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According to government data presented in the Lok Sabha on December 9, women representation in Parliament and most States legislatures is below 15% with 19 Assemblies having less than 10% women lawmakers. In this article dated September 24, 2020, Bhaskar Dutta explains why we need increased female representation in policy …

A major confrontation is on between the Union government and the Supreme Court over the former’s resentment towards the Collegium system of appointments and its push to have a dominant say in judicial appointments and transfers. The government has also started airing its grievance against the invalidation of the National …

India’s net direct tax collections gathered pace over the past month to touch ₹8.77 lakh crore by November 30, or 24.3% higher than the year-earlier period, constituting almost two-third of the Budget target for 2022-23. The direct tax kitty, net of refunds, had crossed ₹7 lakh crore by September 17, …

The Supreme Court on Monday took serious note of a Christian organisation’s objections to “scurrilous, vexatious and scandalous” allegations made against minority religions by petitioner-advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay in his case alleging “massive” forcible religious conversions. Appearing before a Bench of Justices M.R. Shah and S. Ravindra Bhat, senior advocate Dushyant …

The Rajya Sabha on Monday passed the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill clearing the decks for “mandate use of non-fossil sources”, including green hydrogen, green ammonia, biomass and ethanol for energy and feedstock and establish Carbon Markets in the country. The Lok Sabha had passed the Bill in August. Replying to …

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will visit New York to participate in two high-level ministerial meetings at the UN Security Council on December 14 and 15. The meetings will take up reforms in the UN Security Council and the global counter-terror campaign. During the visit, he will unveil a bust …

Vaishnaw said that efforts by the Modi government, since it was voted in, in 2014, were to shift to long-term moves that bring in good governance and transparency versus “shortcuts” of offering “freebies” that have no long-term impact of easing the everyday life of citizens. “All efforts, be it opening …

That Cyclone Mandous, which had its landfall near Mamallapuram, near Chennai, in the early hours of Saturday, did not cause much damage has come as a huge relief to the people of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. At one stage, it was expected to develop into a “severe cyclonic storm”, …

The Indian anti-trust body, the Competition Commission of India (CCI)’s move, in October, to impose a penalty of ₹1,337.76 crore on Google for abusing its dominant position in the android mobile device ecosystem, has forced us, once again, to rethink the market power of Big Tech companies. When India established …

A failure to examine and interpret public health problems from a population perspective is leading to ineffective and unsustainable solutions as far as complex public health problems are concerned. This is obvious for problems such as undernutrition, for which individualist solutions such as micronutrient supplementation and food fortification have been …

Indian and Chinese soldiers suffered “minor injuries” in a face-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh on December 9, the Army said on Monday evening. “On December 9, 2022, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops contacted the LAC in the Tawang sector, which …

The President of India, SmtDroupadiMurmu graced and addressed the Human Rights Day celebration, organised by the National Human Rights Commission, in New Delhi today (December 10, 2022). Speaking on the occasion, the President said that it is an important occasion for the whole of humankind, as it was on this day in …

The 39th edition of India-Indonesia Coordinated Patrol (IND-INDO CORPAT) between the Indian Navy and the Indonesian Navy is being conducted from 08 – 19 December 2022. Indian Naval Ship (INS) Karmuk, an indigenously built Missile Corvette participated in the pre-deployment briefing at Belawan, Indonesia. The CORPAT will be executed along the …

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the Mopa International Airport, Goa. The foundation stone of the airport was laid by the Prime Minister in November 2016. Developed at a cost of around Rs 2,870 crores, the airport has been built on the theme of sustainable infrastructure and comprises a …

Myriad objectives: Since 2014, when the cleaning of the Ganga was launched as a marquee government programme, close to ₹30,000 crore had been sanctioned for various projects.PTI Tourism Ministry to prepare comprehensive plan for developing tourism circuits along the Ganga in line with Arth Ganga, organic farming and cultural activities; exhibitions and fairs …

The Bill to amend the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act, 2002, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 7. Opposition parliamentarians alleged that the Bill’s provisions encroached upon the rights of State governments, demanding that it be referred to a Standing Committee. What are multi-State cooperatives? According to the …

In post-independent India, Odisha became the first State to enact a law restricting religious conversions, which later became a model framework for other States. Odisha’s 1967 Act provides that no person shall directly or indirectly convert any person from one religious faith to another by force, inducement or any fraudulent …

In his concluding remarks at the 17th Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting (APRM) of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Singapre on Friday, ILO Director-General and former Prime Minister of Togo, Gilbert F. Houngbo, said he looked forward to continuing the consultations towards the development of the Global Coalition for …

A coordinated crackdown on pro-Khalistan elements within and outside the country has started yielding results for the law enforcement organisations, with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) succeeding in making two key arrests this month. About two dozen accused and suspects currently operating from overseas are under the scanner. The latest …

Decades ago, when P.T. Usha travelled by the Madras-Mangalore Mail, her employers, the Railways, permitted an unscheduled stop at her hometown Payyoli in North Kerala. Such was the respect she garnered for her medal-winning exploits at the Asian level while the collective heart-break she bequeathed in narrowly missing a bronze …