Page 2 - National News

Centre releases additional tax devolution of ₹1.09 trillion to states

The finance ministry on Saturday said the Centre has released additional instalment of tax devolution to state governments amounting to Rs 1.09 lakh crore, which is in addition to the normal monthly amount. Currently, 41 per cent of taxes collected by the Centre is devolved in 14 instalments among states during a fiscal year. "The Union government has released additional instalment of tax devolution to state governments amounting to Rs 1,09,019 crore on 1st August 2026, which is in addition to the normal monthly devolution to be released on 10th August 2026," the ministry said in a statement.

LPG imports from US hit record high in July amid West Asia disruption

The US accounted for over 73 per cent of India's LPG imports in July as supplies from Gulf producers remained constrained amid the West Asia conflict

Govt extends IFSC Authority Chairman K Rajaraman's tenure till Oct 2028

: The government has extended the tenure of the Chairman of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), K Rajaraman, for 27 months. The Central Government hereby re-appoints K Rajaraman to the post of Chairperson, IFSCA, for a period beyond July 31, 2026 till attaining the age of 65 years, or until further orders, whichever is earlier, the finance ministry said in a gazette notification dated July 30. Rajaraman will be attaining 65 years on October 24, 2028. He was appointed in 2023 for an initial period of three years. Prior to appointment as the Chairman, Rajaraman was Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, Government of India. IFSCA was established in April 2020 under the International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019. It is headquartered at GIFT City, Gandhinagar. IFSCA is a unified authority for the development and regulation of financial products, financial services and financial institutions in the International Financial Services Cen

SC grants bail to two UAPA accused after 12 yrs, cites Article 21 violation

Top court says prolonged incarceration without any realistic prospect of an early trial conclusion violates the fundamental right to personal liberty

Govt defines letter, parcel categories; notifies new Speed Post rates

Any written, drawn, printed, or a package containing complimentary items or items having no resale value will fall under the letter category, and the rest of the items will be classified as parcel items, a government notification clarifying postal items said on Monday. The Department of Post has also notified rates of 24 Speed Post and 48 Speed Post for retail and bulk customers. According to the notification, banking, financial services and insurance items like welcome kits or letters, passbooks, cheque books, bank statements, plastic cards, debit cards and credit cards will fall under the category of letter. The letter category will also include government documents such as PAN Cards, Aadhaar cards, Electoral Photo Identity cards, passports, driving licenses and items, up to 500 grams, like Rakhi envelopes or packages, greeting cards or packages, except merchandise or commercial items. All items other than the items referred to in Note 1 shall be dealt with under parcel category,

Maharashtra to receive second RKVY instalment of ₹335 crore from Centre

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday said the Maharashtra government will get the second instalment of Rs 335 crore under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY). According to an official statement, the minister chaired a virtual review meeting to assess the utilisation of funds released under the RKVY and to consider the issuance of the Second Installment (Second Mother Sanction) to the Government of Maharashtra. The meeting was attended by Dattatray Bharane, Minister of Agriculture, Government of Maharashtra, senior officials of the Department of Agriculture, Government of India, and officers of the Government of Maharashtra. During the review, Chouhan said the Centre had earlier released Rs 335 crore as the first installment under RKVY to Maharashtra. The state has utilised about Rs 260 crore, exceeding the prescribed 75 per cent utilisation benchmark, thereby becoming eligible for the second installment. He said the process for release of the second ...

Gujarat unveils shipbuilding policy, eyes more than ₹27,000 cr investment

The Gujarat government on Monday launched its shipbuilding policy aimed at developing the state into India's leading maritime manufacturing hub through fiscal incentives, infrastructure development and skill creation, an official said. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel launched the Gujarat Shipbuilding and Repair Policy 2026, which envisages setting up two Integrated Mega Shipbuilding Parks, increasing the state's shipbuilding capacity to more than 50 lakh Deadweight Tonnage (DWT) and attracting investments worth over Rs 27,000 crore, a government release stated. DWT is the maximum weight a ship can carry safely. The policy also aims to provide skill development and capacity-building training to over five lakh people. Speaking at the launch, Patel said, "This policy will create a globally competitive shipbuilding ecosystem in Gujarat and strengthen the state's role in achieving the vision of Viksit Gujarat 2047 and Aatmanirbhar Bharat." According to the state government, the policy .

