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India, along with Russia and China, abstained from a UN Security Council resolution criticising Myanmar’s military regime, and instead called for “quiet, patient” and “constructive” diplomacy with the junta. The vote, which marked the first Security Council resolution on the situation in Myanmar in decades, and in particular, since the …

The world has been witnessing a flurry of meetings and conferences on the issue of countering terrorism worldwide. The list resembles an alphabetic soup, viz., meetings of the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee, the No Money for Terror Conference, and an Interpol Conference in which terrorism figured prominently. The recurring …

Gulf countries account for more than half of the Indian prisoners including undertrials and convicts lodged in foreign jails. According to data available with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), as many as 8,441 Indians including women are lodged in foreign jails in 69 countries in connection with various offences …

India and China held the 17th round of Corps Commander-level talks on December 20, at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on the Chinese side, during which they agreed to continue dialogue through military and diplomatic channels and work out a “mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest,” …

The Rajya Sabha on Thursday cleared the way for the inclusion of the Narikoravan and Kurivikkaran hill tribes to the Scheduled Tribes list of Tamil Nadu and the inclusion of the Betta-Kuruba community as a synonym for the already categorised Kadu Kuruba tribe in the ST list of Karnataka, clearing …

Delhi Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) Vinai Kumar Saxena has directed Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to implement a 2016 order of the Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising (CCRGA). The order calls for recovering ₹97.14 crore plus interest from the ruling AamAadmi Party (AAP) for “political advertisements” published or telecast as government …

Sri Lanka is waiting for financing assurances from its bilateral creditors, including India and China, to tap support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to Central Bank Governor P. Nandalal Weerasinghe. In September, the IMF reached a staff level agreement with Sri Lanka for a $2.9 billion package to …

Despite a year-long mission-mode recruitment drive to hire faculty for reserved category positions at the elite Indian Institutes of Technology and Central universities, just over 30% of identified vacancies were filled, the Education Ministry told Parliament this week. In the year to September 5, 2022, 23 IITs and 45 Central …

The way India’s constitutional and political structures have evolved over the years seems to have made elections almost a mechanistic and ritualistic exercise. The reason behind this is the setting up and functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI). This has come into public discourse because of the hearings …

The subject of the spiralling costs of cancer medicines and their implications that have frequently been highlighted the world over were dwelled on in a recent report (“Cancer Care Plan and Management”) by the Rajya Sabha’s Standing Committee on Health (bit.ly/3jfmxLG). Alluding to the implications of the high cost of …

In its latest outrageous decision, the Taliban regime has announced a ban on female students studying in universities. The “cabinet” meeting decision is one in a series that wipes out the many societal gains since 2001, the last time the Taliban was in power. These decrees include banning Afghan schoolgirls …

The BF.7 variant of coronavirus, belived to be linked to the surge in COVID-19 cases in China, was identified in India as far back as July. Four instances of the Omicron subvariant was genome-sequenced in Gujarat and Odisha in the subsequent months, but it was not linked to increased severity …

The Group of Seven (G7) countries, the European Union and Australia have imposed a price cap on Russian sea-borne oil to make it harder for Russia to fund its war against Ukraine. Under the plan, which took effect on December 5, western companies that dominate the global oil shipping and …

The Taliban authorities on Tuesday ordered a nationwide ban on university education for girls, as the hardline Islamists continue to crush Afghan women’s right to education and freedom. Despite promising a softer rule when they seized power last year, the Taliban have ratcheted up restrictions on all aspects of women’s …

The Centre’s decision to get the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to investigate the recent Bihar hooch tragedy was called into question with Opposition parties in both Houses of Parliament criticising the BJP-led government of misusing constitutional bodies. While the Lok Sabha saw members of the JD(U) and BJP get …

The Union government has not conducted any survey nor is it considering a proposal to conduct one to identify the number of beneficiaries entitled to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) reservation, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment said in response to a question from Sajda Ahmed of the Trinamool …

Over the course of November and December, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court of India heard a crucial case about the method by which the Election Commission of India (ECI) is constituted, and Election Commissioners appointed. At the time of writing, the Court has reserved its judgment, which is …

Urban Development is a State subject. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs assists the States / Union Territories (UTs) through its Missions / Schemes in urban areas- Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation 2.0 (AMRUT 2.0), Smart Cities Mission, Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 (SBM-U 2.0), Pradhan Mantri Awas …

Facing a massive skilled labour shortage, Finland’s government is planning to double the number of work immigrants entering the country and triple international student placements by 2030, said the Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs and Employment, TuulaHaatainen, during a visit to India aimed at pitching the country as a work …

“We should not, directly or indirectly, criticise our jawans,” External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said in the Lok Sabha on Monday. They were standing their ground against the Chinsese at Yangtse and did not deserve the word pitaai (beaten), he added. The Minister was reacting to comments made by Congress leader Rahul …