The Supreme Court on Monday asked additional sessions judge S.K. Yadav, who is hearing the Babri Masjid demolition cases against top BJP and Sangh Parivar leaders like L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and “lakhs of unknown kar sevaks”, to explain how he intends to complete the trial by April 2019, the stipulated deadline given by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court had on April 19, 2017, revived the criminal conspiracy charge against the top BJP leaders and transferred their case, languishing in the magistrate court at Rae Bareilly, to the additional sessions court (Ayodhya matters) in Lucknow.

In the Rae Bareilly case, the BJP and Sangh Parivar leaders are accused of having given speeches to promote enmity and threatening national integration.

Even as petrol and diesel climbed to all-time highs and the Opposition protested across the country Monday, the government ruled out any immediate reduction in excise duty in order to bring down the retail prices of auto fuels, and instead urged the states to take action. While Andhra Pradesh announced a Rs 2 per litre cut in VAT on petrol and diesel following poll-bound Rajasthan’s announcement of a 4 percentage point cut Sunday, states have been largely unenthusiastic.

Why is it so difficult for governments to cut taxes on auto fuels?

Taxes on petrol and diesel are a key revenue source for both the Centre and states, and a cut will hit their fiscal position.

The Centre mopped up Rs 2.29 lakh crore from excise duty on petroleum products in 2017-18 and Rs 2.42 lakh crore in 2016-17. Excise duty on petrol is currently Rs 19.48 per litre, and on diesel, Rs 15.33 per litre. The Centre raised excise duty nine times between November 2014 and January 2016 to shore up its finances as global oil prices fell. It cut excise duty just once — by Rs 2 per litre — in October last year.

Crude petroleum attracts 20% oil industry development cess, and a National Calamity Contingent Duty (NCCD) of Rs 50 per metric tonne. There’s no Customs duty on crude, but petrol and diesel attract a Customs duty of 2.5%.

The Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with the previous sanction of the Centre has notified the amendments to the Reserve Bank of India (Note Refund) Rules, 2009, on September 5.

Samir Ghosh, General Secretary of All India Reserve Bank Employees Association, has requested the RBI to advise the Department of Currency Management to instruct all its offices and designated branches of banks for quick adjudication and payment of mutilated notes lying with the public, who also may be notified.

According to the amendments notified, the value of a mutilated note of less than Rs 50 (rupees fifty) denomination may be refunded in full if the undivided area of the single largest piece of the note is as specified in column (5) of table 1 below.

Novak Djokovic produced an impeccable performance to beat Juan Martin del Potro in the US Open final and win his 14th Grand Slam title.

The 31-year-old Serb won 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 to earn his third triumph in New York and equal American great Pete Sampras' haul of major trophies.

Djokovic, who won Wimbledon in July, will climb to third in the world after back-to-back Grand Slam victories.

Jack Ma, the executive chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has said he plans to step down in a year.

The news, in a letter sent by Mr Ma to Alibaba customers and shareholders, follows conflicting reports over the weekend on the timing of his exit.

Mr Ma, one of China's richest men, will hand over the reins to Daniel Zhang, currently chief executive.

Alibaba is one of the world's most valuable companies - its shares nearly doubled in value last year.

Five things about Jack Ma
Mr Zhang, who is 46, developed the company's Singles' Day promotion, which is the world's biggest one-day online retail event.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, along with daughter Aaradhya and mother Brinda Rai, attended the first Women in Film and Television (WIFT) India Award.

At the ceremony -- established to honour the best female talent in Bollywood and Hollywood -- the actor was bestowed with the inaugural Meryl Streep Award for Excellence. The Fanney Khan star looked stunning in a black-and-golden gown as she accepted the award.

The 44-year-old later took to Instagram to celebrate her win and shared pictures with the trophy in her hand and Aaradhya by her side.

A meeting of the International Executive Council, the highest decision making body of International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), at Saskatoon in Canada last month has accepted Telangana government’s nomination of Sadarmatt anicut across river Godavari in Nirmal district and Pedda Cheruvu in Kamareddy district in the ICID Register of Heritage Irrigation Structures.

The plaques presented by the council for the two over-century-old irrigation facilities were received by the Member Secretary, Indian National Committee on Surface Water as Indian representative at the meeting. The chairman of the committee has invited irrigation officials from Telangana to take them in New Delhi soon.

New Delhi: Residents of Delhi can now renew their driving licences or get their marriage registration done from home with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led Delhi government on Monday launching the ambitious scheme for doorstep delivery of public services.

“Today is a historic day. So far people only got pizzas delivered to their house, but now you can make one phone call to the government and they will send a representative to your house to get your work done. This will change the administrative setup of the government,” Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi chief minister and AAP national convener, said while launching the service.

Government appointed executives say that the scheme will also help curb corruption.

“You just need to call 1076 and a government official will visit your house. You can set an appointment for up to 10 pm. The form will also be delivered to your house. All for Rs 50,” Kejriwal added.

In the first phase, 40 public services, including the issuance and renewal of driving licences, registration of marriage, new water connection, birth, death and caste certificates will be available. The government plans to include 150 services in this scheme in a phased manner.

Engineers set to sea Saturday to deploy a trash collection device to corral plastic litter floating between California and Hawaii in an attempt to clean up the world’s largest garbage patch in the heart of the Pacific Ocean.

The 2,000-foot (600-meter) long floating boom was being towed from San Francisco to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch- an island of trash twice the size of Texas.

The system was created by The Ocean Cleanup, an organization founded by Boyan Slat, a 24-year-old innovator from the Netherlands who first became passionate about cleaning the oceans when he went scuba diving at age 16 in the Mediterranean Sea and saw more plastic bags than fish.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a statue of Sardar Patel, described by the Gujarat government as “the world’s tallest”, on the birth anniversary of India’s first Home Minister on October 31, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said on Sunday.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the BJP’s national executive meeting, he said the statue with a height of 182m will be a symbol of the country’s unity and integrity.

Mr. Rupani said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had collected iron, soil and water from across the country to use them to build the statue, a decision announced by Mr. Modi in 2013 when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

In an apparent reference to the issue of Naxalism following the arrest of some activists for allegedly collaborating with Left ultras, Mr. Rupani said the statue will highlight Patel’s works for the country’s unity.

He said that the Opposition had termed it “empty talk” when Mr. Modi announced that his government would build the world’s tallest statue to commemorate Patel. Mr. Rupani said while the Congress had sidelined Patel, Mr. Modi brought him and his works in front of the world.