polls in 2019. A senior Ministry official said the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, headed by …

Going by government data, assistance fell from Rs. 5,928.6 crore for 2013-14 to Rs. 3,483.6 crore for 2017-18; but Maldives has been an outlier, despite the dip in ties India’s financial assistance to SAARC neighbours declined considerably in the past five years, a reply by the government in Parliament this …

India’s financial assistance to SAARC neighbours declined considerably in the past five years, a reply by the government in Parliament this week showed. The figures were revealed in the Lok Sabha in reply to a question on whether India had completed projects committed to countries in the neighbourhood. Minister of …