Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged a more conciliatory approach towards troubled Kashmir on Tuesday, saying problems can be solved by “embracing” the people rather than resorting to abuse or bullets.
Modi’s comment as part of his Independence Day speech signals a possible shift in his policy towards Kashmir, where the government has been pursuing a tough line against a surge in street violence that has killed about 100 people over the past year.
Source: Hindustan Times
Their ties already strained over the two-month Doklam standoff in the east, boat patrols of Indian and Chinese armies clashed on the Pangong lake in Ladakh Tuesday. And for the first time since 2005, the People’s Liberation Army declined the Indian invitation to participate in ceremonial border meetings on the occasion of Independence Day.
Source: The Indian Express
With the threat of an economically and militarily assertive China looming before the US and India, US President Donald Trump chose India's Independence Day to signal that Washington has New Delhi's back by announcing the two countries ''will elevate their strategic consultations.''
The US President called Prime Minister Narendra Modi amid domestic political turmoil in both countries (Trump buffeted over his softballing of white extremism in Charlottsville and Modi rocked by the Gorakhpur tragedy) ostensibly to congratulate Indians on the country's Independence Day celebration.
Source: The Times of India
Many madrasas across Uttar Pradesh defied on Tuesday defied a controversial state government diktat that asked staff and students at the Islamic educational institutions to sing the national anthem and videograph Independence Day celebrations.
In Kanpur, Meerut and Bareilly, three of the biggest madrasa centres in the state, students sang Saare Jahan Se Achha, a 20th century patriotic song penned by the poet Mohammad Iqbal and didn’t record proceedings, saying they didn’t want to give proof of their patriotism. (Live updates)
Source: Hindustan Times
Prosecution of tax cheats more than doubled in the three years since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over, and more and more suspected evaders are paying up instead of resorting to long-drawn court battles, official figures show.
In a country where prosecution of tax crimes is low and conviction rare, the number of cases filed against tax cheats stood at 2,473 between 2014-15 and 2016-17, up from 1,133 cases filed during the three years before that.
Source: Hindustan Times
University of Hyderabad student Rohith Vemula committed suicide of his own volition and the varsity's act of expelling him and four other students from the hostel did not become a trigger for him to end his life, an inquiry commission has said.
“He was frustrated for the reasons best known to him...He also wrote that he was all alone from childhood and was an unappreciated man. This also indicates his frustration. He did not blame anybody for his suicide,” said the report of the one-man judicial commission under former Allahabad high court judge Justice A K Roopanwal, set up by the HRD ministry.
Source: The Times of India
Hours after she hailed the united stand of J&K mainstream parties on Article 35A saying “when it comes to safeguarding our status, we are one… like a fist’’, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks Tuesday that separatism can only be defeated by embracing Kashmiris and not through violence.
Source: The Indian Express
Defying a directive issued by the CPI(M)-led government in Kerala, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday hoisted the national flag at a government-aided school in Palakkad district.
Source: The Indian Express
A row erupted in Tripura on Tuesday when Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who heads a Left Front government in the state, alleged that Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) refused to broadcast his Independence Day address unless he “reshaped” it.
A PTI report from Agartala quoted a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office: “The Chief Minister clearly stated that he would not change a single word and described it as unprecedented, undemocratic, autocratic and intolerant step.”
Source: The Indian Express
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