Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said that the Centre has issued an advisory to release undertrial prisoners who have served half of their maximum punishment provided under the law. 

He said, some state governments have started with the compliance on the advisory. There are about four lakh prisoners in jails and out of them about half are undertrials. 

He was speaking at a function at the district court in Lucknow yesterday to administer oath to newly elected office bearers of the Central Bar Association. 

The minister said, centre has abolished nearly 1,500 obsolete laws which have lost their efficacy.

India and Maldives have agreed to continue their traditionally close cooperation on issues of maritime security, counter-terrorism and medical cooperation. 

This was decided during the meeting between Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Maldivian counterpart  Mariya Ahmed Didi in New Delhi on Thursday. 

Both sides held substantive discussions on further strengthening bilateral defence cooperation. 

Ms  Sitharaman reiterated India’s commitment to contribute towards capacity building and training requirements of the Maldives National Defence Forces.

Ms  Didi is in India on an official visit and she will witness the 70th Republic Day Parade at Rajpath. 

She will also visit various Indian defence institutions such as the Indian Maritime Analysis Centre in Gurugram and Army Training Command in Shimla. 

She will also interact with National Cadet Corps (NCC) cadets, including those from the Maldives, at the NCC Republic Day Camp. 

President Ram Nath Kovind will address the nation today on the eve of the 70th Republic Day. 

The address will be broadcast from 7 PM on the entire national network of All India Radio and telecast over all channels of Doordarshan in Hindi followed by the English version. 

Broadcast of the address in Hindi and English on Doordarshan will be followed by broadcast in regional languages by regional channels of Doordarshan. 

AIR will broadcast regional language versions from 9:30 PM onwards on its respective regional networks.

The Surat district administration on Wednesday acquired 13 hectare of land at Antroli village in Surat district for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project, and gave Rs 32 crore as compensation to the land-losing farmers.

According to project officials, the bullet train station for Surat will be built at Antroli village.

“We have to acquire 39 hectare of land at Antroli, out of which we have acquired 12 hectare,and we are slowly working on to convince the remaining farmers to give up their land. In Surat district, a total of 140 hectare is to be acquired for the bullet train project. We are speeding up land acquisition. Till now we have given Rs 77 crore through RTGS to 135 farmers whose land had been acquired. At present, we are giving them 80 per cent of the amount, while the remaining amount will be given after the documentation process gets completed,” said J P Mayatra, land acquisition officer of Surat.

The International Weightlifting Federation has revoked the provisional suspension on two-time Commonwealth Games gold-medallist K. Sanjita Chanu for a failed dope test.

IWF's legal counsel Eva Nyirfa said in an e-mail to the national federation and Sanjita that on the basis of the information at its disposal, it has been decided that the provisional suspension shall be lifted as of 22nd January. 

A final decision on the matter is expected in the coming days.

The 25-year-old weightlifter had tested positive for anabolic steroid testosterone. Her urine sample was taken prior to the World Championships in United States in November 2017, and she was put under provisional suspension from 15th May last year.
Talking to news agency PTI from her native place in Manipur, Sanjita said, she is relieved and happy as she had have never taken any banned substance in her career.

National Girl Child Day is being observed today. The theme this year is 'Empowering Girls for a Brighter Tomorrow'. The Women and Child Development Ministry has organised an event in Delhi to observe the anniversary of 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' scheme. Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi will be the Chief Guest. 

The Minister will felicitate Principal Secretaries and Commissioners of five states for their overall support, guidance and monitoring of the scheme. District Magistrates and Deputy Commissioners of 25 districts covering 21 states and Union Territories will also be felicitated for their exemplary works. 

"Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi  in January  2015 at Panipat in Haryana. Seeing the good progress and improving trend of sex ratio at birth in 161 implementing districts, Mr Modi launched the all India expansion of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao covering all 640 districts last year. 

It is a central sector scheme with 100 per cent financial assistance for district-level component and the funds are directly released to the DC and DM's account. The scheme is a comprehensive programme to address the declining child sex ratio and related issues of empowerment of women. 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has announced that he is breaking off diplomatic ties with the United States after his American counterpart Donald Trump recognised Opposition leader Juan Guaido as the South American country's interim President. 

Mr Maduro gave all US diplomatic staff in Venezuela 72 hours to leave the country. The Venezuelan President accused the US government of attempting a coup d'etat.

Maduro was sworn-in for a second term earlier this month, following a poll considered a sham by much of the international community.Guaido, the head of the Opposition-controlled legislature, told tens of thousands of his supporters that he was declaring himself as the acting President.

Thousands of Venezuelans are taking to the streets in protest against Maduro. Sixteen people have died during two days of unrest. The Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict said, the deaths were reported in the capital Caracas and across the country.

Guaido said, the protests would continue until Venezuela is liberated. The United Nations has called for reducing tensions in Venezuela. UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said in a press briefing that UN is closely monitoring the situation. He said, UN firmly rejects any kind of political violence, and it will continue to underline the urgent need for all relevant actors to commit to inclusive and credible political negotiations.

The European Union has called for the immediate start of the political process in the South American nation. Venezuela has been in economic freefall for a number of years under Maduro's leadership. Hyperinflation and key shortages, including of food, has forced millions out of the country.

In a bid to smoothen ruffled feathers in North East after the citizenship amendment bill backlash, the Union cabinet on Wednesday approved amendments to the constitution bringing in tribal dominated autonomous district councils of North East under purview of the central finance commission.

The move would mean that close to 1 crore people in 10 autonomous district councils would have more access to funds for local development.

Mizoram CM Conard Sangma called the move historic. In his tweet, Sangma said, "Thank you @narendramodi ji and @rajnathsingh ji for the historic decision to approve constitutional amendment to substantially increase financial resources and other powers of Autonomous Councils in the Sixth Schedule areas of #Northeast."

Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and the guests of 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas will visit Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh today. Mr Jugnauth will return to New Delhi after visiting Sangam and Hanuman temple and Kumbh’s newly-developed Integrated Command, Control Centre. DIG Kumbh Mela KP Singh said elaborate security arrangements have been made in view of the visit. 

"Prayagraj is all set to welcome the nearly 3200 guests of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas including Mauritius Prime Minister. They will reach Prayagraj in 90 bus in three groups from Varanasi. Most of the guests will visit Sangam to take a holy dip and perform rituals like Ganga Puja. They will also visit Akshaya Vat, Samudra Kup, Saraswati Kup and Hanuman Temple. 

During the day-long visit, the guests will stay in tent cities and will also visit Sanskriti Gram and Kala gram to see the Indian artisan and crafts. In the evening all the guests will return to Delhi in three special trains at a different time. This visit will convey the message of Divya Kumbh and Bhavya Kumbh to the Indians living abroad.