Author: Anuska Chatterjee

26 opposition parties came together to convene an opposition meeting to discuss their trajectory for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. The collective alliance formed was decided to named INDIA. Bihar’s Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, initially opposed the idea of naming the opposition front at the Bengaluru conclave as I.N.D.I.A.  He expressed concerns about the similarity between I.N.D.I.A and NDA, an alliance led by the BJP. He also highlighted the potential confusion that could arise from an opposition alliance being named INDIA. However, as the majority of parties appeared satisfied with the name, Nitish Kumar eventually relented and agreed to it.…

The Supreme Court has scheduled to hear Rahul Gandhi’s appeal against the Gujarat high court’s ruling in a criminal defamation case on July 21. Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud assigned the hearing date after Rahul Gandhi’s counsel, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, requested an expedited hearing. The appeal was filed on July 15, precisely one week after the high court’s ruling dealt a setback to Rahul Gandhi’s attempt to regain his Lok Sabha membership. The high court stated that the Congress leader had “breached modesty” and that his offense involved “moral turpitude.” In his appeal, Rahul Gandhi has urged the…

Rising water levels in Yamuna river have caused extensive floods and havoc in several northern cities. The water level has now crossed the ‘low-level flood’ mark of 495 feet in Agra and reached the walls of the Taj Mahal for the first time in nearly 45 years. Such high levels of water have consequently submerged a garden behind the 17th-century monument. According to local authorities, the Yamuna River reached a height of 497.99 feet. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) however has stated that there is no immediate threat to the UNESCO World Heritage site. Some areas surrounding the Taj…

Opposition leaders from 26 political parties are scheduled to convene for a meeting in Bengaluru on Monday and Tuesday to discuss and strategize for the upcoming general elections.  Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has expressed his support for ongoing discussions among non-BJP parties to form a federal front for the upcoming general elections in India. Sen emphasized the importance of power-sharing in a democracy and highlighted the vulnerability faced by minority parties due to the dominance of majority votes. He suggested that opposition parties should unite to balance the power dynamics rather than remain vulnerable individually. Sen referred to the recent…

On July 16, the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) filed a case in the Supreme Court of India against the draft delimitation proposal for Assembly and Parliamentary seats in the state of Assam. Aminul Islam, the organizational general secretary and MLA of AIUDF addressed a press conference and expressed concerns about the process. According to Aminul Islam, the Election Commission of India (ECI) conducted the delimitation exercise instead of a Delimitation Commission due to amendments made in relevant Acts in 2008 by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. According to him, these amendments granted the delimitation power to the…

On Saturday, the Central Bank of UAE (CBUAE) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) signed off two agreements in Abu Dhabi. These agreements aim to create a structure for conducting cross-border transactions using local currencies and connecting payment and messaging systems.  The exchange of agreements occurred in the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as stated by the Reserve Bank. The first memorandum of agreement focuses on promoting the use of the Indian rupee (INR) and the UAE dirham (AED) for cross-border transactions, while the second agreement involves cooperation in…

Orissa High Court has achieved a Case Clearance Rate (CCR) of 126.66% by resolving 62,869 cases involving institutions and 49,635 cases in the first half of the year, from January 2024 to June 23. However, the number of cases disposed of decreased during May and June 2024 due to the high court being on summer recess, with only vacation courts operating during that period. According to the official statement, excluding the vacation months of May and June, the case clearance rate from January to April 2024 was 141.71%. A comparison between the first halves of 2022 and 2024 revealed that…

On July 14, at 2:35 p.m. IST, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is scheduled to initiate its third lunar mission, known as Chandrayaan-3. This will occur at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Chandrayaan-3 holds great importance for India’s space program as it aims to expand our understanding of the Moon and its past. This mission will further facilitate the development of advanced technologies for upcoming lunar expeditions. Assuming everything goes as planned, the 43.5-meter LVM-3 launch rocket will be responsible for propelling the spacecraft into an elliptical orbit around the Earth before embarking on its…

Delhi Police has stated in its chargesheet that Vinod Tomar, the Assistant Secretary of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), “intentionally aided” and “facilitated” WFI President and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment by six top women wrestlers. Tomar has been named as a co-accused in two of the six complaints. According to the chargesheet, Tomar ensured that the complainants were alone when they visited Singh on three separate occasions at his office-cum-residence on Ashoka Road in the capital. The chargesheet alleges that Tomar deliberately prevented the husband from accompanying the complainant and…

The Supreme Court has announced that starting from August 2, it will hear petitions challenging the revocation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and the division of the state into two Union Territories on a day-to-day basis excluding Monday and Friday. Article 370 petitions were last addressed in March 2020. During the proceedings on Tuesday, the five-judge constitution bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, along with Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, and Surya Kant fixed a deadline of July 27 and instructed all parties involved to submit all documents, compilations, and written submissions.…