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NEW DELHI : The government on Tuesday temporarily restricted access to the Telegram messaging app ahead of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination, with the National Testing Agency saying the measure was aimed at tackling cheating rackets. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), acting on recommendations made by the National Testing Agency (NTA), has issued a direction under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, restricting access to the Telegram platform in India for a defined and limited period ending June 22, 2026 covering the day of the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination and its immediate aftermath. A separate direction requires Telegram to disable in India the message-editing feature for already-posted messages for a defined period ending June 30, 2026 addressing the specific structural feature through which the platform has been used to fabricate after-the-event “paper leak” evidence in respect of national examinations, the NTA said in a statement. “Both measures have been taken in the interest of public order, in response to the organised use of the platform by cheating rackets to defraud candidates appearing for the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination scheduled on 21 June 2026,” the NTA said. The agency expressed its gratitude to MeitY for what it described as a “timely action” taken in the interest of students and said it would help ensure the conduct of “safe and secure examinations” on June 21. The medical-entrance examination held on May 3 was cancelled amidst allegations of irregularities, leaving lakhs of aspirants in despair. The re-test is scheduled to be held on June 21. (Source: PTI)      

NEW DELHI : The rebellion in the Trinamool Congress appeared to reach a crescendo on Sunday as dissident MPs announced their merger with the Nationalist Citizens Party and met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking a separate seating arrangement in the House. Speaking to reporters after meeting the Speaker, rebel MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar claimed that two-thirds of the TMC’s Lok Sabha members had submitted a letter seeking recognition as a separate group. “Two-thirds MPs of TMC have given a letter to the Speaker for a separate seating arrangement. We will merge with the Nationalist Citizens Party and support the NDA,” she said. Senior TMC leader and Lok Sabha MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay said the dissident camp had already merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party, which he described as a regional party. The Nationalist Citizens Party is a lesser-known registered, unrecognised party from Tripura. Asked about the competing claim of the Mamata Banerjee-led faction, Bandyopadhyay said the issue of who constitutes the “real TMC” would be decided by the courts, and added that they would claim the party’s electoral symbol of two flowers. “Court will decide later who is the real TMC. We met the Speaker and gave him our request,” he said. The development came as TMC leaders Kirti Azad and Sagarika Ghosh also met Speaker Birla on Sunday and submitted a letter by TMC Lok Sabha leader Abhishek Banerjee, urging him not to accord any recognition to any purported separate faction, arguing that the Constitution does not permit the formation of a separate group within an existing political party. The letter dated June 10, which was sent through email earlier, said that the anti-defection law does not permit such a split.          

NEW DELHI : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday directed the high-level committee on demographic change to study the shift in population structure in border districts, officials said. Chairing the meeting of the committee, Shah also asked it to visit border areas, metro cities and industrial towns for an assessment of changes because of illegal migration and other unnatural causes, they said. The Home Ministry had formed the high-level committee to assess demographic changes across India due to “illegal immigration and other unnatural causes” and suggest measures to address these challenges. The Committee is headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar and includes the census commissioner, along with retired IAS officer Durga Shankar Mishra, ex-IPS officer Balaji Srivastava and Dr Shamika Ravi as members. The joint secretary (foreigners-l), Ministry of Home Affairs, is the member secretary of this committee. Announcing the formation of the committee last month, Shah had emphasised that demographic change is a serious issue linked not only to the country’s sovereignty but also to national security, law and order, profound changes in social structure and the preservation of tribal society. “This committee will conduct a comprehensive assessment of demographic changes occurring across India due to illegal immigration and other unnatural causes, analyse patterns of abnormal population shifts at the levels of religious and social communities, and present a planned and time-bound solution for the same,” he had said. The high-level committee will conduct a scientific evaluation of the demographic changes taking place in different regions of the country due to illegal immigration and other unusual factors, examine their causes, and suggest suitable policy, legislative and administrative interventions, a government statement had said. According to the Terms of Reference of the committee, it will comprehensively deliberate upon the challenges arising from demographic changes, including illegal immigration. It will also study the possible causes of demographic changes, such as cross-border activities (including illegal immigration), economic opportunities, and other socio-environmental factors, the statement said. The panel will also identify the underlying factors behind these changes, which include illegal immigration, abnormal settlement patterns and orchestrated migration, it said. Further, the committee will analyse structural population changes at the level of religious or social communities, particularly where they deviate from broader trends. It will recommend a streamlined and permanent operational mechanism for the legal, fair, and time-bound identification, detention, and deportation of illegal immigrants already residing in the country, the statement had said. (Source: PTI)    

