The government is planning to waive off the registration charges for electric vehicles to boost the battery-operated vehicles in the country. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued a draft notification in this regard and has sought comments and suggestions from stakeholders.

The exemption will apply to all category of vehicles, including two-wheelers. Suggestions have been sought within a month and these can be sent at jspb-morth@gov.in.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of Presidents of all political parties having representation in Parliament on the issue of One Nation One Election. 

Briefing media persons after the meeting, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that Prime Minister will form a committee to look into the various aspects of One Nation One Election in the country. Within a time frame, the committee will submit its report. Mr Singh said that in the meeting, most of the political parties supported the idea of One Nation One Election. 

However, there are differences of opinion from political parties like CPIM and CPI on the issue about implementation of the idea, but they did not oppose it. He said, 40 political parties were invited for the meeting yesterday, out of which 21 attended and 3 including AIADMK sent their views.

President Ram Nath Kovind will address the joint sitting of both the houses of Parliament today. He will deliver the address at the Central Hall of Parliament.

The first session of the 17th Lok Sabha began on Monday in which the newly elected members took oath and election of the Speaker was held.

The Rajya Sabha will begin its proceedings from today after the address of the President.

The Parliament session will continue till 26th of next month. The Economic Survey will be presented to Parliament on 4th July and the Union Budget for 2019- 20 will be presented to Lok Sabha on 5th July.

Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan Tuesday endured the ignominy of becoming the most expensive bowler in World Cup history during their match against hosts England at Old Trafford here.

Rashid Khan, the world’s No.3 ODI bowler, leaked 110 runs off nine overs as England racked up a gigantic 397 for six after electing to bat.

The 20-year-old spinner, who plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad in Indian Premier League, was in the firing line of English batsmen Eoin Morgan (148), Jonny Bairstow (90) and Joe Root (88) on a flat pitch here.

The record earlier belonged to New Zealand’s Martin Snedden, who had conceded 105 runs for two wickets against England in the 1983 World Cup.

Om Birla, a two-time Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament from Rajasthan, was elected Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The motion to choose Birla as the speaker was moved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is also Leader of the House, and passed by a voice vote. His candidature was supported by Congress, DMK, Biju Janata Dal, AIADMK, YSR Congress among other parties.

Birla, 56, will take over from eight-term MP Sumitra Mahajan, who did not contest the Lok Sabha elections. Birla’s election to the post was certain given the numbers of the ruling NDA in the House and the absence of any other candidate.

Congratulating Om Birla, Modi in Lok Sabha recounted his contribution in the progress of the country. “I on behalf of the government and the treasury benches assure you full support in conducting the House. I also assure you that your order will prevail and you must be tough even if anyone from our side (treasury benches) crosses the limit,” Modi said. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary also extended whole-hearted support to Birla, urged him to be impartial and give enough time to the opposition to raise issues of public interest.

India Russia business tie has been hugely tilted favouring defence sector traditionally. With changing times, both the countries are exploring new avenues of collaborations.

The business program of the outreach session in Mumbai provided participants with information on existing investment opportunities in the region and preferences for investors. This time Prime Minister Modi is expected to be the Guest of Honour at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), scheduled between 04-06 September at Vladivostok, Russia. 

Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Yury Trutnev will meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today. The Russian delegation includes the heads of ministries, senior officials, as well as leading business figures in the field of mining, woodworking, pulp and paper, food and beverage industries, agriculture and transport logistics.

About 17 countries have invested in the far east of Russia. India has now started investing and as of now 3 more companies from India have expressed interest to invest in the far east besides Tata Power, KGK Diamond among others.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a 1-crore penalty on private sector lender HDFC Bank for non-compliance with directions on ‘Know Your Customer/Anti-Money Laundering norms and on reporting of frauds.

“The penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers vested in RBI under the provisions of Section 47A(1)(c) read with Section 46(4)(i) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, taking into account failure of the bank to adhere to the aforesaid directions issued by RBI,” the central bank said on Tuesday, adding that the action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance. The issue pertains to a reference to the RBI from customs authorities regarding submission of forged bill of entries (BoEs) by certain importers for remittance of foreign currency.

Further examination revealed violations of directions on ‘KYC/AML norms’ and on reporting of frauds, after which a notice was issued to HDFC Bank advising it to show cause as to why monetary penalty should not be imposed for non-compliance with RBI norms.

The lander and rover meant for India’s second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2  reached the ISRO’s launch pad at Sriharikota last night.

The rover called Pragyan is installed within the lander known as Vikram. They were flagged off from ISRO laboratory in Bengaluru on Monday.

Earlier, the orbiter that will house the lander and the rover reached the launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota on Saturday. 

Chandrayaan-2 will be launched aboard India’s most powerful booster GSLV-Mark-3 tentatively early in the morning on July 15th with the aim of making the lander to soft-land on the South Pole of the moon by September 6th. India would be the fourth country to have its probe soft-land on the moon. 

Ousted former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy died on Monday after he fainted in court following a hearing, state television reported.

Morsy, a top figure in the Muslim Brotherhood who was the first democratically elected President in Egypt's modern history, had been in jail since he was toppled by the military in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

State television said Morsy, who was 67, was in court for a hearing on charges of espionage emanating from suspected contacts with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

Morsy was serving a 20-year prison sentence for a conviction arising from the killing of protesters during demonstrations in 2012 and a life sentence for espionage in a case related to the Gulf state of Qatar.

Facebook Inc revealed plans on Tuesday to launch a cryptocurrency called Libra, the latest development in its effort to expand beyond social networking and move into e-commerce and global payments.

Facebook has linked with 28 partners in a Geneva-based entity called the Libra Association, which will govern its new digital coin set to launch in the first half of 2020, according to marketing materials and interviews with executives.

Facebook has also created a subsidiary called Calibra, which will offer digital wallets to save, send and spend Libras. Calibra will be connected to Facebook's messaging platforms Messenger and WhatsApp, which already boast more than a billion users.

The Menlo Park, California-based company has big aspirations for Libra, but consumer privacy concerns or regulatory barriers may present significant hurdles.

Facebook hopes it will not only power transactions between established consumers and businesses around the globe, but offer unbanked consumers access to financial services for the first time.

The name "Libra" was inspired by Roman weight measurements, the astrological sign for justice and the French word for freedom, said David Marcus, a former PayPal executive who heads the project for Facebook.