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Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addressed the meeting of North Eastern Council (NEC) in Shillong earlier today. The meeting marks the golden jubilee celebration of the North Eastern Council, which was formally inaugurated in 1972. Hailing the contribution of NEC in the development of the North East region, Prime Minister …

The 48th GST Council meeting was held on December 17. The GST Council chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recommended to decriminalise certain offences under Section 132 of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017. Some other recommendations, for the facilitation of trade, include an increased threshold of …

Three of these countries (Nepal, Bhutan and Mauritius) are in the neighbourhood. There are quite a few Caribbean countries on the list such as Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago besides two Latin American countries (El Salvador and Haiti). …

Churchill’s definition of (bad) governance is applicable even 100 years after he spoke so sagaciously. One of the big achievements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is that while administrative reforms are, usually, all about motherhood and apple pie proclamations such as “wash your hand before you eat”, he has turned …

Convened after a gap of six months, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Saturday cleared what officials called a ‘pathbreaking’ move to decriminalise certain offences by taxpayers, with a higher ₹2 crore threshold for initiating prosecutions, except in cases involving fake invoices. Aimed at reducing disputes and chances …

The Union government is all set to ease grant of citizenship to members of six minority communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh whose passports and visas have ceased to be valid during their stay in India. The Home Ministry is expected to revamp the citizenship portal to accept passports and …

Tamil Nadu government is yet to finalise its resettlement and rehabilitation (RnR) policy even after 14 months have passed since its draft version was released to invite feedback from stakeholders. The policy draft, released in October 2021 by the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB), focused on laying down …

Breast cancer, by the government’s estimate, is the leading cause of cancer in women in India. However, it does not qualify as a matter of “national” or “extreme” urgency in the Health Ministry’s reckoning, suggest court filings as part of an ongoing case in the Kerala High Court. The case …

Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud has said the very purpose of the Supreme Court is to hear every little cry for personal liberty and protection of the Fundamental Rights. But pendency is a perennial drawback that affects the court’s role as the timely protector of citizens’ rights. Law Minister …

Tamil Nadu has reiterated its demand to shift the terminal point of the proposed Godavari-Krishna-Pennar-Palar-Cauvery link from the Grand Anicut to Kattalai barrage. Reiterating this at a meeting of a Special Committee on Interlinking of Rivers in New Delhi earlier this week, Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan argued that the change …

Japan’s government approved a major defence policy overhaul on Friday, including a significant spending hike, as it warned China poses the “greatest strategic challenge ever” to its security. In its largest defence shake-up in decades, Japan vowed to increase security spending to 2% of GDP by 2027, reshape its military …

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s listing of four hurdles to better counterterrorism cooperation, i.e., state support for financing terror; multilateral mechanisms that are opaque and agenda driven; double standards and politicisation of countering terrorism according to where terror groups belong, and the “next frontier” (the use of emerging technologies such …

There “is no such concept as Indo-Pacific” which was “created by the United States” to bring in partners such as India to “contain” China, a Chinese diplomat has said, reflecting Beijing’s hardening opposition to both Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy as well as regional groupings such as the Quad. “In fact, there …

The Kerala government has passed the two University Laws (amendment) Bills in the State Assembly to amend laws relating to the governance of State universities and to remove Governor Arif Mohammed Khan as the Chancellor of said universities. What do the Bills say? The proposed legislations will amend the statutes …

The President of India, DraupadiMurmu, and the Vice-President of India, Jagdeep Dhankhar, have weighed in on the surpassing significance of the separation of powers in the Indian Constitution. However, both did so in different ways, in substance and style. Wise counsel In her valedictory address on November 26 to the …

Amid the boundary row between Maharashtra and Karnataka, the villages contiguous to Telangana in the Chandrapur district of the western State have also raised the demand for inclusion in the neighbouring Telugu State. At least 14 villages bordering Telangana demanded inclusion as they were ‘attracted’ to the development and welfare …

The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022, to include the Narikoravan and Kurivikkaran tribes of Tamil Nadu in the Scheduled Tribes list of the State, through a voice vote after the discussion on the Bill was concluded and Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun …

China has set up a ropeway near the TorsaNala on its side of the India-Bhutan-China tri-junction, and is strengthening roads and other infrastructure along the entire eastern sector, according to defence sources. In the Yangtse area of Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh, which saw a scuffle last week, defence officials …

Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative aims to promote ecosystem for research & development and make India a global hub of development of technologies and manufacturing of telecom equipment including Core transmission Equipment, 4G/5G Next Generation Radio Access Network and Wireless Equipment, Access & Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), Internet of …

Background: India’s exports declined about 16.7% in October compared with the year-earlier period. This is the first slide reported for any month since February 2021. October imports rose at a much milder pace than earlier, most likely because of softening commodity prices worldwide, and trade deficit widened by as much …