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The Union home ministry has extended for the second time the deployment of 273 Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) companies in the national capital till October 31 in view of the possibility of "flash protests" by political and other groups, official sources said on Friday. The companies were brought to Delhi for the protests by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) earlier this month. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) directed the Delhi Police and the respective CAPFs on October 22 to coordinate the deployment, the sources told PTI. The extension was approved at the request of the Delhi Police, they said, adding that a similar extension had been sanctioned in mid-October. Officials said the Delhi Police had informed the ministry that there was a possibility of flash protests being undertaken by political and other outfits in various "sensitive" locations of the city. The extension of the deployment was essential in order to ensure proper law and order, they said. The MHA has approved
The government has asked Meta, owner of Instagram and Facebook, to ensure that its recommendation systems do not result in "disproportionate exposure of users to a single or limited set of narratives", and to step up checks on content that could cause public disorder or incite violence or other unlawful activity. The advisory by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), dated October 10, asked Meta to undertake appropriate measures to provide adequate context in relation to photographs, videos, graphics, or other content depicting ongoing public events, particularly where the authenticity, date, location or circumstances of such content may not be readily apparent to users. Although the advisory does not identify any specific incident that prompted its issuance, it comes amid protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and opposition parties in Delhi demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision ..
The Union law ministry has come out with a set of rules to set up a framework to handle violations related to court fees and stamp rules in the Union territories. The Union Territories Court Fees (Adjudication of Penalties and Appeal) Rules, 2026, issued on Saturday operationalise sections 34A and 34B of the Court Fees Act, 1870, which were recently added following amendments under the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2026. Instead of changing the court-fee system, the rules focus on administrative enforcement, accountability and time-bound conflict resolution. The amended Jan Vishwaas law tweaked the Court Fees Act to replace criminal punishment with financial penalties for minor, non-fraudulent violations of stamp-sale rules. Under the newly-notified rules, revenue officers, licensed stamp vendors and members of the public can report violations to the designated adjudicating officers empowered to investigate and levy penalties under the Court Fees Act. The rules prescr
The Centre has formally identified 28 strategic places and geographical features in Ladakh, including key border friction points along the LAC like Gogra and Hot Spring, on the official Indian map on Friday. The step, taken by the Government in consultation with the Ladakh Union Territory administration, aims to streamline official cartography, facilitate precise identification, and foster better public awareness regarding the sensitive border region. "Government of India, in consultation with the Union Territory of Ladakh, has identified a total of twenty-eight (28) places/features, located in the UT of Ladakh, by standard place and feature names on the official map of Survey of India (SoI)," a government statement said. It said formally identifying them on the Survey of India map of the UT of Ladakh aims to facilitate accurate recognition and greater public awareness. Gogra and Hot Spring are among the major strategic locations and were friction points during the 2020 standoff ..
The Centre will provide all possible support to farmers reeling from drought and floods in various states, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said, noting that the country is witnessing adverse effects of climate change. Contingency plans had been prepared and shared with states to guide farmers on suitable crops to grow in a shorter time during low rainfall, with seed banks and alternative arrangements in place, along with advisories issued to state governments, Chouhan told PTI Videos in Nagpur on Saturday. The Maharashtra government has declared drought in 74 per cent of the state. Chouhan said his ministry was in constant touch with the Maharashtra government over the drought situation. He said contingency plans for the affected districts were ready. "We will provide every possible support to the farmers in coordination with the state government," he said. While some states in the country were dealing with floods, others have drought, the minister noted, addi
The government has disbursed Rs 36, 754 crore to beneficiary companies under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes as on June 30 this year, the commerce and industry ministry said on Friday. The government launched the PLI schemes in 2020 for 14 key sectors, with an approved outlay of Rs 1.91 lakh crore, to enhance India's manufacturing capabilities, attract investment, promote exports, generate employment, and reduce import dependence. "As on June 30, 2026, the PLI Schemes have resulted in actual investment of Rs 2.58 lakh crore, against which production/sales of Rs 23.79 lakh crore and exports of Rs 15.53 lakh crore have been recorded. These Schemes have led to the employment generation of over 14.57 lakh (direct and indirect) along with Rs 36,754 crore of cumulative incentives disbursed so far," the DPIIT said. It also said that the pharmaceuticals sector has recorded cumulative sales of over Rs 3.64 lakh crore under the scheme. The scheme has also enabled the domestic .
