Just before Dhanteras and Diwali this year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the November edition of its monthly bulletin. The latest RBI Monthly Bulletin says that the GDP has contracted by -8.6 percent in the second quarter of fiscal year 2020-21 (i.e. July-September, 2020) as compared to the gross domestic product (GDP) during the corresponding period last year. It may be noted that India’s GDP shrunk by -23.9...

-Hindustan Times Ghaziabad (U.P.): A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday sentenced four Uttar Pradesh cops including a Station House Officer to life imprisonment in the Ghaziabad fake encounter case. The four - inspector of Bhojpur police station, a sub inspector and two constables - were convicted for gunning down four daily wagers in an encounter in Bhojpur in November 1996. The four cops were held guilty of murder, destruction...

-The Times of India JAIPUR/ALWAR: While people across the country buy gold and silver to celebrate Diwali and Dhanteras, in Rajasthan's Mewat region girls are "purchased" to mark the occasion. It is the grim reality of rampant human trafficking in the region, consisting of Alwar, Bharatpur and Dholpur districts. Girls bought before Diwali are married off to older men on the occasion of "Dev Uthani Ekadashi", considered an auspicious day — this...