LIVE: Mission Karmayogi to prepare civil servants for future, says PM Modi

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5:18 PM

Facebook India chief Ajit Mohan appears before Parliamentary panel

Amid a political slugfest over the Facebook issue, the company's India head Ajit Mohan on Wednesday appeared before a parliamentary panel, which is discussing alleged misuse of social media platforms, according to a PTI report.

 

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, headed by senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, had called representatives of Facebook to hear their views "on the subject of safeguarding citizens' rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms including special emphasis on women security in the digital space," according to agenda of the meeting.

 

Mohan, Managing Director of Facebook India, appeared before the panel this afternoon, officials said. The panel has also called representatives of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on the same issue.

 

Tharoor's announcement that the panel would like to hear from Facebook about a report published in the Wall Street Journal claiming that the social media platform ignored applying its hate-speech rules to politicians of the BJP in India, had evoked a strong reaction from BJP members of the panel.

5:06 PM

GST impasse: Rekindle trust between Centre and states, Mamata tells PM Modi

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention in the goods and services tax (GST) compensation impasse. In a letter to Prime Minister Modi, Banerjee said the Centre must borrow to meet the GST shortfall at this critical hour of Covid-19 pandemic.

 

“I am sure that the states will reciprocate in supporting a resolution that cess collection continues beyond the five years till the entire debt of the Centre is totally liquidated, along with the entire interest payment cost,” she said.

 

Banerjee also pointed that the government of India had the power to monetise its debt while the states do not. READ MORE...

 

5:00 PM

CBDT issues refunds of over Rs 98,625 crore to over 26.2 lakh taxpayers between April 1 and September 1, 2020

4:47 PM

Gunjan Saxena row: Delhi HC turns down IAF request for stay on streaming

The Delhi High Court has refused to grant stay on the streaming of the film, "Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl", starring Janhvi Kapoor. A single judge bench presided by Justice Rajiv Shakdhar deliberated on a petition filed by the Central government and the Indian Air Force, claiming that the film is showing IAF in a bad light, according to an IANS report.

 

"You (Centre) had to approach the court when the film was about to be released. I understand your concern, but an injunction cannot be granted at this stage as the film is already out," the court said.

 

The bench also issued notices to filmmaker Karan Johar, who is one of the co-producers of the film, his banner Dharma Productions, the digital platform Netflix that streams the film, and Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena, after making her a party to the plaint.

4:35 PM

Petitioners in Supreme Court say interest on interest in moratorium is double whammy

The Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that there is no dearth of power with the RBI, as the petitioners' counsel argued that banks are free to restructure loans but not at the cost of penalising honest borrowers by charging interest on deferred EMI payments during the moratorium, news agency IANS reported.

 

Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, representing the Shopping Centres Association, contended before a bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan that shopping centres are closed, yet are paying the employees. The bench replied there is no dearth of power with the RBI, and no one is denying that. Kumar contended that pharma, FMCG and Internet companies did very well, but industries like his client's did very badly. "We are entitled to relief", submitted Kumar.

 

Senior advocate Rajiv Dutta, appearing for one of the petitioners Gajendra Sharma, submitted that his client thought everything was okay when EMIs were waived off, but the government ended up charging compound interest. "A kind of double whammy for us (borrowers)", submitted Dutta.

4:34 PM

36 suicides in Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in 2019, 433 in six years: NCRB data

4:16 PM

Sushant case: NCB arrests alleged drug dealer, detains another in Mumbai

The Narcotics Control Bureau has arrested an alleged contraband dealer and detained another in connection with the drugs trafficking case linked to the case of actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death, officials said on Wednesday.

 

The arrested man has been identified by the federal anti-narcotics agency as Zaid Vilatra. Indian currency worth Rs 9,55,750 and foreign currency (USD 2,081, 180 British Pounds, 15 dirhams), which the NCB claimed are "proceeds of drug peddling", have been recovered from him.

 

"Zaid disclosed that he runs an eatery in Bandra which was not giving any pecuniary gains since lockdown. He also disclosed that he is into drug peddling especially bud, through which he used to earn a substantial amount of money," the NCB said. READ MORE...

4:06 PM

'Mission Karmayogi' looks at a new national architecture for civil services capacity building: Govt

4:03 PM

Market LIVE update: Sensex ends 185.23 points higher at 39,086.03; Nifty rises 64.75 points to 11,535

3:51 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: 5,716 new Covid-19 cases reported in Uttar Pradesh in the last 24 hours

3:41 PM

Border tension: India, China hold another round of Brigade Commander-level talks

Days after China's "provocative actions" in Pangong lake area in eastern Ladakh, the situation in the region remained sensitive on Wednesday while army commanders from both sides held another round of talks to defuse tensions, government sources said, according to a PTI report.

 

The army of the two countries held Brigade Commander-level talks in Chushul with a focus on bringing down tensions in the Pangong lake area, they said, adding similar dialogue on Monday and Tuesday, each lasting over six hours, did not produce any "tangible outcome". Sources said India has achieved tactical gains in eastern Ladakh in the last few days by occupying a number of strategically important hill tops and locations.

 

On Monday, the Indian Army said the Chinese military carried out "provocative military movements" to "unilaterally" change the status quo on the southern bank of Pangong lake on the intervening night of August 29 and 30 but the attempt was thwarted by the Indian troops.

3:39 PM

Rajnath Singh leaves for Moscow on three-day visit; to attend SCO Defence Ministers’ Meet

3:33 PM

Mission Karmayogi a Capacity Building Commission to harmonise training standards, create shared faculty and resources: Govt

3:32 PM

Cabinet Briefing LIVE: Three MoU signed with Japan, Finland and Denmark, says Union Minister Prakash Javadekar

3:31 PM

Urdu, Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi and English to be official languages in J&K under new Bill approved by Cabinet: Javadekar