TOP NEWS

For the second straight year, Railways is set to fall way short of the asset monetisation target due to the reluctance of the state-run transporter to move on the path cleared by PM Narendra Modi. This has prompted the Centre to consider linking the release of the annual allocation to the fund generation through asset monetisation.

Against the target of over Rs 57,000 crore, railways may only raise Rs 30,000 crore due to its reluctance to let the private sector run trains or modernise stations through the public-private partnership (PPP) route. Even last year, the first year of the implementation of the Rs 6-lakh-crore National Asset Monetisation Pipeline, railways managed to rake in Rs 800 crore against a target of Rs 17,810 crore - 4.5% of the annual goal.

New Delhi:  Asserting that the state of the economy is a cause of "extreme concern", senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday said taking into account global and domestic developments, it may be necessary to contemplate a reset of economic policies. Addressing a press conference, Chidambaram said a slower rate of growth has been the "hallmark" of the present government in the last eight years, and the post-pandemic recovery has been "indifferent and halting". Chidambaram, who heads the panel on economy constituted by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to lead discussions at the three-day 'Chintan Shivir' here, also said the time is ripe for a comprehensive review of fiscal relations between the Centre and the States.

AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi's visit to the tomb of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb at Khuldabad in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district has drawn flak from the ruling Shiv Sena, which questioned his move and warned that if he tried to "create problems in the society" it would not be tolerated.

Owaisi had visited the tomb on Thursday before addressing a rally in Aurangabad city.

Former Shiv Sena MP Chandrakant Khaire and the party's Aurangabad district unit chief and MLC Ambadas Danve has taken a strong objection to Owaisi's visit to the tomb. But All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Lok Sabha MP Imtiaz Jaleel said there was no need to draw a "different meaning" out of it.

The plea to postpone the postgraduate medical entrance exam -- National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Postgraduate (NEET PG) -- will be heard by the Supreme Court today after a petition filed by candidates which said the current exam scheduled to be held on May 21 was clashing with the ongoing counselling process of NEET PG 2021.

The decision to list the petition for hearing the petition for NEET PG 2022 postponement was taken by a bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud. Students have also been requesting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the postponement of NEET PG 2022.

The Supreme Court on Friday cautioned a counsel who in the course of his arguments said that Kashmir became a part of the country after abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution in August 2019 to be careful about his language.

“No, no, it has remained a part of the country for long time. These are certain special provisions. Careful in what language you use,” Justice S K Kaul, presiding a two-judge bench, told Ravi Shankar Jandhyala, while hearing a plea that challenged the delimitation exercise, which recommended increasing the number of seats in J&K Assembly from 83 to 90.