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At least one of the reasons cited by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while announcing the merger of public sector banks is untenable.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s latest encounter with US President Donald Trump in France laid to rest, for the time being, the threat of the US inserting itself into India-Pakistan. During media interaction in advance of the talks, Modi was direct, explicit and firm in conveying that whatever issues divided India and Pakistan, they would be resolved bilaterally; that there was no need to bother third countries on this score.

Cyril Radcliffe, sitting in a London hotel, is said to have knifed India into two with the help of a map lying in front of him. What was the rationale behind the way he wielded his knife? None whatever. Veteran journalist, the late Kuldip Nayar, recalled Radcliffe as telling him: “I gave you Lahore. But then I realized that Pakistan would not have any large city. I had already earmarked Calcutta for India.” So he gave Lahore to Pakistan. Such an absurd rationale is shocking. But it is true.

NDA Union Government in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued a gazette notification under sub-rule (4) of rule 3 of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, setting in motion the process of preparation and updating of the Population Register from April 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020 throughout the country except Assam where the process is already underway currently. There will be field work for house to house enumeration for collection of information relating to all persons who are usually residing within the jurisdiction of Local Registrar. Accordingly, Registrar General of Citizen Registration will accomplish the job of National Population Register (NPR).

NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force (IAF) is examining a proposal to purchase at least 33 Russian fighter jets to replace aircraft either damaged in accidents or taken out of service in recent years.

WASHINGTON: White House National Security Adviser John Bolton has been kept out of any discussions related to the ongoing US-Taliban negotiations because his opposition to diplomacy has irritated President Donald Trump, US media reported.

Protests and rallies being planned with admirable speed by the People’s Assembly and allies will see significant turnouts up and down the United Kingdom in coming days.

Vote bank politics has become a common practice for the political parties of the country — cutting across ideologies. In India, secularism means that everyone has the right to practice and follow his/her religious principles — unlike the European version which means separation between the state and the Church. Although, the reality is that today the idea of secularism has just become a piece of paper with the political parties exploiting it for appeasing their own vote banks. The recent comments of union minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar that the mindset of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has changed after its victory from Wayanad is really distasteful.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Pala in Kottayam district is not an assembly constituency that luxuriates in its obscurity. It has all pretensions to national and international attention. The constituency’s unique selling point (USP) is the fact that it was represented by Kerala Congress(Mani) chairman, K. M. Mani for 54 years -a world record. A by-election has been necessitated by the passing away of the veteran who bestrode the constituency like a Colossus.

BHOPAL: All is not well in Madhya Pradesh Congress. Followers of various factional leaders are openly holding out threat that if their boss is not appointed as the President of the state Congress they may resort to other options. Most vociferous are the followers of Jyotiraditya Scindia. Many of them have gone to the extent of saying that they along with hundreds of followers may resign en mass if Scindia is not chosen for the top organisational post. At present Kamal Nath holds both the posts – Chief Minister and PCC Chief.