NEW DELHI : Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday stressed the need for unity in the INDIA bloc and claimed that they did not lose the 2024 Lok Sabha election and have already won the 2029 polls. Sharing his speech delivered at a meeting of the INDIA opposition bloc on Monday, Gandhi said several colleagues had requested for a Hindi translation of his address, which he is doing now. “After listening to the speeches and remarks of over 20 leaders at the INDIA Coalition meeting on June 8th, I finally addressed them with this speech. “When India’s thinking, the nation’s soul, is in crisis… when institutions are captured… when the voice of the people is suppressed… only resistance combined with unity is effective,” the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha said in a post on X. “I say it again — we did not lose the 2024 elections, and we have already won the 2029 elections. “We will remain united, organise the people, and with the power of resistance, defeat the BJP and its takeover of India’s institutions,” he said while sharing his speech in Hindi. In his speech, Gandhi told leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) that going by the anger among people, the next parliamentary polls are “already won”, but the main problem is that there will be no free-and-fair election to win. At the INDIA bloc meeting on Monday, Gandhi also gave a clarion call to the opposition leaders to stay united, saying it is easy to beat the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) “if we stand together and resist”. The Congress leader also dismissed the notion that there is no coordination among the opposition parties. “These are all ideas the BJP is putting out. This is not true. I am 100 per cent sure and I can vouch right now for the DMK. When it comes to defending the idea of India, every single person will be in this room,” he said. (Source: PTI)      

NEW DELHI : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said that the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act or AFSPA will be withdrawn from the entire Northeast next year, barring one or two states. Speaking at the signing of a tripartite MoU between the Centre, Assam and Nagaland to facilitate mineral oil operations in the Assam-Nagaland boundary areas, Shah said that shrinking of areas covered under AFSPA is an indicator of peace. “I am confident that barring one or two states, we will withdraw AFSPA from the entire Northeast next year.,” he said. Underlining that the signing of the MoU was a “historic moment”, Shah said it has removed the last hurdle in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a developed Northeast. The MoU is aimed at undertaking oil and mineral explorations in the disputed area belt (DAB) along the Assam-Nagaland border. Exploration activities remained stalled for more than three decades in the region due to jurisdictional differences. “This will open new avenues for mineral exploration in the Northeast. The area not only has oil and gas but huge mineral deposits, which could not be explored due to law and order issues,” Shah said. With just one MoU, the extraction capacity of 1,000-1,500 barrels per day can be increased by 10 times, he said. “In one field alone, there are possibilities of recovery of more than Rs 15,000 crore. If we extract the oil deposits spread across Nagaland, we would be able to reduce dependence on foreign countries for our oil needs,” he said. Shah also said that since Narendra Modi took charge, he kept his focus on the Northeast and became the prime minister with the highest number of visits to the region. Since 2019, 12 accords have been signed between various groups and state governments, which resulted in a significant drop of around 80 per cent in incidents of violence in the region, Shah said. “The development of both Assam and Nagaland remained hampered for a long time because a consensus could not be reached for an MoU. The avenue that opened today will open doors for development for both states. It is the best example of cooperative federalism,” he said. (Source: PTI)          

