The Union cabinet has approved amendments in the POCSO Act which would now have death penalty for aggravated penetrative sexual assault against children.

“Stringent punishment, including death penalty for aggravated penetrative sexual abuse of children is among the amendments to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act,” Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announced at a press briefing.

To curb child pornography, the amendment levies heavy fine for not deleting, destroying child pornographic material. Not reporting child pornography will also invite a hefty fine, the Law Minister said.

Brought in 2012, the POCSO has been modified earlier too to make it as foolproof as possible.

The amendment comes after a 40-year-old man was accused of raping his three-year-old neighbor in New Delhi on the sixth anniversary Nirbhaya gang rape that became a worldwide symbol of the dangers faced by women and girls.

It was reported that locals found the girl lying face down and unconscious near a school in Bindapur

Union Cabinet has approved the Gaganyaan Programme with a demonstration of Indian Human Spaceflight capability to low earth orbit for a mission duration ranging from one orbital period to a maximum of seven days.

A human-rated GSLV Mk-lll will be used to carry the orbital module which will have necessary provisions for sustaining a 3-member crew for the duration of the mission.

The total fund requirement for the Gaganyaan Programme is within 10,000 crore rupees and includes the cost of technology development, flight hardware realization and essential infrastructure elements.

Two unmanned flights and one manned flight will be undertaken as part of Gaganyaan Programme.

In a boost to India’s aerospace missions, the Cabinet Friday approved the indigenous spacecraft project called Gaganyaan under which a three-member crew will be sent to space for at least seven days, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said. The testing phase is expected to begin from December 2020 and the mission will be undertaken from 2022, he added.

The historic mission is expected to have a crew capacity of three astronauts and is supposed to operate for at least a week. The total cost of the project is reported to be a total of Rs. 10,000 crores and the mission, if successful, will ensure India’s addition to the club of three countries that have sent a manned mission to the outer space.

“The astronauts will be inside a crew module which will be attached to a services module to maintain services for them, and then onto an orbital module. The orbital module will be placed on the launch vehicle for the launch,” ISRO chairman K Sivan had earlier said. “The launch will take place within 16 minutes, the crew will be transported from Sriharikota to a low earth orbit of 400 km. They will stay in orbit for 5-7 days.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a Rs 4,500 crore financial assistance to Bhutan for its 12th five-year plan after holding wide-ranging talks with his Bhutanese counterpart Dr. Lotay Tshering. 

The new five-year plan of Bhutan began this year and will continue till 2022. In his media statement after the talks in New Delhi, Mr. Modi said hydropower cooperation with Bhutan is a key aspect of bilateral ties and that work on the Mangdechhu project will soon be completed. 

Dr. Tshering arrived in New Delhi yesterday on his first foreign visit after taking charge as Prime Minister of the Himalayan nation last month following his party's victory in the general elections. His visit takes place during the Golden Jubilee year of the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries. 

He was accorded ceremonial reception at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan this morning. 

Mr Modi said he has assured the Bhutanese Prime Minister that India, as a trusted friend, will continue to play an important role in Bhutan's development. 

Prime Minister Modi said, collaboration in space science is a new dimension in India-Bhutan relations. He said, the ground station being built by ISRO in Bhutan will soon be ready. The station will help Bhutan get benefits from South Asian satellite. 

The railways has decided to grant 40% concession in passenger fares to transgender senior citizens, the transporter said Thursday.The concession for a person of the third gender, aged 60 years or above, will be available from New Year’s Day, said Central Railway spokesperson Sunil Udasi.

Till now, such a concession was admissible for men who are 60 years and above, and for women aged 58 years and above. The rate of concession is 40% for men and 50 per cent for women. Though a column for transgender (T) was introduced in the reservation form, the concession was not admissible to them.

The railways offers concessions on ticket prices to 53 different categories, ranging from 10-100%. While students going to their hometown or educational tours can avail a concession of 50% in second and sleeper class, students hailing from Scheduled Tribes can avail a concession of 75%.

