Sikhs have more in the way of domestic clout and electoral representation in Canada than they do in India. No politician in Ottawa can ignore the concerns of a community with this level of representation, notes Devangshu Datta.
This election will be remembered for being the first election where the Election Commission failed to take action on gross violations involving the ruling party that repeatedly used religion, communal slurs, lies and undocumented allegations, observes Ramesh Menon.
Shares of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India hit fresh record lows amid sustained decline in Adani Group stocks. Its stock finished at Rs 567.8, down 2.9 per cent over its previous close. The state-owned insurer's market value is now down Rs 2.4 trillion, or 40 per cent, compared to initial public offering levels.
Democracy does not begin and end with elections and the integrity of election process is pivotal for sustaining the democratic form of government, the Supreme Court said on Thursday while striking down as unconstitutional the electoral bonds scheme for political funding.
The Afghanistan Embassy in New Delhi announced Saturday night that it is ceasing its operations from October 1, citing a 'lack of support from the host government', failure to meet expectations in serving Afghanistan's interests, and reduction in personnel and resources.
The Opposition party lashed out at the Modi government over the issue, saying the problem with most of ministers is that they are so eager to prove their loyalty to 'their master and be his voice' that they have forgotten that they are sworn to certain responsibilities.
'There is no scope for any doubt. This was a scheme designed to enrich the ruling party.'
The government on Tuesday announced a Rs 200 per cylinder cut in prices of domestic cooking gas as it looked to counter the cheaper LPG promise of the Congress in upcoming assembly elections in states like Madhya Pradesh.
Leaders and members of the Hindu community rue the fact that they are not given proper representation and many are not even registered as voters.
'However, to establish a quid pro quo, one can potentially see several things, like whether they got any benefits from the party that they gave money to. That is something that people (of India) will gauge. But to finally establish that there was money paid as consideration, it would require an investigation, a proper investigation, to be able to come up with such conclusions.'
According to an official statement, Modi, at a high-level meeting, instructed relevant officials to remain vigilant, closely monitor developments in Sudan and evaluate safety of Indian nationals there.
The Bombay high court on Wednesday said it was troubled by the fact that the recently amended IT Rules to curb online fake news against the government offer no recourse to a person whose social media post has been removed or account suspended after being flagged by the proposed Fact Checking Unit (FCU).
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'Their role model is Iran: high control of the citizens by the State.' In Iran it is Islamic control; in India, it will be Hindutva control.'
'It's not really going to bring about purity in the election process.'
The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2023 by voice vote following a walkout by opposition members over the Manipur issue.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Wednesday wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla flagging alerts received by several opposition leaders about 'state-sponsored' attacks on their iPhones, and urged him to provide them protection to continue doing their duties.
...Even if it means less democracy, so that their everyday problems get solved? argues R Jagannathan.
...and say bye to the humanities-science divide, says Ajit Balakrishnan.
Credit card payments for foreign travel will be brought under the purview of the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) of the Reserve Bank, to ensure that such expenses do not escape TCS (Tax Collection at Source). While moving the Finance Bill 2023 for consideration and passage in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Reserve Bank has been asked to look into ways to bring credit card payments on foreign tours under the LRS. "It has been represented that payments for foreign tours through a credit card are not being captured under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) and such payments escape tax collection at source (TCS)," she said.
The United Progressive Alliance government on Tuesday extended the Winter session Parliament to pass four crucial anti-corruption bills -- the Lokpal Bill, the Citizens' Charter Bill, the Judicial Accountability Bill and the Whistleblowers' Bill.
Saikia was charged by CBI for allegedly violating OSA.
The overall physical presence of life insurance companies in Tier-II and Tier-III cities increased in FY23 compared to a year ago period on account of the higher impetus given to financial inclusion by the government and insurance regulator, as well as recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the latest data released by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai). It is the first time that there has been growth in the number of offices since the financial year 2019-20.
The judgement, however, paved the way for their release as all of them have already served as much time in jail.
Breaking his silence over the demonetisation issue, RBI Governor Urjit Patel on Sunday said the central bank is monitoring the situation on a daily basis and taking all necessary actions to "ease the genuine pain of citizens" with a clear intent to normalise the things as early as possible.
India has constituted a high-level inquiry committee to probe allegations relating to a conspiracy to kill a Sikh extremist on American soil.
Struggling to gain political traction on issues of corruption, the West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party is shifting its focus to emotive topics such as the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in a bid to achieve its target of securing 35 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats from the state.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Thursday reiterated that there are "credible allegations" that should be taken "extremely seriously" as he urged the Government of India to work with his country to allow justice to follow its course in the killing of a Khalistani extremist leader.
'...to prevent this episode from disrupting ongoing cooperation.' 'The discovery of this plot had the potential to derail much of what has been achieved in the relationship during this administration's tenure -- I don't think that fact has been sufficiently appreciated in India.'
Which entrepreneur would willingly part with her or his hard-earned money for grasping, self-serving politicians? asks Debashis Basu.
Investors looking for a fixed-income product that is free of credit risk may invest in these bonds.
Rahul Gandhi thinks his imaginary Congress is the silver bullet; Narendra Modi thinks he himself is the silver bullet; Arvind Kejriwal seems to think that neighbourhood councils are a silver bullet. But none of them is right, says Mihir S Sharma.
'This might prove to be a temporary gain for the BJP, but at a huge cost to the people of Gujarat and democracy in India.'
The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with the inoculation of healthcare workers, while the vaccination of the frontline workers started from February 2.
Canada has expelled an Indian diplomat as it was investigating what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called 'credible allegations' of the involvement of 'agents of the Indian government' in the killing of a Sikh extremist leader in Surrey in June, claims outrightly rejected by New Delhi as 'absurd' and 'motivated'.
The CBDT has begun the process of matching the deposits in accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), or Jan-Dhan accounts, with the profile of the depositors.
Ahead of the assembly polls in Rajasthan, the Congress government on Saturday night issued an order for the conduct of a caste survey in the state.
The Taliban government in Afghanistan is not going anywhere. That being the case, why is the hesitation to establish formal diplomatic relations with the Taliban? asks Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd).
The lack of clarity on who is next in line, when the time comes, as indeed it will one day some day, reflects poorly on the management of the world's largest political party. It scarcely need be said that a squabble between the contenders, Shah and Yogi, is exactly what the doctor ordered for the Opposition, notes Krishna Prasad.
The announcement came after the chief minister held a high level meeting with senior government officials on Thursday to discuss the implementation of both schemes, which are part of five poll guarantees of the Congress.
