TOP NEWS

The Supreme Court on Monday (August 28) disposed of a petition concerning the demolition drive initiated by the Railways to clear alleged illegal constructions on railway land near Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. A panel of justices, including Aniruddha Bose, Sanjay Kumar, and SVN Bhatti, declared that the Railways had confirmed the completion of the anti-encroachment operation.

In response, the top court directed the petitioners to approach the trial court for suitable resolution.

Challenging his uncle and the president of the Nationalist Congress Party, Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Monday said that he is the national president of the party. 

Amid arguments and counter-arguments, this is the first time Ajit Pawar has asserted his position. Besides, his faction has already stopped using Sharad Pawar’s images for publicity. 

The Supreme Court has held that governments should not be guided only by the severity of the offence committed by a convict to deny him premature release and the opinion of the trial court or the police based on judicial record of the case could not be the sole ground to reject a remission plea.

While deciding the petition filed by a convict who had spent 24 years in jail in a triple murder case and whose remission plea was rejected following a negative opinion from the trial judge who opposed his premature release on the ground that the offence committed by him was heinous, the apex court said the person was sentenced for the crime and had spent years in jail, and the decision on remission should not be taken on the basis of the same judicial record. It added that the remission policy should be guided by the "reformative" concept of justice and not be "retributive" and the focus should be on the "criminal” and not the "crime".

As Russia comes under renewed pressure to revive the Black Sea grain deal with Ukraine, the US and EU are also talking to India to see if it can use its influence with Moscow to ensure resumption of Ukrainian grain exports.

While the deal was brokered by the UN and Turkiye last year to attenuate the effects of the war on global food security, India also had played a role in reaching the agreement, as foreign minister S Jaishankar said earlier this year. While EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was reported to have approached all G20 foreign ministers earlier this month for help in getting Moscow to rejoin the deal, the US remains engaged with India at the UN on the issue as it calls upon Moscow to not “weaponise” hunger.

There’s a question mark over the Bharatiya Janata Party’s parivartan yatras which will mark the official launch of the election campaign in Rajasthan: When the first rally is held on September 2 at the Trinetra Ganesh Temple in Ranthambore, will former chief minister Vasundhara Raje show up?

After all, the December assembly elections will be the first one in 20 years, where Raje is not the party’s chief ministerial face, although, the party’s convention over the past decade in states where it is not in power is to not name a chief ministerial candidate.