Following announcements by writer Nayantara Sehgal and poet Ashok Vajpeyi to return their Sahitya Akademi awards, the literary body's president said authors should "adopt a different way to protest" and not politicise the autonomous body. "The Akademi is not a government organisation but an autonomous body. The award is given to a writer for a chosen work and there is no logic to return the award because it is not like the Padma awards," Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari told a news agnecy.

Two Days’ conference to review ministry of women and child development projects
The ministry of women and child development will hold a two days’ national conference  on October 8 and 9, 2015 at New Delhi. The conference will be inaugurated and chaired by the minister of women and child development Maneka  Gandhi.The conference has been organized to review with the States/UTs, the implementation of various schemes of the ministry.

President's appeal for tolerance
President Pranab Mukherjee has made an appeal for tolerance, days after a mob lynched a Muslim man in an Uttar Pradesh village, just 30 km away from the national capital, allegedly over rumours of cow slaughter. Speaking after the release of a book about him, he also said, "Many ancient civilisations have fallen. Despite aggression after aggression our civilisation has survived because of our core civilisation values....If we keep that in mind, nothing can prevent our democracy from moving ahead." The President seemed to veer off his talking points to make his strong pitch for tolerance towards the end of a 15-minute extempore speech, that was otherwise filled with anecdotes and light-hearted references to his long career as a parliamentarian and then President of India.

Aadhaar can't not for all services, says supreme court
The Aadhaar card cannot be used to avail more services, like opening bank accounts and getting phone connections, for now, the Supreme Court ruled today, referring a plea by the centre to a larger bench. Currently, the card can be used only for availing subsidies under the public distribution system and purchasing kerosene and cooking gas and that, too, voluntarily. For now the ruling will remain, until a Constitution bench hears the case.

Rs 10 crore suit against Wipro for sexual discrimination
An India-born former employee at the London office of IT major Wipro has filed a 1 million pound (Rs 10 crore) compensation case of sexual discrimination, unequal pay and unfair dismissal against the firm. She alleged she was subjected to a "deeply predatory, misogynistic culture" and forced into an affair with a married boss at the Bangalore-headquartered firm's UK division. The 39-year-old told an employment tribunal in London this week how her boss called her "a seductive dancer from Indian mythology". "Women who are confident, capable and express their viewpoints are often called 'emotional', 'psychotic' or 'menopausal'. Women who supported women are called 'lesbians'," she said.

Govt pushes for Made-in-India Tejas
The government has turned down the military's request to expand the acquisition of 36 fighter planes from Dassault Aviation SA to plug vital gaps, officials said, nudging it to accept an indigenous combat plane 32 years in the making. Prime minister Narendra Modi's decision, in line with his Make-in-India policy to encourage domestic industry, is a blow for not only the French manufacturer but also others circling over the Indian military aviation market worth billions of dollars.

Report on civil services exam pattern in six months
An expert committee formed by the government to examine various issues related to age relaxation, eligibility, syllabus and pattern of civil services examination, to select IAS and IPS officers, will give its report within six months time. It will also review the effectiveness of the existing scheme of the prestigious test in selecting suitable candidates and "suggest the time frame for implementation of the revised pattern of examination". The committee headed by retired IAS officer B S Baswan will examine the time frame in which the examination is conducted and suggest suitable changes to reduce the time taken for selection of candidates by utilising information and communication technologies, as per its Terms of Reference (ToR). The expert committee will submit its report within six months of its constitution, in February next year, it said.

CRPF for allowing men to keep families in area of posting
CRPF is working on a new deployment policy under which its officers and jawan, who are fighting against Naxals and militants, will be able to keep their families with them, a move that will help allay stress in hard area postings. The force has submitted a fresh rotation policy proposal to the Union Home Ministry so that it can effectively move its battalions from hard areas like anti-Naxal operations theatre to regular law and order duties which is expected to allay the stress on the force."It is a fact that CRPF with over 80 percent of deployment in active theatres gets lesser share of rest and recuperation compared to other forces," CRPF Director General Prakash Mishra said. He said that ideally, 50 percent of the men should be rotated from hard areas to soft areas.

Sensex jumps 103 points up on global cues, strong rupee
Domestic equity markets rose for a sixth consecutive trading session on Wednesday following positive global markets and strong rupee. The BSE Sensex jumped 102.97 points or 0.38 per cent to 27,035.85 and NSE Nifty gained 24.50 points or 0.30 per cent to 8,177.40. On the global front, while the US markets made a mixed closing, the Asian markets closed in green led by the Hong Kong market which jumped over 3 per cent for the day, building on their biggest five-day advance in almost four years. The Japanese market that was once looking faltering, too ended in green despite the yen rising broadly after the Bank of Japan kept monetary policy unchanged. Nikkei closed 0.75 per cent up at 18,323. The European markets too made a positive start after Glencore shares rose for a fourth day in London and ahead of UK’s Industrial and manufacturing production figures.The indices in the region overlooked the IMF’s cut in its global growth forecast for 2015 and 2016.