NEWS

New Delhi: Union Cabinet has approved a new Consumer Protection Bill that seeks to establish an authority to safeguard consumers' rights, has the provisions for penalty and jail terms in case of adulteration and misleading advertisements by companies. 

Official sources said, celebrities endorsing misleading advertisements will also be liable for fine and ban up to three years as per the new bill. The Cabinet yesterday approved the introduction of the Consumer Protection Bill, 2017, which will replace a bill of 2015. 

In August 2015, the Centre had introduced the Consumer Protection Bill in the Lok Sabha to repeal the 30-year-old Consumer Protection Act of 1986.

New Delhi: Enthused by BJP’s recent victories in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the party is now in power in 19 states, one more than the Congress at its peak under Indira Gandhi.

The PM also recalled the sacrifices of leaders who built the party over the years and exuded confidence that the BJP would win more state polls in the days to come.

"Congress under Indira Gandhi ruled in 18 states but the BJP and its allies have gained power in 19 states in the past three-and-a-half years. Soon, we shall win other state polls too," Modi said while addressing party MPs at the BJP parliamentary party meeting.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has rejected a plea seeking a ban on liquor across the country. The plea claimed that the use of liquor has caused deaths, health problems, rise in the crime graph and financial loss to the people. 

The apex court found no merit in the plea and imposed 1 lakh rupees as costs on the petitioner, a Vishakhapatnam-based NGO. The court directed that the amount has to be deposited with the Legal Services Committee within four weeks.

New Delhi: India will invest $25 million over the next five years to develop the troubled and backward Rakhine province in Myanmar, from where over half a million Rohingya have been forced to migrate to neighbouring Bangladesh.

The decision, made during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Myanmar in November was formalized in an agreement between foreign secretary S. Jaishankar and Myanmar's social development minister U Soe Aung. 

Jaishankar met both Aung San Suu Kyi and the army chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, acknowledging the importance of the army in the Myanmar government.