Sushil Chandra has assumed charge as the new Election Commissioner of India in New Delhi on Friday. He is an Indian Revenue Service officer of 1980 batch. 

The poll body now has Sunil Arora as Chief Election Commissioner and Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra as Election commissioners. 
 

Union Minister Arun Jaitley has assumed charge as Finance Minister on February 15.

Jaitley attended a Cabinet Committee meeting on Security at 9.15 am. The Cabinet discussed the terror attack in Jammu & Kashmir's Pulwama that left nearly 40 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) dead and over 18 critically injured.

"Attack on CRPF in Pulwama, J&K is cowardice & a condemnable act of terrorists. Nation salutes martyred soldiers and we all stand united with families of martyrs. We pray for the speedy recovery of the injured. Terrorists will be given unforgettable lesson for their heinous act," Jaitley said in a tweet.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Friday said it has attached assets worth Rs 4.62 crore of a firm linked to Robert Vadra, Congress president Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law, in connection with the Bikaner land scam case.

"The attached assets include movable assets amounting to Rs 18,59,500 pertaining to four individuals and one immovable property situated at 268, Sukhdev Vihar in New Delhi to the extent of Rs 4,43,36,550 owned by Robert Vadra's company Ms Sky Light Hospitality (P) Ltd (now LLP)," the agency said.

The ED had registered a criminal case in connection with the deal in 2015, taking cognisance of a clutch of FIRs and charge sheets filed by Rajasthan Police after the tehsildar of Bikaner complained about alleged forgery in the allotment of land in the area, considered sensitive due to its proximity to the Indo-Pak border.

The United States has told India that it supports New Delhi's right to self-defense, and offered full co-operation in confronting terrorism. US National Security Adviser John Bolton telephoned his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval and said US has been very clear to Pakistan on ending support to terror safe havens on their soil. 

Talking to news agency PTI in Washington, Mr Bolton said, he expressed his condolences for the Pulwama terror attack.

Earlier, the White House and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a stern message to Pakistan asked Islamabad to immediately end 
its support to all terror groups and not to provide safe haven to them.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in paying tributes to the martyrs of Pulwama attack at the Palam Airport in New Delhi last evening when their mortal remains were brought to the national capital from Jammu and Kashmir. Mr Modi laid a wreath on the mortal remains of the jawans. 

Home Minister Rajnath Singh received the mortal remains of 40 CRPF jawans at the airport when they were brought from J&K in a special plane.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa and Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba were among those who paid homage to the martyrs.
The government has convened an all-party meeting in New Delhi today in view of the Pulwama attack. The parties will be briefed about the attack and the steps being taken by the government in this regard.

The decision to convene the meeting was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday.

Later speaking at a function in the national capital, the Prime Minister warned Pakistan that terrorist attacks like the one in Pulwama will not weaken India and those responsible will have to pay a heavy price.

The government has convened an all-party meeting in New Delhi today in view of the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

The meeting has been convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and invitations have been extended to all major political parties.

The parties will be briefed about the attack and the steps being taken by the government in this regard.

The decision to convene the meeting was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday.

Earlier, Union Minister Arun Jaitley had said, an all-party meeting would be convened to brief parties on the incident so that the nation speaks in one voice on the issue.

NASA on February 13 announced that its Opportunity Rover mission is complete after the rover failed to respond despite repeated trials since August 2018.

During a press conference, the space agency inferred that a planet-encircling dust storm cut off communications with Opportunity on June 10, last year, disabling its solar panels from storing power. Since then NASA has beamed over 830 unanswered rescue commands.

In a last-ditch attempt the Rover team, on February 12 sent a transmission of commands and Billie Holiday's I'll Be Seeing You to Mars via the Deep Space Network, however, Opportunity could not be roused.

The robotic rover, which wandered the surface of the red planet for over 15 years (5,515 Earth days), was launched by NASA in July 2003 as a part of its Mars Exploration Rover program.

Responsible for much of our understanding of the Martian landscape, geology, atmosphere and history, the Opportunity was originally intended to last just over three months. However, the gritty robot continued its mission travelling nearly 45 km on the red plains-- the farthest distance accomplished by any extra-planetary robot.

Senior bureaucrat Pramod Chandra Mody was on Thursday appointed as chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), a top policy making body for income tax department, according to a Personnel Ministry order.

Mody, a 1982 batch Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre), has been appointed in place of Sushil Chandra, who earlier Thursday appointed as an Election Commissioner ahead of the Lok Sabha polls due this summer.

Mody is at present member of CBDT.

India-US CEOs Forum Thursday decided to set up working groups on financial services, healthcare and defence with a view to accelerate trade and investments between the two countries.

The three working groups will be in addition to four such groups, which were established to deal with issues concerning energy, water and environment; ICT, emerging technologies and digital infrastructure; entrepreneurship, inclusive growth, and promoting small business; and infrastructure and manufacturing.

These issues, among others, were discussed during the India-US CEO Forum meeting, along with the India-US Commercial dialogue, attended by Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu and US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster.

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross participated through telephone as his flight got cancelled due to bad weather conditions.

Issues like data localisation, e-commerce and the generalised system of preferences (GSP) were not discussed during the commercial dialogue.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Ramesh Abhishek said that four working groups are established and three more would be set up.

The CEOs of both the sides gave some report, but "they are not detailed and comprehensive as such. We would like to have CEOs from both the sides in each of these groups. They will work on more detail," he said.

CBDT Chairman Sushil Chandra was on Thursday appointed as an Election Commissioner, the Law Ministry said.

Chandra, an IIT graduate, is a 1980 batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre).

With his appointment, the EC now has Sunil Arora as the Chief Election Commissioner and Ashok Lavasa and Chandra as fellow commissioners.