Similarly, government school students in rural areas are eligible to get a concession of 75% in second class for a study tour or an entrance examination once a year.

Those appearing for UPSC and Central Staff Selection Commission can also avail a concession of 50 per cent on the fare. Industrial labours and farmers, who wish to visit agricultural exhibitions, can also avail a 25-per-cent concession on second-class and sleeper-class tickets.

In addition, foreign students studying in India are also eligible for a 50-per-cent concession in second and sleeper class. Apart from these, senior citizens, who book their railway tickets online, now have the option to choose between 100-per-cent concession, 50%concession and no concession.

In a major decision ahead of the Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls next year, the Maharashtra government on Thursday approved the implementation of recommendations of the  7th Pay Commission from January 1, a move that will benefit more than 20 lakh employees and pensioners.
The approval to the pay hike of government employees, which will cost the state exchequer Rs 38,655 crore, was given by the Cabinet at its meeting here and comes just months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The state will face Assembly polls in the second half of 2019.

With this decision, the Group D employees will get a hike of around Rs 4,000- Rs 5,000, Group C will get Rs 5,000- Rs 8,000 more, while Group B and Group A officers will get an increase between Rs 9,000-Rs 14,000 per month. Finance Mungantiwar, speaking to reporters at Mantralaya (secretariat), said the Cabinet had approved the 7th Pay Commission’s implementation from January 1, 2019, with retrospective effect from January 1, 2016.

The New Year-eve bonanza will also bring cheers to more than 360 retired government employees who are over 100 years of age. He said retired employees in the age of 80-85 years would get a hike of 10 per cent in their monthly pension, 15 per cent for those in 85-90 age bracket, 20 per cent for 90-95 years and 50 per cent hike for those who are 100 and above.

For the first time since 2013, business delegations from Pakistan will be attending the biennial Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit scheduled to be held this time from January 18-20, 2019, the organisers confirmed. According to records reviewed by The Indian Express, at least seven delegations from different regions of Pakistan are expected to take part, making it the largest contingent ever from the country at the summit.

They are among the 52 delegations representing commerce and trade bodies from various countries who have confirmed their participation for the Global Conclave of International Chambers, which is one of the events at the summit.

In 2013, a 22-member delegation from Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry had arrived for the summit and attended a pre-event buyer-seller meet on January 9-10. However, with bilateral tensions rising following the killing of two Indian soldiers in a ceasefire violation at the Mendhar sector of J&K’s Poonch on January 8, the delegation left without attending the main summit on January 12-13.

At the time, the state government cited visa clearances as a reason for the early departure and said that most members had visas only for Ahmedabad while the main event was held in Gandhinagar. Since then, two summits have gone by without any representation from Pakistan.

President Ramnath Kovind will visit Mumbai today to launch 'Sadbhaav Utsav'. He will participate in the Wellness festival organised on the occasion of 100 year anniversary of the Yoga Institute. The programme will be organised at Bandra Kurla Complex's MMRDA ground.

Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and Yoga Institute Director Dr Hansaji Jaidev will be present at the event.  'Sadbhaav Utsav' is a two-day event concluding tomorrow. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold talks with his Bhutanese counterpart Dr. Lotay Tshering in New Delhi today. Dr Tshering arrived in New Delhi yesterday on a three-day visit to India. His visit takes place during the Golden Jubilee year of the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries. 

The visiting dignitary will also call on President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu. 

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu and Power Minister R K Singh are scheduled to call on the visiting dignitary.

Amidst exchange of barbs between the treasury benches and the Opposition, the Lok Sabha passed the amended Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018, which criminalises Triple Talaq, attracting up to three years’ imprisonment for the husband.

The bill, which seeks to replace an ordinance promulgated in September, was passed after an over four-hour discussion that saw some heated exchanges between the Opposition and BJP leaders, with both sides accusing each other of engaging in vote bank politics. The debate saw the lawmakers broach the topics of gender equality and women’s rights interspersed with issues like modification of religious practices.