India

New Delhi, Jul 23 (PTI); The Supreme Court today lifted a blanket ban on rallies, dharnas or sit-ins at the Jantar Mantar and Boat Club areas here, saying there could not be an "absolute" ban on protests in such localities.

The top court also asked the Centre to frame guidelines within two months for according sanctions to such events.

A bench of justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said, "There is a need to strike a balance between conflicting rights such as the right to protest and the right of citizens to live peacefully."

By Ashwini Shrivastava

New Delhi, Jul 23 (PTI); The Finance Ministry has refused to share copy of three reports on the quantum of black money held by Indians inside the country and abroad, saying its disclosure would cause a breach of privilege of Parliament.

The then UPA government had in 2011 commissioned these studies by Delhi-based National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) and National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) as well as the National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM) in Faridabad.

The number of people killed on Indian roads due to pot holes has been estimated to be 3,597 in the year 2017, a more than 50% rise compared to 2016.

Compare this with the number of people killed in terrorist attack: 803, that includes Naxal terrorists, security personnel and civilians.

NEW DELHI, India, July 23 (NNN-PTI) - India's main opposition Congress party, on Sunday, named its chief, Rahul Gandhi, as the grand old outfit's prime ministerial candidate, for next year's general elections.

"Naturally, the Congress president would be the only face to be projected. The Congress would fight this election by putting forward our leader," party spokesman, R.S. Surjewala, told the media in Delhi.

Chandigarh, Jul 22 (PTI); Police today arrested seven more accused in connection with the alleged rape of a 22-year-old woman from Chandigarh by 40 men for four consecutive days at a guest house in Morni area of Haryana's Panchkula district, officials said today.

They said that while accused Sahib Singh, a resident of Panchkula was arrested earlier, six more were nabbed later in the day.

Jaipur, Jul 21 (PTI); A 19-year old youth was today given death penalty by a court for raping a seven-month-old child in Alwar district of Rajasthan in May, the first such sentencing in the state after a law entailing capital punishment to those convicted of raping a child below 12 years of age came into force, according to police.

A special court hearing cases of SC/ST Act and POCSO Act in Alwar sentenced to death Pintu, who was found guilty of raping the infant in Laxmangarh area in Alwar on May 9.

Mumbai, Jul 21 (PTI); Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said today that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reply to the Lok Sabha debate on the no-confidence motion was "full of hatred".

"The country cannot run on hatred. Our country is a family. Modi's speech in the Lok Sabha yesterday was full of hatred. The need of the hour is to protect the country and its Constitution," Sibal said at a 'Bharat Bachao' meeting organised here by the Youth Congress.

"It is not the BJP, but the RSS that is ruling the country," he alleged.

New Delhi, Jul 20 (PTI); The Supreme Court Collegium has brushed aside the reservations of the government over its decision to elevate Uttarakhand Chief Justice K M Joseph to the apex court as a judge and reiterated his name along with two other recommendations.

The Collegium said "nothing adverse" regarding "suitability" of Justice Joseph has been pointed out in two letters of Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

New Delhi, Jul 19 (PTI) Voicing dissatisfaction over the steps taken by the Uttarakhand government to clean the Ganga, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) today said the situation was extraordinarily bad and hardly anything effective has been done to clean the river.

A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice A K Goel said despite claims by authorities, the work done on the ground for Ganga rejuvenation was not adequate and regular monitoring was required to improve the situation.

New Delhi, July 18 (PTI) The Government today said it is concerned about the imposition of additional duties by the US on items from India and has moved the WTO Appellate disputes settlement committee which will hear both sides on July 19 and 20.

Replying to supplementaries in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry C R Chaudhary said India as a retaliatory action to the US has also slapped additional duties of 10 to 20 per cent on as many as 29 items which would come into force on August 4.