05 March 2025
Chinese research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 03 entered the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) through the Sunda Strait of Indonesia on Monday morning. “The vessel is expected to reach the Maldives by around the first week of February,” an Indian defence establishment official said.
The Chinese vessel is headed towards the Maldives after Sri Lanka refused permission for it to dock at one of its ports. “The Indian Navy is closely monitoring its movements,” the official said.
The majority of the over 20,000 responses received by the high-level committee on ‘One Nation, One Election’ favoured the idea of holding simultaneous elections, the Union Law Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
The committee chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind held its third meeting on Sunday, the ministry said. The committee had invited suggestions from the public through a public notice published on January 5, seeking responses till January 15. The committee also received feedback through its website.
The Delhi high court on Monday set aside an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) directing the income-tax department to disclose information related to the grant of tax exemption status to the PM CARES Fund to Girish Mittal, a right to information applicant, .
The Income Tax Act prevails over the RTI Act, the court held, adding that information relating to an assessee could only be supplied subject to special circumstances. The order was passed in an appeal by the income-tax department against the April 2022 order directing it to provide copies of the documents submitted in the exemption application filed by the PM CARES Fund.
In the aftermath of the revelation that the Indian Mission in Abu Dhabi invited a Taliban representative to India's Republic Day celebration in the UAE, it has come to light that the invitation was specifically addressed to the Chargé d'Affaires (CdA) of the Embassy of the 'Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.'
This nomenclature refers to the previous Afghan administration led by President Ashraf Ghani, which collapsed on August 15, 2021, as the Taliban seized control of Kabul. The then-Afghan President Ghani fled his country on that day, paving the way for the Taliban to come back to power after a gap of 2 decades. India, like many other nations, does not officially recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government in Afghanistan but maintains a "technical office" for humanitarian support within the country.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday claimed that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is trying to instigate situations which caused a massacre in the state in 1983 and said that the government will deploy a massive Commando Battalion if it sees any unrest during the Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay yatra.
Rahul Gandhi along with other Congress leaders are in Assam with the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra and they have announced that on Monday, they’ll visit the historic Batadrava Than, the birthplace of the great Assamese saint and social reformer Srimanta Sankaradeva.