Delhi SIR: Digitisation crosses 6.6 million, covers over 45% of electors

Digitisation of enumeration forms under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Delhi's electoral rolls crossed the 66-lakh mark on Saturday, while the door-to-door distribution exercise was virtually complete, with nearly all electors having received enumeration forms. According to the Chief Electoral Officer's status report, 66,06,924 enumeration forms have been digitised, covering 45.53 per cent of Delhi's 1,45,10,298 electors. Outer North continued to lead all districts in digitisation with 59.36 per cent of forms uploaded, followed by South West (55.67 per cent), North West (52.29 per cent), North Delhi (51.94 per cent) and Central North (50.60 per cent). At the other end, South East recorded the lowest digitisation at 31.94 per cent, followed by East (37.50 per cent) and South (38.88 per cent). The distribution of enumeration forms also edged closer to completion, with 1,44,89,074 forms distributed, covering 99.85 per cent of Delhi's electorate. Eight districts - South East,

Mizoram govt, church bodies to move Centre to change FCRA amendment bill

The Mizoram government and the state's apex church bodies on Saturday decided to jointly submit a memorandum to the Centre, recommending changes to the proposed Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, maintaining that the legislation in its present form is unacceptable. The decision was taken at a meeting between Chief Minister Lalduhoma and leaders of the Mizoram Kohhran Hruaitute Committee (MKHC) and the Council of Churches in Mizoram (CCM) at the CM's official residence. During the meeting, the participants held detailed discussions on the proposed amendments to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) and unanimously expressed the view that the bill, in its current form, was unacceptable, officials said. It was decided that the state government would prepare a memorandum recommending amendments to the proposed legislation. The meeting also resolved that Lalduhoma would seek an appointment with Union Home Minister Amit Shah to facilitate a visit by a join

First phase of SIR completed in Haryana, draft electoral roll on July 31

The draft electoral roll will be published on July 31 as the first phase of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has been completed in Haryana. Haryana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) A Sreenivas said here on Saturday that 20,629 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) distributed enumeration forms to more than 2.06 crore electors, out of which about 1.72 crore enumeration forms have been digitised. However, the names of over 33.84 lakh could not be recorded. Of these, nearly 13.75 lakh had permanently shifted, 7.66 lakh were found to have passed away, 2.04 lakh were already registered as electors, 9.36 lakh were found absent, while nearly 1 lakh electors did not submit their enumeration forms due to other reasons. Sreenivas said the draft electoral roll will be published on July 31 and will be made available on the official website and at all designated publication centres. He said that claims and objections may be filed from July 31 to August 30. If the name of any elector does not appear in the .

CEC says SIR made voter rolls more accurate, India's polls more credible

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Saturday described India's electoral system as one of the most transparent and credible in the world and asserted the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) had made voter lists more accurate and reliable. Addressing an interaction with booth-level officers (BLOs) here, he said the Election Commission of India is focusing on providing voter services to the elderly, persons with disabilities, migrant workers, illiterate citizens, and disadvantaged communities so that no eligible citizen is deprived of voting. "It is also being ensured that no ineligible citizen's name is included in the voter list. To this end, the SIR campaign was successfully conducted. Under the SIR process, voter lists have been made more accurate and reliable by identifying absentee, deceased, transferred, duplicate, and ineligible voters," he asserted. The purification of the electoral roll through SIR is the constitutional obligation of the Election Commission in accordan

Delhi court rejects bail pleas of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam again

A court here on Saturday rejected the bail applications of student activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the larger-conspiracy case linked to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, saying it had "no option but to follow" the Supreme Court's January 5 order and, therefore, could neither entertain the pleas nor grant them the relief. Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai said the bail pleas are not even maintainable in the trial court. The judge said, "This court has no option but to follow the judgment dated January 5, 2026, as passed by the Supreme Court, whereby the petitions of both the applicants were dismissed. Following the said order of the Supreme Court, this court cannot entertain the applications and grant bail to the applicants. In fact, the applications are not maintainable and they are hereby dismissed." The court said although the applicants had argued that there was a change in circumstances following a division bench judgment of the top court in the case of Syed ...

