NEW DELHI:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched India Post Payments Bank or IPPB -- the largest payments bank in the country by network size -- in New Delhi today. A payments bank operates on a small scale; it carries out most banking operations, but cannot give loans or issue credit cards directly. The IPPB's full services will be made operational at 650 branches the moment PM Modi inaugurates the facility. The new bank will leverage the postal department's vast network across India and help people in previously unbanked rural locations to use banking services easily, the Prime Minister's Office tweeted. The payments bank sector in India grew and expanded in lightning speed after the Reserve Bank of India approved several applicants in 2015.

A special home to house around 1,000 widows will be inaugurated at Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh on Friday by Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, official sources said.

'Krishna Kutir' -- said to be largest such facility constructed by a government -- was constructed on 1.4 hectares at a cost of 57.48 crore," an official statement said.

It was constructed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development under its "Swadhar Greh scheme" through National Building Construction Corporation.

New Delhi: The Uttarakhand High Court on Thursday banned religious bodies and statutory panchayat and any group of people from issuing any fatwas in the state saying they (the fatwas) are “unconstitutional and illegal”. The decision was taken since the fatwas violate statutory rights, fundamental rights, dignity, status, honour, and obligation of individuals, the HC said.

Taking cognizance of a newspaper report that the panchayat had issued a fatwa for externment of the family of a rape victim in Laksar as a matter of PIL, the division bench of Acting Chief Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Sharad Kumar Sharma held that the fatwa was against the letter and spirit of the Constitution.

The declaration came after the HC declared a fatwa banishing the family of a rape victim from their village illegal. Instead of sympathising with the rape victim, the panchayat had the audacity to extern the family from the village, the court said.

“Fatwa is nothing but extra-constitutional adventurism, not permissible under the Constitution. The constitution of Panchayats is provided under Article 243 of the Constitution of India. These are created under the Panchayati Raj Act,” the court said.

“The panchayats are only required to discharge the duties and functions enshrined under the law. Issuing fatwas is not part of their statutory duties and functions. The fatwas cause immense agony and devastation to the victim, even if the same has been issued by the local panchayat like ‘Khap Panchayat’,” the court added.

With PTI inputs

A day after clearing the last regulatory hurdle vis-a-vis the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Aditya Birla Group announced on Friday that Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have completed the merger to create India's largest telecom company. The combined entity that boasts of 408 million active subscribers and a revenue market share of 32.2 per cent replaces Airtel as India's number one telco. Both Vodafone and Idea will continue to operate as independent brands post the merger, Aditya Birla Group has confirmed.

"Today, we have created India's leading telecom operator. It is truly a historic moment. And this is much more than just about creating a large business. It is about our vision of empowering and enabling a new India and meeting the aspirations of the youth of our country. The "Digital India", as our Honourable Prime Minister describes it, is a monumental nation-building opportunity. As Vodafone Idea, we are partnering in this initiative by building a formidable company of international repute, scale and standards," Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Idea Limited, said making the announcement.

NEW DELHI: To promote a culture of innovation and research in higher education, the Union government has introduced Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARRIA), Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar announcement today.
He made the announcement at the inauguration of an innovation cell at the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) in New Delhi.

"India lacks innovation. It is a challenge for us to innovate, innovation will make our country prosper. New thinking must be encouraged and every college must have an innovation cell," he said.

Government think tank Niti Aayog will hold on September 7-8 here the India's first 'Global Mobility Summit', to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an official release said.

The summit will help drive government's goal for vehicle electrification, renewable energy integration and job growth and also speed up India's transition to a clean energy economy.

'MOVE: Global Mobility Summit' will be organised in collaboration with various ministries and industry partners.

Over 1,200 participants from across the world including government leadership, industry leaders,

New Delhi: he Supreme Court on Friday adjourned the hearing on petitions challenging the validity of Article 35-A of the Constitution to January next year. The Centre and Jammu and Kashmir government referred to upcoming local body polls in state and seek adjournment of hearing on petitions against Article 35 A.

Article 35A, added to the Indian Constitution by a Presidential Order in 1954, also empowers the state's legislature to frame laws without attracting a challenge on grounds of violating the Right to Equality of people from other states or any other right under the Constitution.

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed declaration of the results of the Staff Selection Commission’s (SSC) combined graduate level examination, 2017 and combined senior secondary level exams 2017, calling its entire system tainted.

Delivering its verdict, the court said that it can’t permit people benefitting from SSC examination scam to get into service, reported PTI.

Prima facie, the entire SSC system and examination are tainted, the court added.

Several irregularities were reported in the SSC’s combined graduate level exam, held in February, followed by allegations that the paper had been leaked, leading to a massive protests by aspirants who also alleged mass cheating.

The Centre had in March ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in the incident as the Supreme Court had agreed to hear the matter.The CBI had in May filed registered an FIR against 17 persons, including 10 employees of Sify Technologies Pvt Ltd, in connection with the leak of paper for the examination.

A MoU on establishment of BIMSTEC Grid Interconnection will also be signed.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale has said that outcome of the summit is expected to set BIMSTEC on a firm institutional foundation with a very focused and reoriented directions for the future.

On the sidelines of the summit Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have bilateral meetings with the leaders of Thailand, Myanmar and Bhutan. In the evening Mr. Modi will have talks with his Nepalese counterpart K.P. Sharma Oli.

Our correspondent reports that both the Prime Ministers will also jointly inaugurate Nepal Bharat Maitri Pashupati Dharamshala in the famous Pashupatinath temple premises. The Maitri Dharamshala has been constructed with the Govt. of India's assistance of twenty crore Nepali rupees. The three-storey building has 82 rooms and around 400 beds. It also has a common kitchen, dinning hall, a library and hall for religious purposes.

The building is equipped with water treatment plant and solar heater. The Dharamshala will cater to the needs of the devotees visiting Holy Pashupatinath temple for the pilgrimage. Situated in the heart of Kathmandu city the Dharamshala would be another milestone in strengthening age-oldd cultural and religious ties between India and Nepal.

The rupee slumped to a fresh record low of 71 against the dollar for the first time ever by falling 26 paise on persistent demand for the US currency amid rising crude prices.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local currency opened lower at 70.95 a dollar and slipped further to hit its lifetime low of 71 from its previous close of 70.74. Forex dealers said besides robust month-end demand for the American currency from oil importers, dollar’s strength against its rival currencies on expectations of rising interest rates amid lingering Sino-US trade tensions, weighed on the domestic currency.

On Thursday, the rupee slid further by 15 paise to close at a fresh lifetime low of 70.74 to the dollar due to strong demand for the greenback from oil importers and surging crude oil prices stoking inflation fears. Growing fears about rising inflation in amid high global crude oil prices and consistent outflow of foreign funds from the domestic equity market also weighed on the domestic currency.

Benchmark Brent crude oil was at USD 78 a barrel in early Asian trade. Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex fell 78.64 points, or 0.20 per cent, to 38,611.46 points in opening trade.