NEWS

New Delhi:Fissures appeared within the Jammu and Kashmirgovernmet's ruling allies as the BJP dubbed chief minister Mehbooba Mufti's call for a unilateral ceasefire as a move not at all in "national interest". The BJP also slammed the state government's "soft policy" on stone pelters.

The BJP's state unit fielded two spokespersons, Sunil Sethi and Arun Gupta, who at a press conference here said a unilateral, ceasefire as suggested by the chief minister, would only serve to ease pressure on militants and allow them to re-energise.

Referring to an all party meeting held on Wednesday, Sethi said an opinion had come up during discussion for a unilateral ceasefire, on the lines of the one declared by AtalBihari Vajpayee government, but there was no consensus. "We have a strong view...Unilateral ceasefire in the present situation is not in national interest at all," Sethi, who was present at the all party meeting, asserted.

New Delhi:The police registered a criminal case against sitting Congress MLA and RR Nagar candidate N Munirathna and 14 others, on Wednesday. The case was filed against them in connection with the seizure of nearly 10,000 voter ID cards from an apartment in Bengaluru’s Jalahalli area in the constituency, hours before deputy election commissioner Chandra Bhushan Kumar completed his investigation into the incident and sent a report to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

“Multiple reports are with ECI for its consideration… It will be inappropriate to talk about the issue at this stage. More definitive information will be provided in public at an appropriate time,” chief electoral officer (CEO) Sanjiv Kumar said on Thursday.

New Delhi:External Affairs Ministry on Thursday said it was in touch with all relevant people and authorities in Afghanistan to secure the release of seven Indian engineers. These Indian engineers were abducted in the restive northern Baghlan province of the war-torn country on last Sunday.

"We are in touch with different people who are involved in the exercise through the Afghan government," spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Raveesh Kumar said.

He, however, refused to share any specific details citing sensitivity of the case. "I would not like to get into the details of the people and authorities with whom we are in touch with," he said at a media briefing. The Indian engineers were abducted by the Taliban militants from near the Cheshma-e-Sher area in Baghlan on Sunday. External Affairs Minister SushmaSwaraj had a telephonic conversation with her Afghan counterpart SalahuddinRabbani on Sunday evening during which she had sought all possible help of Kabul in securing the release the Indians. National Security Adviser AjitDoval too had a telephonic conversation with his Afghan counterpart HanifAtmar on the issue.

New Delhi: The 2018 Times Higher Education Emerging Economies ranking includes 42 of India’s institutions, with the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, rising up to the 13th place. The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, is at 26th place. So India continues to struggle to make a mark in global higher education rankings.

But the latest table of institutions in 42 emerging economies reveals that it has significantly raised its profile among 350 universities, retaining its second position after China.The ranking also reveals that the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, is India’s highest riser – leaping 57 positions to number joint 138th – due to improvements in research influence and citations, Times Higher Education (THE) said.