Indian troops begin withdrawal from Maldives
Indian troops stationed in the Maldives have begun withdrawing from the island nation, its defence authorities said, in line with President Mohamed Muizzu’s ‘India out’ promise to his supporters. Last month, the Ministry of External Affairs said a technical team from India had reached the Maldives to replace the troops that were stationed to operate the India-gifted aircraft and coppers. The deployment of a technical crew indicated that Male and New Delhi had reached a compromise after many rounds of bilateral discussion following Mr. Muizzu’s relentless demand that Indian troops leave the island nation.
Muslim bodies condemn CAA notification, want it repealed
In a show of strength, Muslim bodies have “vehemently condemned” the notification of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by the Centre, four years after the Act was passed by Parliament in December 2019. They have called for the Act to be repealed as it is “discriminatory in nature”. Among the signatories are top officials of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith, Milli Council, and Imarat-e-Shariah.
Panel recommends law to regulate Big Tech firms
The Committee on Digital Competition Law, formed by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs last February, released its report on March 12, recommending legislation to regulate the market power of Big Tech firms like Google and Meta. The Competition Act of 2002 “intervenes after the occurrence of an anti-competitive conduct,” the committee said. “Such a framework was designed at a time when the extent and pace of digitalisation as is witnessed today could not be foreseen.” The recommendations, if implemented, would better equip the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to rule on competition matters for tech firms.
CAA won’t impact citizenship of Indian Muslims, says Centre
In a bid to allay the fears of Muslims after the rules of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) were notified a day ago, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that “no Indian citizen would be asked to produce any document to prove his citizenship after this Act.” The MHA, in a press note titled “positive narrative on CAA, 2019”, has answered eight questions regarding its impact on Islam and Muslims. The document was pulled down from government’s website late on March 12.
India world’s top arms importer between 2019-23: SIPRI
India was the world’s top arms importer for the period 2019-23 with imports having gone up by 4.7% compared to the period 2014-18, according to the Swedish think tank, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). At the same time, arms imports by European countries increased by 94% between 2014–18 and 2019–23, the report said, which comes in the backdrop of the war in Ukraine. In the interim budget presented in February for financial year 2024-25, the total allocation for the Defence Ministry was at ₹6.2 lakh crore of which the capital allocation, for new procurements, was ₹1.72 lakh crore, 5.78% higher than the Budget Estimates of last year.
Supreme Court asks Centre to give Kerala a financial fillip as a ‘one-time measure’
The Supreme Court urged the Centre to give Kerala a one-time package to tide over its current financial crisis as a “special case” before March 31. An initially reluctant Centre, represented by Attorney General R. Venkataramani and Additional Solicitor General N. Venkataraman, who said a “bail-out package is impossible”, relented to discuss the issue with the government and report back to the court on March 13.
India has said that blocking evidence-based proposals in the U.N. Security Council to blacklist global terrorists without justification smacks of “double-speak” in dealing with the scourge, a veiled reference to China that has put holds on bids to sanction Pakistan-based terrorists. “Let us turn to the subsidiary bodies inhabiting a subterranean world, with their own custom-made working methods and obscure practices which do not find any legal basis in the Charter or any of the Council’s resolutions,” India’s Permanent Representative to the U.N. Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj said.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat has told the Supreme Court that expelled Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra’s defence that she shared her “confidential” Lok Sabha login credentials with Dubai-based business tycoon Darshan Hiranandani to help her type her questions is “unfathomable”. The Secretariat said Ms. Moitra’s login credentials, that is, user ID and password for the Lok Sabha Members’ Portal, were used 47 times from the IP address belonging to Mr. Hiranandani, including when she was not in Dubai.
Rahul Gandhi accuses BJP of making Adivasis homeless as yatra enters Maharashtra
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of taking away “jal, jungle, and jamin” (water, forests, and land) from tribals and transferring them to two corporate entities, making the Adivasis homeless. He criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for granting a loan waiver of ₹16 lakh crore to 22 industrialists while no relief has been provided for tribals, Dalits, and the poor. The amount was equivalent to the outlay for MGNREGS (rural employment scheme) for 24 years, as in one year, ₹65,000 crore is spent on the scheme, he said.
PM flags off 10 new Vande Bharat trains; dedicates projects worth over ₹1 lakh cr. from Gujarat
Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation and laid the foundation stone of various development projects worth over ₹1.06 lakh crore from Ahmedabad in Gujarat. Of these, projects worth around ₹85,000 crore are dedicated to railways. He also flagged off 10 new Vande Bharat trains from Ahmedabad to Mumbai Central, Secunderabad to Visakhapatnam, Mysuru to Dr. MGR Central (Chennai), Patna to Lucknow, New Jalpaiguri to Patna, Puri to Visakhapatnam, Lucknow to Dehradun, Kalaburagi to Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal Bengaluru, Ranchi to Varanasi and Khajuraho to Delhi (Nizamuddin).
Airlines damaged luggage of one in every two flyers: survey
In the last two years, every one in two flyers in India had experienced damaged baggage at least once, as per a survey by LocalCircles. In the same period, every two in five flyers in India had their baggage delayed or lost by an airline at least once. Moreover, one in four flyers whose baggage was lost/delayed/damaged by an airline said that when they reached out to complain, customer service and the responsiveness of the airline was poor or pathetic.
