Indian Sub-continent

PTI; Dhaka, Jul 15 : India today signed a revised travel agreement with Bangladesh to ease visa restrictions for citizens from the neighbouring country. The agreement was signed between the two countries in Dhaka in presence of visiting Home Minister Rajnath Singh and his counterpart Asaduzzaman Khan.

Singh is here on a three-day visit.

Under the Revised Travel Arrangement (RTA)-2018, freedom fighters and elderly Bangladeshi nationals will get five year multiple visa from India, Daily Star reported.

New Delhi, July 14 : India’s trade deficit widened to its highest in more than five years in June, the trade ministry said on Friday.

The deficit is claimed to have been caused by a surge in oil imports despite an increase in merchandise exports.

The trade deficit widened to $16.6 billion that surged 56.61 percent to $12.73 billion. In May the trade deficit stood at $14.62 billion the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement. India’s gold imports fell 2.8 percent year-on-year to $2.39 billion in June from a year ago, the statement said.

PTI; Dhaka, Jul 14 : India inaugurated its largest visa centre in the world in the Bangladeshi capital today to reduce the waiting time for applicants.

Bangladeshis constitute one of the largest number of visitors from a single country to India. Last year, India the country issued 1.4 million visas to Bangladeshi nationals, BD News reported.

Visiting Home Minister Rajanth Singh, who is here on a three-day visit inaugurated the centre along with his Bangladeshi counterpart Asaduzzaman Khan.

PTI; New Delhi, Jul 12 : Accusing the government of fusing "neo-liberalism" and "Hindutva" in education, the CPI(M) today called upon students, teachers and people in general to oppose the Centre's education policies.

PTI; Kolkata, July 12 : CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury today said that law should be allowed to take its own course in the case of alleged child racket by Missionaries of Charity (MoC).

New Delhi, July 12 : Retail inflation rate accelerated to a five-month high of 5.0 percent in June, government data showed on Thursday, driven by higher fuel prices and a depreciating rupee.

June was the eighth straight month in which inflation was higher than the central bank's medium-term target of 4 percent. Economists polled by news agency Reuters had forecast June's annual increase in the consumer price index at 5.30 percent, compared with May's 4.87 percent. 

Kuldeep Singh Sengar has been charged for raping a teenager whose complains were ignored by police until she tried to set herself alight.

Her father, who kept pursuing her case, was detained by police and severely beaten. He later died from his injuries.

In April, nearly a year after her assault, the girl tried to set herself on fire outside the home of Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

The sense of impunity enjoyed by Sengar, a powerful Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) MLA, and his brother, sparked protests across India demanding justice.

Ministry of Human Resources has decided to give Institute of eminence (IoE) award to Jio Institute, which does not exists.

The Jio institute will be owned by the Reliance Foundation, and will start in 3 years time. It has been learnt that The Government of India will provide 1000 crores funding to this privately held institute.

In a statement issued on July 10, Students Federation of India called it a “daylight robbery of public resource”.

PTI; Colombo, Jul 11 : The Sri Lankan Cabinet has unanimously approved a move to bring back capital punishment for drug-related crimes, a senior minister has said.

Gamini Jayawickrema Perera, Minister of the Buddhist Order said that President Maithripala Sirisena had recently stated that he was under pressure to re-introduce capital punishment as a deterrent to serious crimes.

PTI; Kolkata, July 9 : The West Bengal CID has identified some linkmen in different metro cities, who helped the five Chinese nationals arrested with drugs here last week, a senior official said today.

The Chinese nationals were arrested outside Kolkata railway station on June 30, after the GRP seized 197 kg of 'party drug' amphetamine, worth Rs 40 crore. Mobile phones, a laptop, Chinese currency and train tickets were also seized from them.