The government on Tuesday raised customs duties on gold and platinum by two per cent, and on silver by four per cent in an attempt to bring down the current account deficit. This is the third increase in duties on the yellow metal in eight months.

Agitated by repeated disruptions, Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari on Tuesday wondered if members wished the House to become a “federation of anarchists”, a remark that immediately set off an uproar in the Upper House, with the BJP demanding its withdrawal and even the government saying it should be expunged.

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has been invited by the Indian units of Britain’s two largest political parties – the ruling Conservatives and the Opposition Labour – to visit the UK. Mr Modi, who effectively was a persona non grata in the UK till October last year, has been separately invited by the Labour Friends of India, headed by London MP Barry Gardiner, and Conservative Friends of India headed by MP Sailesh Vara and Ranjit Baxi.

The government on Tuesday convened an all-party meeting to discuss an amendment to the Representation of People Act and the Supreme Court order on reservation in AIIMS faculty.

Resentment is brewing among the block committees leaders against the Congress high command’s decision to seek applications in a format from the ticket aspirants. The Opposition BJP also questioned the format introduced by the Congress seeking caste-wise details from the aspirants.

In a major setback for former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected his plea seeking to change the judge conducting trial in the 1996 fodder scam case in which he is an accused and directed the trial court in Jharkhand to deliver its verdict expeditiously.

When it seemed like things are falling in place with the GJM relaxing the indefinite strike, its president Bimal Gurung on Tuesday again ignited the flame among the workers in the Hills by declaring that the agitation for a separate Gorkhaland would continue from August 19.

Infighting in the beleaguered Congress in Chhattisgarh has intensified further with rival leaders in the party indulging in mudslinging against each other.

In yet another attempt to appease the Muslims, the Akhilesh Yadav government has decided to conduct a head count of Muslim employees in local bodies and municipal corporations and increase their participation at senior levels.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir to file a detailed affidavit on the communal clashes in the state’s Kishtwar district and subsequent steps taken by the state government to control the situation.