The government is taking steps to build a harmonised data infrastructure to ensure that information can be systematically discovered, understood, connected and utilised, MoSPI Secretary Saurabh Garg said on Monday. Garg was a addressing a session at AIMA's 53rd National Management Convention here. A harmonised data infrastructure is extremely necessary to ensure that data can be systematically discovered, understood, connected and utilised, said Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, noting that at times two words have different definitions. He said the central as well as state governments are involved in a five-step process to build such infrastructure, especially given the fact that data is the raw material for AI. "Five-step process that we have started both across ministries and departments and states...the first step is to have government data which is harmonised and then we can look at other data in the private sector and others can join in," Garg ..
Government departments are constituting Quick Response Teams (QRT) to ensure a timely response to misleading or fake contents on social media, an official said. There is a need to engage with people through social media in a constructive manner and to ensure that responses to rumours, misinformation, fake content, and misleading posts are issued in a timely manner, the official said. The objective is to promptly scrutinise, coordinate and respond to such content, while effectively monitoring matters related to the works and functions of government departments on social media. The functions and responsibilities of the respective teams include responding to fake/misleading content on social media. Departments such as power, agriculture and commerce have already constituted their QRTs. "Ideally, the response from the ministries should go in two hours of noting such content," the official said, adding that the monitoring of social media and relevant digital platforms would be undertak
The Centre on Friday notified 40 questions - caste, place of Covid vaccination being two of them - to be asked of respondents during the population enumeration phase of the Census, set to begin from September 1 in snow-bound areas, a government order said. The order from Registrar General of India Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan notifies questions such as whether the person belongs to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe and their caste. The population enumeration in Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, will take place from September 1 to 30, according to a gazette notification issued earlier this month. "For the conduct of the above Census, there shall be an option for self-enumeration from August 17 to 31 just before the start of house-to-house population enumeration," it said. In the rest of the country, the population enumeration (PE) will begin next year.
The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre and others on a plea seeking directions to strengthen the fight against drug trafficking, including a time-bound probe and trial of narcotics cases, confiscation of properties of traffickers and creation of a uniform investigation protocol. Observing that the problem is "very serious", a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said coordinated efforts by expert agencies were required to deal with the menace. Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who has filed the petition, told the bench that a similar issue is already pending before the apex court. "The problem is very serious," the bench observed, adding that some kind of a solution has to be there by the expert agencies. Upadhyay said some of the countries, including Singapore, have taken several effective steps to deal with the problem of drug trafficking. The plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, has sought directions to th
The government has slashed the online content takedown time for sensitive matters to 2 hours from the earlier 24 hours given to social media platforms, an official statement said on Thursday. According to the statement, amendments were made on February 10, 2026, in the IT Rules 2021 to strengthen the regulatory framework to address harms arising from synthetically generated information (SGI), including deepfakes and AI-generated content. "Strengthening of timelines for compliance, including reduced timelines for removal of unlawful information upon actual knowledge upon valid reasoned intimation from the Appropriate Government or court orders (timeline reduced from 36 hours to 3 hours) and for grievance redressal (including special categories such as nudity/impersonation etc) (timeline reduced from 72 hours to 36 hours and 24 hours to 2 hours for sensitive matters, respectively)," the statement said. IT Rules mandates the significant social media intermediaries (SSMIs), platforms wi
The government will raise a number of issues, including lapses in tackling of CSAM as well as wrongful action on prominent account during the upcoming meeting with Meta's global team, IT Secretary S Krishnan said on Tuesday, adding that a company at the forefront of technology should have been able to make its systems work as they are supposed to. Meta's global team will be in India on August 5 and 6, Krishnan said. The upcoming meeting is significant as the government has summoned Meta's top global executives after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent Facebook post addressing India's youth and promising stringent action against paper leaks, was briefly restricted on the platform. Meta has also been under regulatory scrutiny over Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) in paid advertisements on Instagram, and the government had earlier slapped a notice on Meta over the issue. "There are a range of issues...the CSAM issue was raised, so what measures have been taken ..
