In its first meeting, the J&K cabinet adopts a statehood resolution, Omar to meet PM

The Omar Abdullah government, at its first cabinet meeting, unanimously adopted a resolution seeking the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. 

The government, it is learnt, has decided to approach the Centre for restoration of statehood. In 2019, the erstwhile state of J&K lost its special status following the abrogation of Article 370. It was subsequently carved up into the two Union Territories - J&K and Ladakh. 

RBI Governor: Rate cut at this stage will be very premature, very risky

At a time when consumer price-based inflation (CPI) is expected to remain above 5 per cent, and growth holding on, a cut in the interest rate would be "premature, and very risky", Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das said. 

Retail inflation, which surged to a nine-month high of 5.49 per cent in September from 3.65 per cent in August, is expected to remain elevated in October before moderating in November, Das said in a fireside chat at the India Credit Forum hosted by Bloomberg. 

All eyes are on Modi, and Xi at the BRICS summit as Delhi and Beijing announce visits

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia from October 22-23 at the invitation of President Vladimir Putin to attend the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan, capital of Tatarstan, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

This will be the Prime Minister's second visit to Russia this year - he visited Moscow for a bilateral summit on July 8-9. During his visit, Modi is expected to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from BRICS member countries and leaders invited to Kazan. 

China's Foreign Ministry said Friday that President Xi Jinping will attend the Kazan summit from October 22 to 24. During his visit, Xi will attend the leaders' meeting, the expert leaders' dialogues and other activities, and have in-depth exchanges with leaders on the current international situation, Mao Ning, a ministry spokesperson, said. 

Haryana govt implements sub-category in SC quota 

In its very first Cabinet meeting, the Haryana government decided to implement “the Supreme Court's order empowering states to go ahead with sub-categorisation within the Scheduled Castes for the purpose of reservations. 

Several Dalit groups, excluding those who work in the leather industry, have been seeking a quota within the overall 20% quota for SCs, to help them better avail the benefits of reservation in government jobs in Haryana. 

Lady Justice: Roots in ancient Greece, not always blindfolded

The Supreme Court has unveiled a new statue of "Lady Justice", reimagining the image-typically a blindfolded woman holding a set of scales in one hand and a sword in the other- that is synonymous with legal practice around the world. 

The new, six-foot-tall statue in the judges' library is of a saree-clad woman with no blindfold, holding scales and, instead of the sword, a copy of the Constitution of India. 

The blindfold in the classic rendition has been popularly understood to represent the impartiality of justice, whereas the new statue with unimpeded vision is meant to signify that "Law is not blind; it sees everyone equally," Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who commissioned the statue, said.

India and the science Nobels

The First Nobel Prizes were announced in 1901, and it's now been 94 years since an Indian working in India has become a laureate in the sciences - Physics, Chemistry or Physiology/Medicine. The 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics for Sir CV Raman remains the only such honour. 

Three more Indian-origin scientists have won the Nobel Prize - Har Gobind Khorana in Physiology or Medicine in 1968, Subramanian Chandrasekhar in Physics in 1983, and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan in Chemistry in 2009-but each one of these scientists did their work outside India, and none of them was an Indian citizen at the time they won the prize.-

‘BRICS will generate most of the global growth'

The BRICS group will generate most of the global economic growth in the coming years thanks to its size and relatively fast growth compared with that of developed Western nations, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. 

Putin hopes to build up BRICS - which has expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates as well as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa a powerful counterweight to the West in global politics and trade.