POLITICS

‘Some label necessary’: SC seeks Centre’s view on social benefits to same-sex couples

Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to find a way to give same-sex couples basic social benefits New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to find a way to give same-sex couples basic social benefits, like joint bank accounts or nominating a partner in insurance policies, even without legal recognition of their marital status, as it appeared that the court could be agreeing that granting legal recognition to same-sex marriages falls within the domain of legislature. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India and comprising Justices S.K. Kaul, S. Ravindra Bhat, Hima Kohli, and P.S. Narasimha said: “Look at the profound nature of our culture, what happened that in 1857 and thereafter, you got the Indian Penal Code,…

Read More »

A resilient bank must be financially and organisationally strong: RBI Guv

Shaktikanta Das, said that a resilient future-ready bank needs to be financially, operationally and organisationally strong Mumbai: The Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Shaktikanta Das, said on Thursday that a resilient future-ready bank needs to be financially, operationally and organisationally strong. Addressing the global conference on financial resilience organised by the College of Supervisors here, Das said that in order to be resilient, a bank should have adequate capital buffers and should be able to generate earnings even in times of severe macroeconomic shocks. “It should also have adequate liquidity to meet its obligations in various situations. Therefore, financial resilience is closely linked to a bank’s business model and strategy. The Reserve Bank has, therefore, started looking at the business models…

Read More »

Fourteen Sudan evacuees from Telangana reach Mumbai

Fourteen persons from the State reached Mumbai on Thursday on a flight via Jeddah Hyderabad: Fourteen persons from the State, who were stranded in the strife-torn Sudan, reached Mumbai on Thursday on a flight via Jeddah. According to former Warangal Collector B Gopi, who is part of the team coordinating the evacuee operations for the Telangana Government, all the 14 persons were from Hyderabad. They had reached the Mumbai Airport on Thursday evening and were being provided accommodation and food by the State government at Mumbai for the night. They would reach Hyderabad on Friday. While five of them would fly to Hyderabad on a morning flight on Friday, tickets were being booked for the remaining nine and they would also reach the city by…

Read More »

Australia to overhaul immigration system, smooth entry for skilled workers

Australia proposed on Thursday overhauling its immigration system to speed up getting highly skilled workers into the country and smoothening the path to permanent residency. The federal Labor government said the current system used to select skilled migrants – the points test – will be modified to identify people with the correct skill sets the Australian economy needs going forward. “Our migration system … is broken. It is failing our businesses, it is failing migrants themselves. And most importantly, it is failing Australians. That cannot continue,” Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said in a speech at the National Press Club. Australia has been competing with comparable countries, like Canada and Germany, to lure more skilled migrants, with the surge in…

Read More »

Indore: Women protest against same-sex marriage

Over 2,500 women associated with over 50 organisations protested against moves to legalise same-sex marriage at the collector’s office on Thursday. The agitated women handed over a memorandum addressed to the President of India, PM and the Chief Justice of India (CJI) demanding that the petition seeking permission for same-sex marriage be rejected. The demonstration was made under aegis of Devi Ahilya Mahila Initiative for National Integrity (DAMINI), supported by over 50 different social organisations. The women were holding banners and placards bearing slogans and messages against same-sex marriage. They also shouted slogans. Later, a memorandum was given to collector Ilayaraja by social worker Mala Singh Thakur, advocate Nidhi Wara, advocate Anushka Bhargava, social worker Monika Purohit, entrepreneur Priyanka Mokshmar,…

Read More »

Pakistan all set to get discounted Russian oil, PM says

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Thursday that everything was set for his country to receive a shipment of discounted Russian oil. “As we speak, the Russian oil is being loaded to arrive here,” he told the parliament. Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik told Reuters last week that Pakistan had made its first purchase of cut-price Russian crude. The discounted purchase offers much needed respite to cash-strapped Pakistan, which has been struggling to avert a balance of payments crisis as it awaits an IMF deal. Foreign exchange reserves at the country’s central bank have fallen to barely cover a month of controlled imports. Energy imports make up the majority of its external payments. The deal will see Pakistan buy only crude…

Read More »

Controversy erupts over PM Modi’s ‘suicide note’ joke, Priyanka Gandhi says ‘those laughing heartily…’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was once again on the receiving end of criticism by the Congress party after he made a joke about a ‘suicide note’ at a media conclave, leading to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra hitting out at him sharply. Drawing swift and sharp reactions from the Congress party, PM Modi’s suicide note joke led to Rahul Gandhi calling the prime minister “insensitive about suicide”. Gandhi said, “Thousands of families lose their children because of suicide. The Prime Minister should not make fun of them.” Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also slapped PM Modi, saying, “Depression and suicide, especially among the youth IS NOT a laughing matter. According to NCRB data, 164033 Indians committed suicide in 2021. Of which a huge…

Read More »

Russian billionaire admits war in Ukraine will ‘end in hell’ on streets of Moscow

ARussian billionaire with ties to Vladimir Putin has claimed that the war in Ukraine will culminate in “people killing each other on the streets of Moscow”, a leaked phone call has shown. In a conversation dated January 2023 with anti-war businessman Nikolay Matushevsky, billionaire Roman Trotsenko suggested Russia was doomed in light of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to become a “scorched desert” run into the ground by the Kremlin. Presumably fearing for his life, Matushevsky denied the authenticity of the leaked audio despite Trotsenko’s phone number from the call corresponding with his publicly-available contact details. In the first few minutes of the dialogue, Matushevsky says he has been “having a hard time in Russia recently” because he “understood that something was wrong” and that “there…

Read More »

Thousands of migrants ‘face being sent to Rwanda even if home nation is safe’

Thousands of migrants who arrive illegally in the UK then claim asylum will be sent to Rwanda even if their home nation is regarded as a safe destination to which they could be returned, migration experts from Oxford University have said. The Migration Observatory at Oxford University, which is headed by a senior Government adviser on migration, said it would affect migrants coming from “safe” countries outside the EU like India, which it emerged this week has overtaken Albania for the number of Channel migrants. The academics from the body, which is headed by a senior government adviser on migration, said it was a potential flaw in the Illegal Migration Bill, which could lead to more migrants having to be detained and housed…

Read More »

Dalit outfit moves Patna HC against Bihar govt order releasing gangster-turned-politician Anand Mohan

Alleging amendments in jail manual, Amar Jyoti, the Bihar in-charge of Bhim Army’s Bharat Ekta Mission, on Wednesday moved Patna High Court against the state government’s order releasing former MP and life convict Anand Mohan and 26 others. Amar Jyoti, through his Public Interest Litigation (PIL), alleged that the Nitish Kumar government tweaked the state’s jail manual to “favour criminals”. The order of the Bihar government has drawing ire from the Dalit community. Anand Mohan, a former gangster-turned-politician who was freed from jail on Tuesday, was convicted for the murder of former Gopalganj district magistrate G Krishnaiah, a Dalit IAS officer, in 1994. According to reports, Krishnaiah died after his car was attacked during the funeral procession of a gangster…

Read More »