NEW DELHI : The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Wednesday announced a nationwide agitation beginning in Pune on June 11 and warned of an indefinite sit-in at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar from June 20 if Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan does not resign. The group said in a statement that protests will be held across several cities, including Pune, Lucknow, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Jaipur and Hyderabad, while CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said in a post on X that climate activist Sonam Wangchuk will join the Pune demonstration on Thursday. The CJP said protests will continue until Pradhan steps down, alleging repeated failures in the conduct of examinations and demanding accountability from the minister. Calling it a national issue affecting millions of students and families, the group said, “The Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, has failed to take responsibility for these repeated failures. Accountability must begin at the top. That is why we reiterate our demand: Dharmendra Pradhan should resign.” It said if the government fails to act on the demand, “the youth of this country will gather together on June 20 at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi for an indefinite peaceful sit-in protest till the minister resigns”. Describing itself as a movement to defend the integrity of India’s education system, the CJP invited students, parents, teachers and citizens to join what it called a nationwide struggle for accountability and justice. The announcement came days after the CJP organised a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on June 6, where students and young people from different parts of the country gathered to press for accountability over alleged irregularities in competitive examinations and to seek Pradhan’s resignation. The group has gained visibility in recent weeks through social media campaigns centred on examination-related issues and has sought to position itself as a youth-led platform advocating reforms in the education sector. Organisers had described the June 6 mobilisation as the beginning of a larger nationwide campaign, with Wednesday’s announcement outlining the next phase of protests across multiple cities and a proposed indefinite sit-in in the national capital. (Source: PTI)      

NEW DELHI : The Congress on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he may have passed a “self-proclaimed and dubiously invented” milestone but he is a “millstone” around India’s neck, presiding over the “murder of democracy”. The opposition party’s attack came as Modi became India’s longest continuously serving elected prime minister. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said Jawaharlal Nehru became prime minister of India on August 15, 1947 presiding over a stellar Cabinet – the likes of which have rarely been seen in the world. Over the next five years, modern India came into being, he said on X. “Over 560 princely states were integrated peacefully into the Indian Union, the Constitution of India was debated and adopted, zamindari was abolished, reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were put in place, a number of multipurpose irrigation-cum-power projects were launched, the infrastructure for science and technology capability was established (including in nuclear energy), and India emerged as a force in global affairs,” Ramesh said. Electoral rolls bearing 170 million registered voters were prepared to ensure universal adult franchise and free India’s first General Elections were held between October 1951 and February 1952, he said. “The 1947-52 record of achievements of India with Nehru as PM and in which stalwarts like Sardar Patel, Dr Ambedkar, Dr Rajendra Prasad, C Rajagopalachari, and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad played such a pivotal role is now sought to be erased by Mr Modi who has a pathological fixation on Nehru,” the Congress general secretary in-charge communications alleged. “He (Modi) may have passed a self-proclaimed and dubiously invented milestone today but he is a millstone around India’s neck, presiding as he is over the Murder of Democracy in India,” Ramesh alleged. The very same establishments of democracy — an independent Election Commission and a sacrosanct voter list — are now threatened, he claimed. “Scientific temper has been erased through the destruction of our educational institutions as exposed most recently by the NEET-CBSE scandals. Reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes have been weakened through privatisation and nefarious instruments like ‘Not Found Suitable’,” Ramesh said. And while Nehru won in 1952, 1957, and 1962 with a hugely decisive majority, Modi “did not secure even a simple majority by a considerable margin in 2024 and had to hurriedly convene a NDA meeting bypassing the BJP Parliamentary Party to anoint himself as PM,” Ramesh said, adding that “2024 was most certainly not a mandate for him”. Modi on Wednesday became the longest continuously serving elected prime minister of India, breaking the record of Nehru. Modi crosses the record of Nehru’s 4,399 days in power as an elected prime minister following the 1952 general elections. Nehru’s stint from 1947 to 1952 was as head of an interim government as elections were not held till 1952. Former prime minister Indira Gandhi had a tenure of 14 years, more than that of Modi, but her prime ministership was not uninterrupted. By surpassing Nehru’s 4,399-day record, Modi became the longest-serving elected prime minister of India. On May 26, 2014, Modi took charge as India’s prime minister with a landslide victory. He got re-elected with a bigger mandate in 2019 and his second term began on May 30 of the same year. His third consecutive term started on June 9, 2024.