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Last week, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar commented on the on-going heated debate between the Central government and the Supreme Court over the matter of judicial appointments. Referring to the 2015 verdict of the SC which struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) and the 99th Amendment, Mr. Dhankhar asked how …

The University Grants Commission on Wednesday held a meeting with international publishers to discuss bringing out textbooks for undergraduate courses in Indian languages, and has set a timeline of six to 12 months for the same. Representatives from Wiley India, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, Cambridge University Press India, Cengage …

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would examine the question whether the court should wait for the report of the Justice K.G. Balakrishnan Commission or go ahead and hear a series of petitions seeking Scheduled Castes quota benefits for Dalit converts to other religions, primarily Christianity. The Centre, through …

December 8 is commemorated as SAARC Charter Day. It was on this day, 37 years ago, that the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), an intergovernmental organisation, was established by Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to promote economic growth in South Asia. Afghanistan acceded …

Early last month, the Supreme Court of India upheld the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act, which had introduced 10% reservation for the economically weaker sections (EWS). The EWS quota and the Court judgment that followed have shifted the discussion on the legacy of affirmative action based on caste in India. With …

On November 29, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) floated a consultation paper seeking comments about the potential introduction of a Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) feature. The feature would provide an individual with information about the calling party (similar to ‘Truecaller’ and ‘Bharat Caller ID & Anti-Spam’). The idea …

International workers’ groups criticised the Centre’s labour policies, including the four new labour codes, at the 17th Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting (APRM) of the International Labour Organization (ILO), which began here on Tuesday. India’s new labour codes violate the tripartite agreements — among workers, employers and the government …

With 25 Bills, including two financial Bills, listed for the 17-day Winter Session of Parliament, the Opposition parties have expressed concern about the limited time available for any meaningful debate on them. At an all-party meeting on Tuesday, they said there would be even less time available to raise other …

German Foreign Minister AnnalenaBaerbock’s visit to India and talks with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar have set the stage for a more updated bilateral relationship. The two sides signed an agreement on mobility and migration that boosts travel for students, researchers and investors and businesses, and the meeting was preceded …

Making predictions of the economic growth of nations — long term, annual, and quarterly — is a lucrative industry employing many economists, researchers, analysts, and commentators. The fast growth of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) economies was forecast by economists at the turn of the millennium. The prediction …

Curbing terrorism and terrorist financing in Afghanistan, and the use of trade and connectivity routes via Iran are key to regional security, said India as National Security Adviser (NSA) AjitDoval chaired the first India-Central Asia meeting of NSAs and Secretaries of Security Councils in Delhi on Tuesday. The day-long meeting, …

In a bid to scale up its dairy production to become self-sufficient, Sri Lanka has sought technical assistance from India’s National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and market leader Amul, reviving a collaboration that the island attempted in the late 1990s, but failed to take forward. Officials from Sri Lanka’s Agriculture …

India’s consumption of Russian oil is just one-sixth of European consumption and should not be compared unfavourably, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said in his talks with visiting German Foreign Minister AnnalenaBaerbock on Monday, defending the government’s decision to increase the intake of Russian oil since the war in Ukraine. …

Reservation was introduced as a short-term measure to give opportunities to classes of people who were socially and educationally backward and/or inadequately represented in education, employment, politics and other spheres. The intent was laudable. Reservation has increased the standard of life for many. But what was supposed to be a …

Protracted litigation in the name of combating forcible religious conversion is taking up valuable time of courts. The Supreme Court is hearing a purported Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking action to curb deceitful religious conversion in the country. Not wanting to be left behind, the Gujarat government is seeking the …

Arthur Schopenhauer, a famous German philosopher, observed, “Life swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom. Perhaps he was right but he overlooked that in a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, pain and boredom occur together. Lay-offs of the employed and deaths on a massive scale …

Bench says it will examine ‘veiled intentions’ behind religious conversions through allurement by offering food, medicines, treatment; purpose of charity should not be conversion, it adds The Supreme Court on Monday said acts of charity or good work to help a community or the poor should not cloak an intention to …

On November 21, China’s top development aid agency convened the first “China-Indian Ocean Region Forum” in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming. The meet organised by the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) is the latest Chinese initiative focusing on the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), underlining Beijing’s growing strategic interests …

All-weather allies: For OPEC+, the big unknown in the oil equation is how heavily the sanctions will hit Russian supply. AP However, the organisation of 13 oil-producing countries says it is ready to ‘meet at any time and take immediate additional measures’ to address market developments. The next meeting of the body is …

With the country getting its highest-ever rank in the ICAO aviation safety rankings, Arun Kumar, chief of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, on Sunday said the challenge is to further improve the air safety ecosystem. The comment also comes against the backdrop of the country’s aviation sector slowly coming …