-The Indian Express The bullet train project, planned after discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, is being built with a Rs 88,000-crore soft loan from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Palghar: As politicians across party lines gathered on stage together in Palghar on Sunday calling for the ambitious Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project to be cancelled, they repeatedly cited the word ‘vikas’, qualifying it with the...

-The Indian Express Maharashtra govt rolls out new plan for slum-free Mumbai Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Thursday rolled out a new plan to take Mumbai towards a slum-free status. Under this plan, over 18 lakh slum dwellers residing in slum tenements, that came up between 2000 and 2011, have now been guaranteed a replacement house. However, it will not be for free. All these residents would need to pay for the...

  There is some bad news for the world’s largest democracy. Thanks to the vitiated atmosphere induced by troll attacks on scribes on social media, among other things, the country's World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) ranking has fallen two places to 138th position.   Among 180 countries, India ranked 136th last year with a score of 42.94. However, in 2018 it attained 138th position with a score of 43.24 according to the...

-PTI New Delhi: As many as 58 current MPs and MLAs have declared cases related to hate speeches, with the BJP having the maximum number of such politicians, a report said on Wednesday. "Fifteen sitting Lok Sabha MPs have declared cases related to hate speech against themselves. None of the Rajya Sabha MPs have declared cases related to hate speech," a report by the Delhi-based think tank Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR)...

-Outlook In the last five years, among the major parties, the BJP has given tickets to 47 candidates who are facing cases of crime against women while 35 and 24 such candidates were given ticket by BSP and Congress respectively. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has revealed that out of 1580 MPs, MLAs with declared criminal cases, 48 are facing charges related to crimes against women, including rape charges. As per...