Setting off a controversy, Janam TV, a Malayalam news channel with leanings towards with the BJP, today reported that displaced people belonging to scheduled castes at a relief camp in Aleppey were moved to a separate relief camp due to protests from another community. The ‘apartheid’ took place at a relief camp run by the […]
Human Resources Development minister Prakash Javadekar today said that the government is still in the process of finalizing the draft of a new bill to set up a new higher education body in India. “The Ministry is in the process of finalization of the draft Higher Education Commission of India Bill, 2018 based on the […]
Government of India has faced questions from members of parliament on reports that it has asked state-owned refiners to get ready to stop importing crude oil from Iran in the face of pressure from the United States. A question from Lok Sabha MPs Supriya Sule and Mullappally Ramachandran sought to know “whether the Government has […]
With only months to go before a make-or-break election for the president of Indian National Congress, Rahul Gandhi today made a speech that managed to get under the skin of BJP leaders, marking a departure from the past when the saffron party has largely been content to dismiss his allegations as non-serious. What agitated the […]
Former cabinet minister Anand Sharma today warned against what he called the misuse of tax and investigation agencies in the country, and warned BJP leaders that they may not always be in power. He said the BJP government has ‘spoiled the habits’ of agencies like Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax Vigilance and Central Bureau of Investigation, […]
Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Infosys, said it has signed an agreement to construct and maintain a metro station next to its main campus in Electronics City, Bangalore. The station, to be constructed at Konappana Agrahara, will be covered under the second phase of Bangalore Metro’s expansion plans and is expected to be operational by […]
The central government has consulted the Union Public Service Commission on the plan to recruit private citizens into the higher judiciary. The UPSC is tasked with recruiting officer-level employees of the Union. The center seems to be trying to clarify whether there is a legal requirement to involve the UPSC the latest move. “Advice of […]
The number of cases pending in various high courts in India has increased during the tenure of Narendra Modi as prime minister as close to 40% of the judge positions in the higher judiciary continues to remain vacant. While there were 39.3 lakh cases pending at the 24 High Courts in India at the end […]
Indian Meteorological Department, which studies and makes predictions about the weather, has significantly improved its predictive capabilities for rainfall in recent years, the government of India said. “The absolute error of the IMD’s monsoon forecasts for the seasonal rainfall over the country has shown significant decrease after the implementation of the new statistical ensemble forecasting […]
Bharti Airtel said the Reserve Bank of India has lifted the restriction on signing up new customers imposed on its banking unit Airtel Payments Bank. The restriction was imposed in January after reports that the company was signing up its mobile customers on its payments bank platform without seeking their full consent. Payments Banks are […]
Tata Consultancy Services, the country’s largest private sector employer, said it plans to make some changes to its methodology used to hire fresh graduates from campuses from this year. Speaking to BTVI, HR head Ajoyendra Mukherjee said campus hiring for the next financial year (2019-20) will start in August or September. “More and more, even […]
The Union of India has submitted its affidavit before the Supreme Court on the controversial ‘unnatural sex’ law or Section 377. In the affidavit, the government has refused to either oppose or recommend the scrapping of the section that criminalizes all kinds of ‘unnatural’ sexual acts. It said it is leaving it ‘to the wisdom […]
Facebook has refused to block a ‘drinker’s group’ that the Kerala Police had requested to be taken down, according to local media reports. The social network reportedly told the police that the group was not in violation of its guidelines and cannot be taken down without proper justification. The Kerala Excise department is trying to […]
Social media users posting in one of Kerala’s biggest Facebook Groups are facing the prospect of being sent to jail for ‘encouraging alcoholism’ by glamorizing drinking. Given there’s no law against glamorizing drinking, Kerala Excise Department is reported to have directed the police to use other laws — such as those against child abuse and […]
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy termed as ‘absolutely deplorable’ the action of union minister Jayant Sinha garlanding eight men held guilty of lynching a Muslim trader. “What Jayant Sinha did was absolutely deplorable, and I would call it disgusting.. if somebody has been kept in jail and just come out on bail,” Swami said in an […]
Authorities at Little Lourdes Mission Hospital near Pala in Kerala have stopped asking patients to specify their religion after a unique form of protest by a young man named Sunil K Sudheer. Sunil had reached the hospital earlier this week for a doctor’s appointment for his 58-year-old mother Sarasamma. “I started filling the registration form,” […]
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani today announced that Jio will start giving out connections of its much-awaited broadband service, Jio GigaFiber, starting on August 15. Surprisingly, Ambani said the service will be available in 1,100 cities of India from Day 1, and not 100 cities as was announced two years ago. This means that Jio […]
Congress politician Shashi Tharoor has avoided going to jail immediately after he won anticipatory bail from a Patiala House court. The bail has been granted with two conditions — he cannot go outside India without taking prior permission from the court, and he should not try to influence witnesses or evidence. The trial of the […]
WhatsApp, India’s largest communication platform used by an estimated 65% of the country’s online population, has come under scrutiny for providing a conduit to distribute ‘fake news’ after multiple cases of lynchings came to light. While the company has urged ‘society and companies’ to help tackle the menace, the messaging application has some more to […]
Households owning rooftop solar systems could save up to 95 per cent on their electricity bills, according to an independent study by Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and BSES Yamuna Power Limited . Solar system costs have declined by 27 per cent, year-on-year, over the last three years, making rooftop solar a lucrative […]
