NEWS

New Delhi: A Pew survey suggests that the confidence in their country’s economy among Indians has fallen by a 27 per cent in the last one year. This conclusion was drawn after the largest of the 27 nations surveyed by the Pew research centre.

Asked if the current economic situation in the country was good, just over half (56%) of the respondents answered in the affirmative in 2018. Eight out of 10 had done so in 2017 despite the widespread disruption caused by note ban, brought in November 2016.

New Delhi: A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan has been arrested from Noida on charges of spying by Uttar Pradesh’s anti-terror squad (ATS). He is alleged to have been ‘honey-trapped’ by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) over Facebook.

State director general of police (DGP) OP Singh said that Achyutanand Mishra, posted at the composite hospital of BSF in Delhi, befriended a person, believed to be a woman, who was using a fake Facebook ID and who had posed as a defence reporter working since January 2016. Her mobile number, registered in Pakistan, was saved on his phone as ‘Pakistani dost’ (Pakistan-based friend).

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has observed that liberty of individuals cannot be curtailed at the altar of conjectures and institutions need to be robust to take on dissent despite the Maharashtra government putting up a strong defence to justify the August 28 arrest of five activists in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence in January.

Arguing before a bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta said the six other alleged Maoist cadre, arrested in June, had thrown up concrete material requiring the custody of the five activists. He began his arguments by reading out the case diaries of the case.

New Delhi: Union finance minister Arun Jaitley while speaking largely in the context of India’s crisis-prone agriculture said that benefits from populist policies are short-lived and subsidies alone can’t sustain a sector for long, unless “blended” with investments.

Jaitley was speaking largely in the context of India’s crisis-prone agriculture, while releasing the book, “Supporting Indian Farms the Smart way” by economists Ashok Gulati, Marco Ferroni and Yuan Zhou, but his comments also come on the back of political demands to ease sharply rising fuel prices by cutting taxes. A large hike in minimum support prices announced in July by the central government itself forms a big part of farm subsidies.