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The Union Health Ministry has asked AIIMS-Delhi to cap the duration of PhD scholars or scientists working on research projects to six years. The AIIMS administration is yet to implement the order.

PhD scholars and scientists working on research projects at AIIMS have been protesting against the decision for the past few days. The faculty members of the premier medical institute have expressed their opposition to the move.

The directive issued by the Health Ministry on July 12 states that "project staff will not be allowed to continue or hired to serve beyond six years of cumulative engagement in the institute".

The Congress on Monday accused the government of insulting Parliament by not holding a discussion on the no-confidence motion moved by the opposition and instead bringing bills in the House, reported PTI.

Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the government should first hold a discussion on the no-trust motion. He also urged the ruling party MPs to visit violence-hit Manipur and understand for themselves the situation there.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday alleged that the north-east region has suffered from "geographical isolation, political instability and imbalanced development" for 70 years due to the previous "Congress governments' intentional ploys to divide and rule".

He also claimed that several conflicts in the region that lasted for 70 years were "resolved" in nine years of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.

"Be it the Bodo, Karbi conflict in Assam; the issues of Brus in Mizoram or the NLFT insurgency in Tripura, many such discords have been extinguished under leadership of Hon PM," Sarma said on Twitter.

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a fresh PIL on the Manipur violence seeking among other things a SIT probe into alleged poppy cultivation and narco-terrorism. It asked for a "more specific" petition and said this one was "very difficult" to entertain because it blamed only one community.

Senior advocate Madhavi Diwan, appearing for the petitioner Mayanglambam Bobby Meetei, sought to withdraw the plea and was allowed to do so.

"This petition is very difficult to entertain because it places blame on one community," said the bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandcrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Sunday said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who snapped ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last year, can return to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) any time.

Talking to PTI, Athawale said Nitish Kumar was part of the NDA earlier and despite the BJP getting more seats in the assembly elections in Bihar last time, he was made the chief minister.