Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday urged all MPs to make the Budget session of Parliament fruitful by holding discussions with an "open mind" and making sure that the ongoing assembly elections do not affect the session, which is very important as it draws a blueprint for the entire year.
Allowing a physical poll campaign to begin across the five poll-bound states from Tuesday in view of the flattening curve of Covid infections, the Election Commission on Monday allowed in-person public meetings in open spaces subject to a cap of 1,000 participants, up from 500 earlier, while also raising the attendance ceiling for indoor meetings to 500 persons from 300. The relaxations will apply uniformly to all the seven phases.
A day after Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury served a notice for breach of privilege against IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for allegedly misleading Parliament over the Pegasus issue, more MPs belonging to Congress, Left and Trinamool followed suit on Monday, setting the stage for another confrontation in the two Houses after the presentation of the Union Budget on Tuesday.
PM Narendra Modi lashed out at the Samajwadi Party in his first virtual rally for poll-bound UP on Monday, addressing 21 constituencies in the western part of the state that vote in the initial phase on February 10, and said that the SP has been promoting “nakli samajwad (fake socialism)".
The Supreme Court on Monday protected SAD functionary Bikram Singh Majithia from arrest in a drug trafficking case till February 23 and told the Charanjit Singh Channi-led Congress government in Punjab that in a democracy governments must not slap election-eve criminal cases on political opponents to prevent them from contesting.
Three vaccines against Covid-19 — Covovax, Corbevax and ZyCov-D — which received the Drug Controller General of India’s nod last year for emergency use in the country are yet to be used in the immunisation drive, raising questions on the delay in their utilisation. While Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D was granted emergency use authorisation on August 20 last year, the authorisation was given to Serum Institute’s Covovax on December 28 and to Biologocal E’s Corbevax on December 29.
The number of prisoners on death row across India has soared by more than a fifth to 488 from 404 in 2020 – which is also the highest it has been since 2004 when 563 faced capital punishment. ‘Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics Report 2021’ attributes the almost 21% spike to trial courts handing down more capital sentences than before the pandemic, coupled with higher courts pronouncing on far fewer appeals because of their limited functioning.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said corruption is “like a termite” that hollows the country and the task to make India corruption-free brooks no delay. He urged all citizens to work together to get rid of this menace as soon as possible. In his monthly radio address Mann ki Baat, the PM read a postcard addressed to him by a girl from Prayagraj mentioning her dream of a corruption-free India by 2047.
Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav and his alliance partner, Rashtriya Lok Dal’s (RLD) Jayant Chaudhary, launched a joint attack on BJP at a joint press conference on Saturday, saying the saffron party was behaving like a wrestler who has lost the bout, and people would teach a lesson to those who honour the killers of Mahatma Gandhi.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath raked up the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots again at a public event in Baghpat on Saturday and said that “their cap is red with the blood of innocent Ram bhakts.” On candidates with criminal antecedents, Yogi said, “There seems to be competition between SP and BSP on giving tickets to criminals. If these criminals become MLAs, MPs, they will produce guns and not flowers. The only way to treat them is by using a bulldozer.”
The controversy over the alleged use of Pegasus spyware for targeting the government's political opponents has returned just ahead of the budget session, with the opposition latching onto the claim of a US newspaper that acquisition of the espionage tool was part of a $2-billion deal signed with Israel in 2017.
Opposing the PILs related to “marital rape”, the Centre has told the Delhi high court that, among other things, misuse of Section 498 of the IPC related to dowry harassment and lack of a mechanism to verify when consent stands withdrawn by the wife are concerns because of which India should move cautiously and not follow other countries blindly on the issue. This has been conveyed to the court in a written submission.
Daily cases of Covid-19 in India continued to stay below the numbers reported last week, with Thursday’s count falling to 2.5 lakh, the lowest in 10 days, as testing dropped due to the Republic Day holiday. However, deaths remained high with the country recording 478 fatalities on Thursday and several states reporting their highest single-day tolls in the third wave.
Drug regulator DCGI on Thursday granted regular marketing authorisation to the two commonly used Covid vaccines — Covishield and Covaxin — for use in adults with certain conditions. However, the vaccines will be available only under “programmatic setting” and all vaccinations have to be recorded on CoWIN.
