Nif News

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had sought comments from people for his Independence Day speech through the Narendra Modi app and MyGov portal, received more than 8,000 comments and suggestions from across the country. Most of the suggestions were related to the issues of education, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, environment conservation, digitisation, Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, and cleanliness.

A flight ticket between Delhi and Mumbai, priced at ₹140, was more expensive than a 10-gram gold ring, costing around ₹90, in 1947. Today, the cost of the same gold ring is nearly equal to that of an air ticket to London. Further, petrol, which today costs around ₹67.5 per litre, was sold for nearly 30 paise per litre.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has deactivated 81 lakh Aadhaar numbers till date. To help people verify if their Aadhaar number is deactivated, the UIDAI has provided 'Verify Aadhaar Number' section under the 'Aadhaar Services' tab on its website. It can be checked after entering the 12-digit Aadhaar number and the security code on the following web page.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday said it has not received any communication from Pakistan about the consultation process to nominate an ad-hoc judge for International Court of Justice hearing in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case. This comes after Pakistani media reported that the country has started the nomination process for selecting an ad-hoc judge earlier this week.

Justice Kurian, Justice Rohinton and Justice Lalit from the five-member Supreme Court bench on Triple Talaq ruled that the practice was not a part of Islam and violated constitutional morality. Meanwhile, Chief Justice of India Justice Khehar and Justice Nazeer were of the minority opinion, and said the Supreme Court did not have the power to strike down the practice.

Almost 1.7 lakh out of the 7.6 lakh students enrolled in Classes 1 to 8 in Delhi government schools have not received the money they are supposed to get for writing material and uniform. The government said that the payments were delayed because many students did not have Aadhaar, bank accounts or the students had not linked the two.

With over 5,300 recipients between 2004 and 2017, India is the largest beneficiary of the Erasmus scholarships for higher education offered by the European Union (EU) member states, EU Ambassador to India Tomasz Kozlowski said. Launched in 1987 with only 3,200 students in its first year, Erasmus now benefits almost three lakh higher education students every year.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been diagnosed with dengue and was admitted to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi on Wednesday for treatment. "Priyanka Vadra had fever initially, later she was confirmed as suffering from dengue," a report quoting DS Rana, Chairman (Board of Management) of the hospital, said.

The anonymous letter alleging rape against Ram Rahim Singh, sent in 2002 to then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, read, "We appear like devis (pious), but our situation is that of prostitutes." In the letter, the complainant Sadhvi further stated that Ram Rahim told her, "Politicians seek my support and take money from me. They cannot take any action against me."

Gatimaan Express, dubbed the fastest train in India after the high-speed Tejas Express, failed to reach its destination punctually 30% of the times in its first year of operation. Operating six days a week, the train reached Agra late on 66 days out of the total 314 days and was delayed on 127 days while returning to Delhi.

Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh reportedly broke down in front of the special CBI judge and pleaded for mercy when he was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for rapes. The report further claimed that he refused to leave the room where he was being given the sentence in Rohtak jail, and had to be dragged out by security men.

The ex-husband of Ram Rahim's adopted daughter Honeypreet, Vishwas Gupta, has claimed that the Dera Sachha Sauda chief had an illicit relationship with her. He had moved the court in 2011 over the issue and sought judicial custody of his wife. This came after Honeypreet moved a dowry harassment case against her in-laws in 2009 after 10 years of marriage.

A total of 4,208 people had recommended rape-convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan for Padma awards in 2017. The self-styled godman, who was sentenced to 20 years in jail, had proposed his own name for the honour five times. Out of the 18,768 Padma award applications received, the highest number of recommendations were made for Ram Rahim, data revealed.

September 14 is celebrated as 'Hindi Diwas' every year across the country as the language was adopted as an official language of the Indian union by the Constituent Assembly on this day in 1949. While there are 22 scheduled languages in India, only Hindi and English are official languages. Notably, there is no national language of India.

The Mahatma Gandhi memorial, Rajghat, in Madhya Pradesh’s Barwani has submerged under Narmada waters that have been reportedly rising since the closure of gates of the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat in June. As per reports, the water level rose above the danger mark of 123.2 metres, from 123.6 metres on August 30 to 128.5 metres on Friday.

A farmer in Rehti tehsil of Madhya Pradesh's Sehore has received an insurance claim of ₹4.70 for his crop loss under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana launched by PM Narendra Modi in 2016. As many as 52 farmers in the state have together received a little over ₹3,000 as insurance claim under the scheme for their soybean crop loss.

The Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, who led India's non-violent freedom struggle never won the Nobel Peace Prize despite being nominated for the honour five times. Gandhiji was nominated in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947, and, the last time in 1948, a few days before his assassination. The Nobel Committee had even expressed regret over not giving him the award.

Mahatma Gandhi was named TIME Magazine's Person of the Year in 1930 and remains the only Indian to be honoured with the title. Describing him as 'Saint Gandhi', the magazine wrote that Gandhi's "1930 mark on world history will undoubtedly loom largest of all." The magazine later also included him in the list of 25 Political Icons.

President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday reached African country Djibouti on his maiden foreign trip as India's first citizen. Kovind is on a four-day visit to Djibouti and another African nation Ethiopia. "He recognises Africa and Indian Ocean region are central to Indian foreign policy. That's why this region was chosen as his first foreign visit," Kovind's press secretary said.

Even as PM Narendra Modi launched a Ro-Ro service in Gujarat, the facility has been in use in other states of India. In April, he laid the foundation for a multi-modal terminal in Jharkhand, whose Ro-Ro facility is being used by trucks and load carriers. Further, the Shipping Ministry in March announced successful berthing of a Ro-Ro terminal in Assam.