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US secretary of state Antony Blinken said India and Russia became partners of choice out of necessity when the United States was not in a position to be New Delhi's partner. But now that the US is working towards strengthening ties with India, there is a growing strategic convergence between the United States and India, Blinken said at a Congressional hearing by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations. His opinion on the India-US relationship was sought by Senator William Hagerty during the hearing. The India-US relationship is one of the most debated issues in the aftermath of New Delhi's decision to not sever trade ties with Russia even after it attacked Ukraine.

"This partnership has the potential to be one of the most important and foundational partnerships that we have going forward over the next decades. This has actually been a success story of multiple administrations. Going back to the end of the Clinton administration, through the Bush administration...," Blinken said adding the US, India's engagement through Quad. US President Joe Biden has spent a lot of time with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and so has Blinked with his Indian counterpart, he said.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the investment of Rs 4,526.12 crore for 540 Megawatt (MW) Kwar Hydro Electric project located on river Chenab, in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir.

The project will be implemented by Chenab Valley Power Projects Private Limited (CVPPPL), a joint venture company between NHPC Limited and Jammu and Kashmir State Power Development Corporation (JKSPDC) with equity contributions of 51 per cent and 49 per cent, respectively.

The project shall generate 1975.54 million units in a 90 per cent dependable year, according to an official statement released after the cabinet meeting.

A day after party chief Sonia Gandhi set up an 'empowered action group 2024' to address the political challenges ahead, Congress invited pollster Prashant Kishor to join the group.

AICC spokesman Randeep Surjewala tweeted on Tuesday, "Following a presentation and discussions with Prashant Kishor, Congress chief has... invited him to join the party as part of the group with defined responsibility. He declined. We appreciate his efforts and suggestion given to the party".

At the heart of the disagreement appeared to be indications given by the two sides. While Congress suggested that he was being given a "defined responsibility", Kishor claimed that he was asked to "take responsibility for polls."

The Supreme Court will on Wednesday take up a clutch of petitions that have demanded the scrapping of the penal provision of sedition in India, which is punishable with a jail term ranging between three years to life.

A special bench, headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, will consider the batch of four petitions pending since 2021. The other members of the special bench are justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli.

The last hearing in the matter was conducted on July 15, 2021 when the top court rued the “enormous power of misuse” of the sedition law in India, and asked the Union government why it should not scrap a colonial law that was once used by the British government to oppress the freedom movements and leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin has launched a scathing attack on Governor RN Ravi on Monday over the anti-NEET bill. The CM has said that the state was not asking for his approval for the bill but to send it for presidential assent like a “postman.” 

“The Governor does not have the authority to grant his approval to the bill, adopted in the State Assembly twice during the DMK rule, seeking exemption from the ambit of the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) for Tamil Nadu,” Stalin said. “We are not asking the Governor for approval for the bill. The Governor does not have the authority to do so. What we ask is, send the Bill to the President,” he further added.