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While addressing plea "Bindas bol" programme, SC asked whether media can be allowed to "target whole set of communities". Stay tuned for Latest LIVE news

8:01 PM

Calcutta HC forms panel to look into Visva-Bharati University violence

The Calcutta High Court formed a four-member committee, including two of its sitting judges, to find out ways and means for appropriate resolution of issues relating to the Visva-Bharati University, which had witnessed violence over construction of a boundary wall.

 

The committee will be headed by Justice Sanjib Banerjee and include Justice Arijit Banerjee as one of its members along with West Bengal Advocate General and the Additional Solicitor General of the Union government here.

 

In view of the importance of the "great institution" founded and carried forward by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, the division bench comprising Chief Justice TBN Radhakrishnan and Justice Shampa Sarkar directed that the matter will be treated as a suo motu public interest litigation, and appointed senior advocate Jaydip Kar as amicus curiae.

7:54 PM

With over 36.8 mn subscribers, PFRDA pension corpus touches nearly Rs 5 trn: Chairman

The total assets under management of the National Pension System and the Atal Pension Yojana are approaching towards a corpus of Rs 5 trillion, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) chairman Supratim Bandyopadhyay said on Friday.

 

"Our total assets under management (AUM) as on September 12 was very close to Rs 5 trillion, it is Rs 4.93 trillion. Still, about 83 per cent of the total assets are from the central and state government employees," Bandyopadhyay said at the 22nd CII Insurance and Pensions Summit.

7:49 PM

Bamboo industry to play crucial role in post-Covid economy: Jitendra Singh

Modi government is planning to promote domestic bamboo industry which is going to play a critical role in shaping the post-Covid economy of India, Union minister Jitendra Singh said on Friday.

 

Addressing two separate webinars on 'World Bamboo Day', Singh said the Northeastern region will be one of the favourite business destinations of India post-Covid-19 and bamboo is going to be the key pillar of economic activities. He said many business houses are looking at the Northeastern region to exploit its vast agro-farming resources and people should not miss this opportunity.

 

7:43 PM

Bihar CM inaugurates Super-Speciality Hospital, Bus Terminal in Patna

7:32 PM

Bandhan Bank collection efficiency ratio touches 80 per cent in August

Private lender Bandhan Bank on Friday said collection efficiency ratio has touched 80 per cent at the end of August, and expected collections to normalise by December.

 

The ratio, which is improving on a "daily basis", is likely to be over 90 per cent in October, it said.

 

"Our micro borrowers have showed great resilience. The ability to get back on feet is exemplary and there has been no destruction of their assets," MD & CEO Chandra Sekhar Ghosh said.

 

In case of non-microbanking credit, collection efficiency has also increased for mortgage lending, SME lending, NBFC lending, the bank said.

 

Ghosh said prospects for credit offtake in the second half of the fiscal look promising. "The recovery process will be led by rural and semi-urban India".

 

7:27 PM

'No data govt': Congress MP's jab on lack of data on migrant workers' death

7:25 PM

Top brands' value declines 6% in 2020; next year likely to be tough: WPP

The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in the value of top 75 Indian bands declining by 6 per cent to $216 billion in 2020, and entities are staring at a bleak future, according to the world's biggest advertiser WPP. It will not be easier till the economy which is expected to contract by up to 10 per cent in FY2021 returns back to growth mode, Preeti Reddy, South Asia chief executive for group company Kantar's insights division, told reporters.

 

"2021 will also be a tough year for brands. Things will not improve much and we will have a period of stagnancy even if it is not de-growth," she said.

 

Indian brand valuations have not been at par with the world, the agency said, pointing that the value of the top 100 global brands has increased by 5.8 per cent.

7:16 PM

National Cyber Security Strategy 2020 likely to be released next month: Pant

The National Cyber Security Strategy 2020 is awaiting Cabinet approval and is expected to be released next month, National Cyber Security Coordinator Lt Gen Rajesh Pant said on Friday.

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15 had announced that a new cyber security strategy will be presented to the nation as dependence on cyberspace is will increase multifold in coming years.

 

"I am hoping that the month of October, which is regarded globally as the 'National Cybersecurity Awareness Month', we have a lot of awareness programs in that month and I am hoping that one of the programs would be release of the national strategy," Pant said at ASSOCHAM CySecCon 2020.

