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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday offered a strong rebuttal to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's remarks in the Lok Sabha on India's foreign policy.

Addressing the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Narendra Modi-led NDA government brought Pakistan and China together. He also said that India could not get any foreign guests to attend this year's Republic Day celebrations.

Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar said, "Rahul Gandhi alleged in Lok Sabha that it is this government which brought Pakistan and China together. Perhaps, some history lessons are in order: In 1963, Pakistan illegally handed over the Shaksgam valley to China; China built the Karakoram highway through PoK in the 1970s."

The Reserve Bank of India will introduce digital rupee based on blockchain technology in 2022, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Tuesday while presenting the Union Budget 2022-2023. RBI is expected to use blockchain technology in introducing what is popularly called Central bank digital currency (CBDC). Digital rupee is expected to give a boost to India’s economy and will help in promoting blockchain technology ecosystem in the country.

Elections to five states which account for a fifth of the nation's population are barely 10 days away but they seemed quite a distance from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget speech.

No desk-thumping references to the usual housing, electricity, cooking gas, toilets numbers; no mention of names of places when projects were listed, be it logistics or ropeways.

Devoid of political feelers, the 90-minute speech showcased a Budget strategy-driven more by economic assumptions than any overt political imperatives, except when it came to reforms.

The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Centre for not taking a stand on a plea seeking that minority status of a community be decided at state level and not at the national level and imposed a fine of Rs 7,500.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M M Sundresh pointed out that the court had on January 7 granted one last chance to the Centre to file an affidavit but the government again failed to take a stand on the issue.

Additional solicitor general KM Nataraj submitted that the draft of the affidavit is ready and there was delay in filing because of the pandemic. But the bench was not convinced and quipped, "Don't make excuses which we find very difficult to accept." The court said the government has to take a stand on the issue and granted it the last opportunity to file an affidavit within four weeks.

Privilege motions were moved by lawmakers from the CPI and CPI(M) on Monday following the New York Times that said Pegasus spyware and a missile system were the centrepieces of a roughly $2 billion deal between India and Israel in 2017.

Information technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw “deliberately misled” Parliament on the alleged purchase and use of Pegasus spyware in India, according to a privilege motion filed by Rajya Sabha member Binoy Viswam of the Communist Party of India (CPI).

Meanwhile, CPI(M) MP V Sivadasan also submitted a notice to move a privilege motion under rule 187 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Rajya Sabha, accusing the government of “misleading” the House on the Pegasus spyware issue.