The government on Monday introduced a Bill to replace British era legislation with the objective to include digital and virtual records as admissible evidence in the court of law in sync with digital dependence of the banking system. The Bill was introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha. The new law to be called the Bankers' Books Evidence Act, 2026 is going to repeal or replace the Bankers' Books Evidence Act, 1891. "With the advancement of technology and growth of digital banking, bank records are increasingly created, stored and maintained using contemporary technology (instead of physical record). It has, therefore, become necessary to modernise and strengthen the existing legal framework to meet the requirements of the present banking system," the statement of objects and reasons of the Bill said. The bill proposes to expand the scope of the definition of 'bankers' books' to include all forms of records maintained by banks, whether in physical, ...
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre to ensure that wherever there is a road, there is a properly demarcated, encroachment-free space for pedestrians. A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe asked Additional Solicitor General K M Nararaj, appearing for the Centre, to instruct the authorities concerned to make sure that the space meant for walking is not encroached upon and is properly separated from motor vehicle lanes. "Without any big investment and construction, just ensure that proper demarcation is done of walkers' space. Wherever there is a road, there should be a walkers' space. Do it with a rope or anything and ensure it is not encroached," the bench told Nataraj. The bench gave him two weeks to instruct the authorities while emphasising that pedestrians should have confidence that the space is meant for them and they can walk freely without any threat of moving vehicles. The top court posted the matter for further hearing after two weeks. On June 19,
Since the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East this year, 16 Indian nationals, including 10 seafarers, have lost their lives in the region, the government informed Parliament on Thursday. Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh said this in response to a query from CPI(M) MP John Brittas in the Rajya Sabha. The Ministry of External Affairs was asked the number of Indian seafarers and other Indian nationals killed, injured, stranded or evacuated due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. "Since the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East in 2026, 16 Indian nationals including 10 seafarers have lost their lives in the Middle East (one in Saudi Arabia; two in Kuwait; eight in Oman; one in Iraq; and four in UAE), and 75 Indians have been injured (32 in UAE; 24 in Oman; four in Qatar; 13 in Kuwait; one in Saudi Arabia; and one in Israel)," Singh said. In a separate accident not related to attacks, 12 Indian nationals lost their lives in Ras Laffan gas
The government has proposed to extend the validity of the Pollution Under Control Certificate (PUCC) for up to six-year-old BS-VI-compliant private vehicles to three years instead of the current one year to ease the burden on owners. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), in a draft notification, has said that BS-VI vehicles aged between six and ten years will be required to renew their PUCC certificate and those above 10 years every six years. According to the draft notification, while all motor vehicles complying with BS-IV emission norms will have to renew their PUCC every six months, all motor vehicles complying with BS-I, BS-II and BS-III emission norms will have to renew their PUCC every three months. BS, or Bharat Stage, refers to India's vehicle emission standards that set limits on pollutants, such as carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrocarbons (HC) and particulate matter (PM). The standards are aligned with European emission norms and are enfor
The government on Monday introduced in the Lok Sabha a bill to provide for stricter measures to check paper leaks, amid protests by opposition parties in the House against the police action during the student agitation over the NEET issue. Soon after the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill was introduced by Union Minister Jitendra Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla adjourned the House till 2 pm due to continuing protests by the Opposition. They were demanding a response from the government over the police crackdown on students during the CJP-led July 20 protest march to Parliament. Seeking to amend a two-year-old anti-paper leak law, the bill has been introduced following the over-month-long protest by students over NEET-UG paper leak and other issues. The bill proposes to set up fast-track courts in every state for speedy trials of accused and enhances punishment. According to the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, ..