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Supreme Court had raised the fear that it may create a surveillance state A proposal to have hubs to monitor social media traffic and trends has been withdrawn, the Union government informed the Supreme Court on Friday. The decision comes after the court had questioned the proposal in a hearing …

The State government has decided to ask ICRISAT to conduct an in-depth study to assess the impact of de-siltation of tanks taken up under the prestigious Mission Kakatiya project. The study to be conducted over two years would cover aspects like impact of de-siltation on water availability for irrigation, changes …

Kerala losing over Rs. 400 crore due to tax evasion The State has also had to take a beating because of the recent decision of the GST Council to cut tax rates for a horde of goods, mainly durables, which would affect a consumer State such as Kerala. It is …

Collegium sent their names in 2016 The Supreme Court Collegium has reiterated the names of two advocates — C. Emalias and Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy — for appointment as Judges of the Madras High Court. The proposal for elevation of the two advocates, recommended by the High Court Collegium on December 19, …

Cites historical deprivation, calls on Supreme Court to revisit 2006 Nagaraj ruling Citing “1000 of years of deprivation” suffered by Dalit communities, the government on Friday began its push for providing “accelerated promotion with consequential seniority” for Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) members in public employment. Courtesy a 2006 M. …

Extract: The Vatican said Pope Francis had approved a change to the catechism of the Catholic Church — the compilation of official Catholic teaching. Previously, the catechism said the church didn’t exclude recourse to capital punishment “if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the …

Extract: China’s top envoy called on the U.S. to remain “cool-headed” on Thursday as Washington threatened to raise the tariff rate on the next $200 billion of Chinese imports. “We have been very clear about the specific changes China should undertake. Regrettably, instead of changing its harmful behaviour, China has …

Extract: Seventeen Opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress, are planning to approach the Election Commission, demanding that ballot papers be used to conduct the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The 17 parties would meet next week to discuss the plan. “This is a matter on which all Opposition parties agreed. We …

Extract: RGI Sailesh told The Hindu that the SOP would ensure that filing claims and objections was a fair and credible process. “There may be many applicants who may not understand the process and the required documentation. So we have to see that every person has the right information and …

Extract: A five-judge Constitution bench headed by CJI Dipak Misra made the observation while hearing a case challenging the validity of the penal law which makes adultery an offence punishable only for the male and not the consenting women. Source: https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/adultery-law-violates-dignity-of-woman-sc/article24587075.ece

Extract: Starting this academic year, it will be mandatory for all colleges and universities across the State to ensure that yoga is taught in their institutions. This will apply to private colleges too. “Currently, only some universities have courses in yoga. But we want all higher education institutions in the …

With this, a five-judge Constitution Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, began examining whether the pre-Independence provision of adultery (Section 497) treats a married woman as a commodity owned by her husband and violates the constitutional concepts of gender equality. The petition filed by Kerala-based Joseph Shine, …

Former Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur on Wednesday said people getting killed by lynch mobs is a “complete failure of the principle of rule of law” and an independent judiciary is essential to protect the Constitution and the rule of law. The former CJI also hinted at the churn …

While the focus of the NRC has been on the exclusion of Bengali Muslims and Hindus — two communities often suspected to be illegal migrants — an estimated 100,000 of some 2.5 million Gorkhas in Assam have not found their names in the updated draft. “Data collected from the districts …

  Appearing before a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, for the Kerala government, submitted that pilgrims to Sabarimala cannot claim to be a separate or distinct sect or religious denomination. The customs of the temple were subject to Constitutional principles …

Facing pressure from Dalit leaders within the ruling alliance as well as from the Opposition, the Centre has decided to introduce a Bill to restore the original provisions of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, which the Supreme Court had struck down in a …

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2018. It will designate some courts as commercial courts for speedy disposal of commercial disputes and will reduce the pecuniary jurisdiction of these courts from Rs. 1 crore to Rs. …

A relatively new anti-blasphemy party, whose leader has reportedly vowed to nuke the Netherlands should he ever come to power, did surprisingly well in Pakistan’s elections. Islamist fundamentalist parties fielded more than 1,500 candidates in Pakistan’s provincial and national elections that were won by Imran Khan. The performance of Tehreek-e-Labaik …

A Muslim woman from Uttar Pradesh’s Sikandrabad, who had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking abolition of ‘nikah halala’ practice earlier this month, on Tuesday alleged that she has received death threats from her husband. The woman, Farzana, had claimed in her petition that she had been illegally …

When asked ‘what ahead’, Mr. Hajela said time has been given till August 7 for people to ascertain their names in the NRC. From August 8, those excluded can approach the Local Registrar or the NRC Sewa Kendras to find out the reasons for their non-inclusion. Their claims and objections …