Delhi

New Delhi, Jul 5 (PTI) The Supreme Court Friday dismissed a plea which questioned the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in polls and sought cancellation of the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.

A bench headed by Justice R F Nariman termed the PIL filed by lawyer M L Sharma as "devoid of merits" and dismissed it.

"What are you asking for Sharma. You want us to set aside the entire Lok Sabha elections," the bench asked.

New Delhi, Jul 5 (PTI) Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg Friday said the government expects Rs 90,000 crore as dividend from the RBI in the current fiscal.

This is 32 per cent jump from the previous fiscal, when the central bank paid Rs 68,000 crore to the government including Rs 28,000 crore as interim dividend.

This was the highest receipt from the Reserve Bank in a single financial year, exceeding the Rs 65,896 crore received in 2015-16 and Rs 40,659 crore in 2017-18.

New Delhi, Jul 5 (PTI) In a sudden move, the government on Friday removed CBI Additional Director M Nageswar Rao and posted him as a Director General Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guard.

A 1986-batch IPS officer from Odisha cadre, Rao held the position of interim chief of the CBI twice.

According to an official order, he was removed from the post of CBI additional director and posted as a Director General Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guard.

New Delhi, Jul 5 (PTI) A school principal was arrested in southeast Delhi's Jasola area for allegedly raping a teacher, police said Friday.

A case was registered in this regard after the woman approached the Sarita Vihar police station, alleging she was raped by the school principal, they said.

In her complaint, the woman alleged that she was first assaulted by the principal in June 2017 when he called her to take extra classes after school hours, police said.

New Delhi, July 4;  IANS/GANASHAKTI:  Alleging that private passenger trains will start operating within 100 days, the CPI-M has come out strongly against what it says is the government's planned privatisation of Indian Railways.

"The Modi government's second coming is going to be marked by a stepped up privatisation drive. Already the Niti Aayog has announced that 46 public sector enterprises will be sold off or shut down as per a 100 day action plan," said an editorial in CPI-M journal "People's Democracy".

New Delhi, Jul 5 (PTI) A 24-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly raping a six-year-old girl in Dwarka's Sector-23, police said on Friday.

The incident took place on Tuesday afternoon. The girl was standing near her house, when the accused lured the girl by offering her a 'frooti' and took her to a secluded place, police said.

The victim was found in the bushes adjacent to a road and was spotted by a passerby.

New Delhi, Jul 5 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Friday hiked tax on petrol and diesel, raised import duty on gold, levied additional surcharge on super rich and brought a tax on high value cash withdrawals as she sought to spur growth with reduction in corporate tax and sops to housing sector, startups and electric vehicles.

New Delhi, July 4 (PTI) In India, there is one doctor for every 1,457 people as per the country's current population estimate of 1.35 billion, which is lower than the World Health Organisation norm of 1:1000, the government has informed Parliament.

New Delhi, Jul 4 (PTI) A five-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her two juvenile neighbours who lured her with toffees in southwest Delhi's Kapashera area, police said Thursday.

The boys, aged 10 and 11 years, have been apprehended, they said.

The incident took place on Tuesday night at a slum cluster in Kapashera area where the girl lived with her family, including her father who worked as a daily wager, a senior police officer said.

New Delhi, Jul 3 (PTI) The Union government has no plans to repeal sedition law as it is needed to effectively combat anti-national, secessionist and terrorist elements, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai told Rajya Sabha Wednesday.

The minister made the statement in reply to a written question by TRS MP Banda Prakash who had asked if the government was mulling to scrap sedition law "which is a colonial-era law applicable on free citizens of the Republic".