The supreme court today extended voluntary use of Aadhaar card for bank accounts and schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act, Jan-Dhan Yojana, provident funds and pensions among other services. The apex court constitution bench headed by chief justice HL Dattu modified its earlier order saying that Aadhaar card scheme is purely voluntary and not mandatory till matter is decided by this court. The apex court modified the order on a batch of applications by the central government and its various agencies seeking modification of August 11 order that restricted its use for availing subsidies under the public distribution system and purchasing kerosene and cooking gas.. The government's ambitious UID scheme has been challenged in court over privacy concerns since it uses biometric data like fingerprint and iris scans.

Delhi-Jaipur highway completion by December, new expressway on cards
The much-delayed Delhi-Jaipur highway, connecting the national capital with 'pink city' will be completed by December, union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said today. "Barring three structures, 57 of the structures including flyovers will be completed by December, when we will inaugurate the project" said the  minister. "The work for the remaining three structures is also under progress and will be completed by March," Gadkari said.The Delhi-Jaipur highway project has been delayed due to various reasons including land acquisition and contractual issues. The project cost of the 260 km highway has shot up to Rs 3,000 crore from Rs 1,896 crore. "The travel time between Delhi and Jaipur will be reduced to about 3 hours from about 8 hours now", he said.

Meanwhile, the government is also considering a proposal to build a new expressway connecting the national capital and the Pink City at an estimated cost of Rs 32,800 crore. The proposed expressway will start from the south of Indira Gandhi Airport in Delhi and end at Daulatpura on the existing NH 8.

MHA abolishes interview for sub inspectors in Delhi police
Keeping in line with prime minister Narendra Modi's assurance for abolishing interview process for the class three and four employees, the home ministry has issued an order to do away with interviews for the post of sub inspectors and Group C posts in Delhi police. With MHA passing the order, there will be no interview session for the post of sub inspector in Delhi police anymore. PM Modi in his Independence day address from the Red Fort had suggested states and his cabinet colleagues do away with the practice of holding interviews for recruitment at junior levels saying this system breeds corruption.

Facebook partners Nasscom's 10,000-startup initiative
Facebook on Thursday said it will finance and support developers making applications that will be useful to first time users on the Internet.The social media giant has partnered NASSCOM’s 10,000 startup initiative. Under this partnership, Facebook and NASSCOM will be launching a new program for developers and students called ‘Leaders Building for the Next Billion’. The program will help developers and students who are building large-scale innovative apps and mobile websites for new-to-internet users by providing them with technical and financial support and resources. Through an application process, 10 developers who have demonstrated a commitment to build for new-to-internet populations will be accepted to a six-month program. They will be provided with technical, marketing, and financial support, and leadership skills, to build their applications and businesses.

Sensex surges 188 points on positive global cues
The benchmark BSE Sensex surged over 180 points in the mid-session on fresh round of buying by investors amid positive cues from global markets.The 30-share index, which had lost almost 300 points in the previous three sessions on muted earnings by some blue-chip companies, rose 188.38 points or 0.7 per cent to 26,968.04. Similalry, the broad-based NSE index Nifty was trading up by 62 points or 0.76 per cent t 8,169.90. Heavy buying in auto, metal, PSU and oil & gas stocks boosted the domestic sentiment.

Modi to inaugurate CIC convention tomorrow
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 10th annual convention of the Central Information Commission which has come under criticism from activists as a large number of them have not been invited due to security arrangements for the event. The annual convention of the CIC is congregation of RTI activists who discuss issues related to implementation of the transparency law across the country through no-so-formal sessions where they are able to question and counter-question  the experts and commissioners.

Maharashtra government in favour of ban on dance bars
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said the state government would press its demand in the Supreme Court for continuing a ban on dance performances at bars and other places. His reaction came in the wake of the decision of the apex court to stay the operation of 2014 amendment in the Maharashtra Police Act that had banned dance performances at these places. The order paves the way for reopening of dance bars across the state.The SC has, however, added a rider to its interim order and allowed the licensing authorities in the state to regulate indecent dance performances at bars and other places.

Sikkim's first airport to be operational by next year
The first airport of Sikkim is expected to be operational from December 2016, which will provide a direct connectivity to the land-locked state and also help boost tourism. the airport will come up at Pakyong which is 35 km from Gangtok. Currently, the nearest airport is Bagdogra in Bengal.