NEWS

New Delhi: The government has withdrawn the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) totally from Meghalaya as well as from eight out of 16 police stations in Arunachal Pradesh with effect from March 31, 2018. The decision has been taken in the wake of insurgency-related incidents in the northeast region going down by 85 per cent from the levels recorded at the peak of militancy two decades ago.
AFSPA, which gives special powers and immunity to the armed forces deployed in areas declared “disturbed” under the Act, had been in force in Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh for almost 27 years.
A Union home ministry official said that areas of the two states bordering Assam were declared “disturbed” in 1991 to avoid a spillover effect of insurgency by Assam-based outfits like the United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa).

New Delhi: On Congress and six other opposition parties’ motion for the removal of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, Rajya Sabha (RS) chairman and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu started the consultation process with legal and parliamentary experts.

Vice President Naidu, one of the officials said, spoke to Attorney General KK Venugopal, former attorney general K Parasaran, former Supreme Court judge B Sudarshan Reddy, former law secretary PK Malhotra, former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash Kashyap, and former legislative secretary Sanjay Singh, among others, as he decides whether to admit or reject the notice given on April 20. It is the first-ever such submitted against a chief justice.

New Delhi: The Prime Minister’s Office has told the Central Information Commission that the query on when the Rs 15 lakh promised by Prime Minister NarendraModi during his 2014 election campaign would be transferred to people's bank accounts does not come under the definition of "information" under the RTI Act. So this cannot be answered.
RTI applicant Mohan Kumar Sharma filed a plea on November 26, 2016 - nearly 18 days after demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 was announced by the prime minister-seeking to know the date of deposit of Rs 15 lakh in the account of each citizen as promised by Modi, besides other queries.
During the hearing, Sharma told Chief Information Commissioner R K Mathur that complete information had not been provided to him by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Reserve Bank of India.

New Delhi: The ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu on Sunday said that signs of its working together with BJP like a "double-barrelled gun" in the political arena were visible and "no one can sever ties" between the two parties.

Coming out strongly against the principal opposition DMK-led persistent protests over the Cauvery imbroglio, the AIADMK said "whatever be the number of protests and demonstrations, no one can sever the ties between the AIADMK and the BJP."

No one can weaken the bond between "the Central and the State governments" either, the AIADMK said in its Tamil mouthpiece "Namadhu Puratchi Thalaivi Amma." The state's ruling party said the protests by the DMK, its allies and friendly parties on the Cauvery issue were only aimed at spoiling the warmth between it and the BJP. "The signs are (increasingly) becoming visible for the AIADMK and the BJP to work like a double-barrelled gun in Indian politics.