Year: 2015

    Blood banks can borrow from one another  –   (Health) In a major modification to the National Blood Policy, blood banks will now be able to borrow units from one another in case of a shortage. The Union Health Ministry took the decision on Friday as part of reforms to the handling of blood units in the country.     Godavari to be declared national waterwayRead More…

    NJAC judgment ignored basic structure of Constitution: Jaitley  –    (Indian Polity) Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has strongly criticised the Supreme Court’s scrapping of the 99th Constitutional Amendment or the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, saying the “Supreme Court’s judgment may be final, but it is not infallible” and that it priviRead More…

    After IAF, Navy opens its doors to women pilots  –    (Defence) After the Air Force opened its doors to women fighter pilots, the Navy has decided to follow suit. However, they will be shore-based for the moment, because infrastructural needs have to be addressed. The army and the Navy are also looking at appointing women in combat roles.   Indian historiographRead More…

    India adopting dangerous military policies, says Sharif  –   (International Relation) Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday accused India of setting off a new arms race in South Asia and not responding to his peace overtures, while urging the U.S. to reconsider some of its “existing assumptions and analyses” about the region. Mr. Sharif said that despite hiRead More…

      Supreme Court takes up cause of Muslim women  –    (Indian Polity) Thirty years after the Supreme Court urged the government to frame a uniform civil code to “help in the cause of national integration” in the Shah Bano case. A two-judge Bench of the court has suo motuordered registration of a public interest litigation petition and asked the Chief Justice Read More…

    To put an end to abuse of children, HC suggests castration of rapists  –    (Indian Polity) In yet another strongly worded judgment from the Madras High Court, a judge has suggested that the Central government consider castration as an additional form of punishment for child sex abusers. “When law is ineffective and incapable of addressing the menace, this court cannRead More…

      Modi lays foundation, new Amaravati is born  –    (Governance) The first brick of the ‘People’s Capital’ of Andhra Pradesh was symbolically put in place by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday when he laid the foundation for Amaravati on the banks of the Krishna between Vijayawada and Guntur. During his speech at the grand ceremony attended by severalRead More…

    Australian High Commission expresses concern over tattoo incident  –   (International Relation) The Australian High Commission has expressed “concern” over media reports of an Australian citizen “being threatened with violence and detained by police because of a tattoo”. A press statement issued on Monday by the public relations section of the High Commission inRead More…

    Nuclear deal not on Sharif’s agenda  –   (International Relation) Ahead of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s three-day tour of the United States, both countries ruled out a nuclear deal between them, but Pakistan went a step further to emphasise that they were not even discussing any such deal. Mr. Sharif arrives in the U.S. on Tuesday. “No ‘deal’ is beinRead More…

    Modi may attend U.S. nuclear security summit next year  –   (International Relation) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to travel to the United States for the fourth Nuclear Security Summit on March 31-April 1, 2016, an initiative of President Barack Obama who considers nuclear terrorism the “most immediate and extreme threat to global security.” A U.S. diplomatRead More…