NEWS

With less than six months left for the assembly elections, the Yogi Adityanath government has received some less than flattering news, as Uttar Pradesh has been ranked the big state with the worst governance.

According to the latest Public Affairs Index, a measure of states’ governance prepared by the Bengaluru-based think-tank Public Affairs Centre, Uttar Pradesh has scored the last rank (18) for the quality of its governance.

The index is a composite score for three broad factors — growth, equity and sustainability — which are based on 43 indicators. 

Kerala has once again been ranked as the state with the best governance, a position it has held ever since PAC started publishing the index five years ago. 

The Supreme Court has said oppression of SCs and STs by upper castes is a “depressing reality” but ruled that if a fair compromise is reached between the victim and the accused prior to conviction under the SC-ST Act attaining finality, the constitutional courts have inherent powers to quash the case, reports Dhananjay Mahapatra.

A bench of CJI N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli annulled a 1994 conviction under SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act on the basis of a compromise reached between the convict and the complainant.

Norms issued on dealing with SC/ST Act cases

In the wake of a sharp rise in prices of petrol and diesel in the country, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government on Wednesday, saying that "inflation is at its peak during Diwali".

Taking to Twitter, Rahul Gandhi wrote in Hindi, which loosely translated to English reads, "It's Diwali. Inflation is at its peak. It's not a joke. I wish the Modi government had a sensitive heart for the public."

Rahul Gandhi and the Congress have accused the government of extortion in the name of taxes on petrol and diesel.

Earlier on Monday, the Congress leader had hit out at the Centre and asked the citizens to be beware of "pickpockets".

PM Narendra Modi had pushed for emergency use listing of Covaxin with the World Health Organisation (WHO) when he met its director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the sidelines of the G20 summit, sources said.

In his address at G20 too, Modi had said that India is ready to produce over 5 billion Covid vaccine doses by the end of next year to help the world in its fight against the pandemic. He had said it was necessary that the WHO approves Indian vaccines at the earliest.

The emergency use listing (EUL) of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin with the UN agency was pending for almost 90-100 days after the company submitted its expression of interest to WHO in April and started rolling submission of data since July. Despite over 12 crore doses of Covaxin administered in the country, even those inoculated with two doses of the jab were unable to travel abroad in the absence of the WHO’s recognition of the vaccine.