After months of delay, the high profile 2+2 Dialogue between India and the US has finally taken place in New Delhi on Thursday. The meeting comes at a much important time – Pakistan’s new government, Taliban’s renewed violence in Afghanistan and American sanctions on Iran and Russia – had sparked many speculations within the Indian strategic community on what would be on the discussion agenda. With a meeting duration of only a few hours, both sides as expected tried to cover as much ground as possible to discuss issues of mutual interest. But here are the key takeaways:

Indore: Amid widespread anger, including calls of 'Bharat bandh', against the amendment to the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has said all political parties should get together to discuss the issue.

A Bharat bandh was called Thursday by some anti-reservation bodies against the amendment to the Act last month.

The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha had, on August 6 and August 9 respectively, passed the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill to overturn a Supreme Court order concerning certain safeguards against arrest under this Act.

SP Vaid, former Director General of the J&K Police has been transferred out of office, following kidnappings of close relatives of ten personnel of the J&K Police who were abducted by militants on September 1. Even as the relatives of the police personnel were later released, the situation raised an alarm throughout the valley, and left the top brass of the police embarrassed.

Vaid, a 1986 batch IPS officer, has been posted as Transport Commissioner J&K, headquartered in Jammu. DGP Prisons, Dilbagh Singh will take his place till a new appointment is made. Vaid served as Director General of the J&K police from March 2016, until now.

West Indies legend Brian Lara, who is in New York as a part of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Trophy Tour, picked Team India skipper Virat Kohli and England's Test captain Joe Root as the best batsmen in the world right now. During the Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) session, Lara also pointed out that England speedster James Anderson and South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada are his favourite bowlers. Kohli and Root's units are currently engaged in a five-match Test series in which England have gained an unassailable 3-1 lead. In spite of the result, this series has been a personal triumph for the 29-year-old Indian skipper, who is the leading run-scorer with one match still to be played. The number one Test batsman in the world has scored 544 runs in four matches, including two centuries and three fifties. The fifth and final Test between India and England will be played at the Kennington Oval in London from Friday.

While covering an array of topics during the session, Lara also said that he had a hard time facing spin wizards Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne during his playing days.

Hours after the dissolution of Telangana state Assembly on Thursday, caretaker Chief Minister and TRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao called Congress President Rahul Gandhi as the “biggest buffoon” in the country and dismissed rumours about aligning with a “non-secular” party like BJP for the 2019 elections.

“Everyone knows what Rahul Gandhi is…the biggest buffoon in the country. The whole country has seen how he went and hugged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament and winked,” Rao said at a press conference, where he also announced candidates for 105 constituencies. He said only two sitting candidates were denied tickets.

When asked about Gandhi’s plans to extensively campaign in Telangana, the TRS chief said, “The more he comes, it will be easier for us (to win elections).” KCR said the Gandhi scion had inherited the legacy of the Congress Delhi empire and appealed to the people of Telangana not to become slaves to Delhi. “The decisions of Telangana should be taken in Telangana,” he said.

Rupee opened higher but failed to sustain initial strength

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local currency opened higher at 71.67 a dollar against its previous record closing of 71.75, but failed to sustain initial strength and fell back to breach the 72-mark.

The rupee's unabated fall continued for the sixth straight session on Wednesday, hitting yet another closing low of 71.75, down 17 paise against the USD.

Demand for the American currency weighed on the domestic currency

On Wednesday, the rupee plummeted to a historic low of 71.97 a USD in intraday trade.

Forex dealers said besides strong demand for the American currency from importers, concerns about fears of rising fiscal deficit and capital outflows mainly weighed on the domestic currency.
Moreover, weakness in emerging currencies overseas against the dollar too weighed on the domestic currency, they added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) on September 1, in a bid to push India’s rural population into the formal financial system. IPPB will have 650 branches and 3250 access points across the country.

It is important to note that post offices in India had already been offering savings account facility, offering a 4 percent interests on deposits in the Post Office Savings Account (POSA), payable quarterly. This is the same as IPPB accounts and both the accounts can be linked together. So, how are the two different?

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao today decided to dissolve the Assembly and seek a fresh mandate earlier than the scheduled polls in April 2019. Rao wants elections to be held along with Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram in December this year. The Chief Minister met Governor ESL Narasimhan and submitted a resolution adopted in the Cabinet meeting held this afternoon where a decision to dissolve the Assembly and call for early polls was taken.

Accepting the resolution, the government asked KCR and his council of ministers to continue in office as “caretaker government” till elections.

NEW DELHI:  Homosexuality is not a crime in India anymore and it is not a mental disorder, five Supreme Court judges declared today in a spectacular leap for gay rights in the country and a rainbow moment in its history. The Supreme Court overruled its own 2013 decision and partially struck down Section 377, a controversial British-era law that banned consensual gay sex. The ban is irrational, indefensible and manifestly arbitrary, the judges said. "Take me as I am," said Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, toasting gay pride.

Washington: Pakistan currently has 140 to 150 nuclear warheads and the stockpile is expected to increase to 220 to 250 by 2025 if the current trend continues, according to a latest report by authors keeping a track of the country's nukes.

The current estimate of 140 to 150 nuclear weapons exceeds the projection made by the US Defense Intelligence Agency in 1999 that Pakistan would have 60 to 80 warheads by 2020.

"We estimate that the country's stockpile could more realistically grow to 220 to 250 warheads by 2025, if the current trend continues. If that happens, it would make Pakistan the world's fifth-largest nuclear weapon state," Hans M Kristensen, Robert S Norris and Julia Diamond said in the report 'Pakistani nuclear forces 2018'.