Tripura minister praises TSCBL for 66% credit-deposit ratio in FY26

Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy on Saturday lauded the Tripura State Cooperative Bank Ltd (TSCBL) for recording the highest credit deposit ratio (CDR) of 66 per cent in the 2025-26 fiscal among the lenders operating in the northeastern state. The state's overall CDR stands at 49 per cent as against the national average of 83 per cent, officials said. "TSCBL has been relentlessly working to boost grassroots-level banking system across the state. Due to the all-out efforts to ensure credit flow to small and micro enterprises, the bank's CDR has increased to 66 per cent during 2025-26," the minister told reporters here on the sidelines of the lender's 43rd annual general meeting. The minister said that TSCBL's net profit has risen from Rs 36 crore in 2024-25 to Rs 70 crore in 2025-26. On future expansion plans, TSCBL Chairman Nagadhiraj Datta said the bank plans to open six more branches by September, taking the total branches to 73 across Tripura.

Mega plans afoot as Prez Murmu's village set for PM Modi's historic visit

Murmu's village in Odisha's Rairangpur decks up for unprecedented PM visit

Stakeholders back Bill to decriminalise politics, says panel chief Sarangi

The joint committee of Parliament examining the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, 2025, on removal of PMs, CMs and ministers from office if they are detained for over 30 days for serious crimes has received support and suggestions on the proposed legislation and found no resistance to its intent to decriminalise politics, panel chairman and BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi said on Wednesday. The 30-member committee held a stakeholders' meet at the Delhi Secretariat with Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, departments of Law and Home of the Delhi government, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and NGO Common Cause. Addressing a press conference, Sarangi said that the stakeholders extended support to the bill and also submitted some written comments and suggestions. Sarangi said the committee has held 11 meetings so far and visited nine states and Union Territories, including Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Punjab. She claimed

Akal Takht declares Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann 'Guru Dokhi', summons MLAs

The Sikh clergy at the Akal Takht on Monday declared Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann 'Guru Dokhi' (anti-Guru) and 'Khalsa Panth virodhi' (anti-Khalsa panth), directing the Sikh community to "shun ties" with him as he was accused of lying regarding a purported objectionable video that hurt Sikh sentiments. The Akal Takht is the highest temporal seat of Sikhs. The Sikh clergy also summoned all Sikh MLAs, regardless of party affiliation, from the state and the Punjab Cabinet before the Akal Takht on June 29 in connection with an anti-sacrilege law. Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargajj pronounced the edict from the 'faseel' (podium of the Akal Takht) after the 'five Singh Sahiban' (Sikh clergy) held a meeting in Amritsar. The edict followed a meeting with various Sikh bodies, which was convened to discuss issues including the anti-sacrilege law--Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act, 2026. During the meeting, serious deliberations were held regarding a

A-I crash final report delay expected due to unfinished engine analysis

The GE Aerospace-made engines have been at the ​centre of the probe into the crash of the Air India plane shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025

CBSE uses same OSM tool for Class 12 rechecks; results expected by end-June

The board is continuing to use Coempt's on-screen marking platform for re-evaluation while keeping examination data and records under its own control

After mayor's exit, Bengal govt asks why KMC board should not be dissolved

The West Bengal government has asked the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to explain why its board should not be dissolved, issuing a show-cause notice after senior TMC leader Firhad Hakim resigned as mayor and plunging the city's civic administration into fresh uncertainty. The Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Department served a show-cause notice on the KMC under provisions of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act, 1980, directing it to explain within three days why action should not be initiated against the civic body. The move came less than 24 hours after Hakim quit as mayor on Friday, saying he was no longer in a position to function effectively and did not wish to continue merely occupying the chair without authority. In the notice, the BJP government contended that the civic body was failing to discharge its obligations towards Kolkata's residents and that the resignation of the mayor could adversely affect the normal functioning of the corporation and delivery of

Education woes draw students, parents to CJP protest at Jantar Mantar

School students, college-goers, competitive exam aspirants and parents were among those who gathered at Jantar Mantar here on Saturday for a protest organised by the supporters of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), with many saying concerns over the education system had brought them to the demonstration. The crowds that started assembling from Saturday morning, kept swelling through the day. Several participants who spoke to PTI said recurring controversies around examinations, uncertainty over results and a lack of accountability from authorities have shaken their confidence in the system. Some also expressed disappointment with both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as the opposition parties, saying issues affecting young people are not receiving adequate attention. Parents accompanying children said the concerns extend beyond students. Nusrat Parveen, who attended the protest with her three daughters, said she has seen the pressure students face while preparing for .