Hailing the important role of youth in nation building, PM Modi on Monday underlined the growing prowess of India in innovation and the start-up sphere as he conveyed the nation’s pride in the fact that some major global companies are being led by young Indian CEOs. “Today we feel proud when we see the youth of India excelling in the world of start-ups. We feel proud when we see that the youth of India are innovating, taking the country forward,” the PM said.
The Parliament of India reached out to the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in Delhi for developing a case for preserving the Constitution. The point man at NPL for this project was its scientist Dr Hari Kishan. He would later go on to head NPL’s Quantum Phenomena and Applications division. Dr Kishan would work extensively to fabricate a glass case with some success.
BJP has worked out a seat-sharing deal with its Punjab allies, keeping the lion’s share of the seats for itself. It will contest from 65 constituencies, while its allies — former CM Captain Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress and S S Dhindsa’s faction of Akali Dal, SAD (Sanyukt), will contest from 37 and 17 respectively, BJP chief J P Nadda said on Monday.
Covid-19 cases in the third wave of the pandemic have started to fall in seven states and Union territories, while several others were witnessing a slowdown in the surge, weekly numbers reveal. However, deaths from the virus rose in all major states of the country in the week ending Sunday (January 17-23), as compared to the preceding seven days.
Giving emphasis to "bail, not jail" judicial philosophy, the Supreme Court on Monday said no person can be indefinitely kept in jail with an open-ended investigation by probe agencies on a conjectural apprehension that activities of an accused could involve a larger conspiracy which may prove detrimental to national security.
Marching contingents of Army soldiers will showcase how their uniforms and rifles have evolved since 1950s, on Republic Day. Mechanised columns will include “a mix of the vintage and modern” weapon systems and platforms, Delhi area chief of staff Major General Alok Kacker said. In the first of 6 Army contingents, Rajput Regiment soldiers will be seen wearing uniform of 1950s and carrying Lee-Enfield .303 rifles. Assam Regiment troops will be donning uniform from 1960s and .303 rifles.
In Antrix-Devas judgment, SC ruled that proceeding for winding up of a company on ground of perpetrations of fraud can't be stalled by shareholders citing reports from CAs, auditors giving clean chit or non-discovery of fraud. SC junked arguments of Devas and shareholders that since the auditors’ reports of 2012, 2016, 2017 and 2020 certified “no fraud on or by the company has been noticed or reported during the course of the audit”, the Antrix-Devas deal was terminated not on fraud grounds.
PM Narendra Modi on Sunday unveiled a hologram of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at India Gate. Emphasising that the hologram of Netaji will soon be replaced by a one cast in stone, the PM said that installation of the “giant statue” close to the National War Museum at India Gate and near Parliament marks a “homage to the hero of freedom by the grateful nation and will keep reminding our instititutions and coming generations the lesson of national duty”.
Omicron is now at the ‘community transmission’ stage in India with hospitalisation and ICU admissions rising, though most cases of the new Covid-19 infections have been mild or asymptomatic, according to genomics consortium Insacog. “Omicron has become dominant in multiple metros where new cases have been rising exponentially,” Insacog noted.
The third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic appears to have peaked in the four largest cities of the country, with the seven-day average of cases showing a clear decline in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai. However, the seven-day average, calculated till Friday, was still rising in the next four biggest cities of Bengaluru, Pune, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.
There is a “qualitative difference” in sexual equation between people who are married to each other and between those who are not, the Delhi high court observed on Friday, adding one can’t “equate chalk and cheese”. The court reminded Rebecca John, appointed as amicus curiae to assist the court on the petitions seeking to criminalise marital rape, that while “there is a right to expect sexual relations from both sides in a marriage, there is no such right when the parties are not married”.
A statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose will be installed at India Gate in what marks a fitting recognition of the legendary freedom fighter who had captivated the country with his determination to liberate it from British occupation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced that he will unveil a hologram statue of Bose, Netaji to legions of his admirers, at the same place on his birthday on January 23 evening.Top opposition figures, including Congress's Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar and Le...