7:05 PM

In a reshuffle, retd IAS officer Raghvendra Singh appointed culture secretary

Former bureaucrat Raghvendra Singh was appointed as the culture secretary on Friday in place of Anand Kumar, who has shifted as the secretary of the National Commission for Backward Classes, as part of a top-level bureaucratic reshuffle, according to a Personnel Ministry order.

 

Singh, a 1983-batch (retired) IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre, is at present the Chief Executive Officer, Development of Museums and Cultural Spaces. He has been appointed as the Secretary, Ministry of Culture on a contract basis and on usual terms and conditions applicable to re-employed central government officers for a period of one year from the date of assumption of the charge of the post, the order said.

7:03 PM

About 40% school syllabus reduced in TN for 2020-21:Minister

About 40 per cent of the syllabus for school students in Tamil Nadu has been reduced for this academic year based an expert committee's recommendation in the backdrop of Covid-19 pandemic, School Education Minister K A Sengottaiyan said on Friday.

 

The 18-member panel, set up to look into reducing the syllabus for the 2020-21 academic year in view of closure of schools due to Covid-19, submitted its report last month and based on this, 40 per cent of the syllabus had been cut, he said.

 

The state government had on May 12 formed the committee under the leadership of Commissioner of School Education Sigy Thomas Vaidhyan to evaluate and recommend the way forward for school education amid the pandemic.

 

Among the issues assigned to this committee was to evaluate the problems in teaching due to early closure of schools this year, delay in beginning the academic year and how to make good the loss of time due to this delay.

6:48 PM

Plea against ''Bindas Bol'': Can media be allowed to target whole set of communities, asks SC

The Supreme Court Friday questioned Sudarshan TV over its ‘Bindas Bol’ programme, whose promo had claimed that the channel would show the ''big expose on conspiracy to infiltrate Muslims in government service'', and asked whether media can be allowed to “target whole set of communities”.

 

The apex court, while hearing a plea which has raised grievance over the programme, said the channel is entitled to break story but it cannot “brand the entire community” and “alienate them” by doing such kind of stories.

 

“This is the real issue. Whenever you show them joining civil services, you show ISIS. You want to say that Muslims joining civil services is a part of a deep-rooted conspiracy. Can the media be allowed to target whole set of communities,” a bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud asked.

 

“Painting all candidates as carrying out an agenda shows the kind of hatred. This is the element of concern,” said the bench, also comprising Justices Indu Malhotra and K M Joseph.

6:41 PM

Nadda releases special edition of BJP mouthpiece, says Modi changed political culture

BJP president J P Nadda on Friday lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for changing the country's political culture by not bowing down to any pressure and upholding the rights of the downtrodden, and cited three farm sector bills as an example of his resolve.

 

The three bills have been passed by Lok Sabha amid protests by opposition parties and BJP ally Shiromani Akali Dal. They will now be tabled in Rajya Sabha.

 

Speaking at the party headquarters here at the launch of a special edition of the party mouthpiece, 'Kamal Sandesh', which highlights the life journey of the prime minister to mark his 70th birthday on Thursday, Nadda said that Modi had empowered the farmers through these bills and liberated them from middlemen.

 

"We have seen many governments but the pro-poor welfare and economic reforms under the leadership of Modi and other changes brought to keep the unity and integrity of the country intact is something unimaginable and amazing," he said.

6:28 PM

1,100 indigenous PPE kit makers have been developed by govt till date: Irani

As many as 1,100 indigenous manufacturers of PPE kits have been developed by the government till date and most of them are from the MSME sector, Parliament was informed on Friday.

 

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Textiles Minister Smriti Irani said the capacity and production of PPE coveralls for Covid-19 touched a peak of 5 lakh per day in mid-May 2020.

 

"From zero manufacturers in March 2020, 1,100 indigenous manufacturers of PPE kits have been developed by the government till date, most of them being from the MSME (micro, small and medium enterprise) sector," she said.

 

As on September 13, she said a total of 1.42 crore PPE kits have been supplied to HLL Lifecare Ltd, the procurement arm of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, for the use of health professionals in government hospitals.

6:19 PM

Chinese apps TikTok, WeChat to be banned in US from Sept 20: Report

6:15 PM

India-Japan ties have become strategic due to maturing relationship: Jaishankar