THE HEADLINES::
- Three-day special sitting of Budget Session of Parliament begins today to discuss constitutional amendments to Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.
- Field operations for Houselisting and Housing Census to commence today across multiple States and Union Territories.
- Chhattisgarh cabinet approves constitution of high-level committee to prepare draft of Uniform Civil Code.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold talks with Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker in New Delhi today.
- India achieves record exports of 860 billion dollars in financial year 2025-26.
- In Chess, India’s Grandmaster R Vaishali wins FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament in Cyprus.
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A three-day special sitting of extended Budget session of Parliament will begin today. It will continue till 18th of this month and will primarily focus on Constitutional Amendments to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam. The government will introduce three amendment bills to pave the way for the operationalisation of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, which was passed in 2023 proposing 33 percent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. These three Bills are – the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026, the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 and the Delimitation Bill, 2026. The Constitution (Amendment) Bill seeks to further amend the Constitution of India, while the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill proposes to amend the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963, the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
The Delimitation Bill provides for the readjustment of the allocation of seats in the Lok Sabha to the States and Union Territories, the total number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of each State and Union Territory and the division of each State and each Union territory having a Legislative Assembly into territorial constituencies for elections to the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies of the States and Union territories.
“The special sitting has been convened to amend the Constitution so that the women’s reservation Act can be implemented in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections after carrying out the delimitation exercise. Few days ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also written to the floor leaders of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha urging all the parties to come together in one voice to pass amendments in this regard. Mr. Modi emphasised that it is imperative that the 2029 Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections are conducted with women’s reservation in place. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju has also assured that Women Reservation Bill is balanced and takes care of the aspirations of every state, community and region.
Several political parties including BJP, JD(U), LJP(R) and Congress have issued three line whip to all its MPs of both the Houses to remain present during the proceedings of the House and support their party stand. With Anand Kumar, Suparna Saikia, Akashvani News, Delhi.”
Meanwhile, Congress President and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge said opposition parties are in favour of the Women’s Reservation Bill but expressed apprehensions about the way in which the Bill is being brought.
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The Ministry of Home Affairs has announced that field operations for the Houselisting and Housing Census, the first phase of Census 2027, will commence across multiple States and Union Territories today. In a statement, the Ministry said the exercise will begin in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Goa, Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Odisha and Sikkim, along with NDMC and Delhi Cantonment Board areas in the national capital today. The exercise will be carried out over a 30-day period till 15th of the next month, during which trained Enumerators will undertake house-to-house visits for data collection.The Ministry said the Self-Enumeration facility, introduced for the first time, has received an encouraging response with around 12 lakh households successfully submitting their details online.
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Chhattisgarh government has decided to constitute a high-level committee to prepare a draft of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for its implementation in the state. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai in Raipur yesterday. The move is aimed at simplifying laws to promote religious and gender equality. Retired judge Ranjana Prakash Desai will lead the panel, while the chief minister has been authorised to nominate its members. Currently, issues such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption, maintenance, and family disputes in Chhattisgarh are governed by different personal laws based on religion.
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The first phase of assembly elections in West Bengal will be held on 23rd April. A total of 152 assembly constituencies will go to polls in this phase. In our series of constituency profiles, today we take a look at Rajganj assembly seat in Jalpaiguri district of north Bengal.
“Rajganj assembly constituency in the Jalpaiguri district will go for poll on 23rd April in the first phase of the assembly election. This seat is under the Trinamool Congress at present. The incumbent MLA is Khageswar Roy who holds the MLAship for the last 15 years. Total 13 candidates including 5 independents are in the fray in this election. Dinesh Sarkar has been fielded by the BJP while Trinamool Congress’s candidate is Swapna Barman. The CPIM candidate is Kharendranath Roy. Congress fielded Tushar Kanti Roy. The main contending parties are Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janta Party. In the election campaigns BJP is focusing on the welfare of the tea garden workers of north Bengal. BJP leader Amit Shah assured the people to set up IIT, IIM, AIIMS, cancer hospital, Sports University and tribal university in north Bengal, in his election campaign in Rajganj. On the other hand Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee stressed on continuing the existing welfare schemes and blamed the BJP for creation of division in Bengal. Kalyan Laha, Akashvani News, Kolkata.”
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National Commission for Women (NCW) has taken suo motu cognizance of media reports concerning alleged incidents of sexual harassment of women at the Tata Consultancy Services BPO unit in Nashik, Maharashtra. In a statement, NCW said, it has constituted a Fact-Finding Committee to conduct a detailed inquiry into the incident. The Committee comprises of Retired Judge of Bombay High Court Justice Sadhna Jadhav, Former Haryana DGP BK Sinha, Supreme Court Advocate Monika Arora and Senior Coordinator, NCW Lilabati. The committee will visit the place of incident on Saturday and has to submit its report to the Commission within ten working days.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Austrian Chancellor Dr. Christian Stocker will hold discussions in New Delhi today on strengthening bilateral cooperation across a wide range of areas. They will also exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest, including cooperation in multilateral fora. In a social media post, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar expressed confidence that his discussions with Prime Minister Modi will open new avenues for greater cooperation across various domains. Our correspondent reports that Chancellor Stocker is being accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising Federal Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism Dr. Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer, senior officials and business leaders.
“This is the first visit of Chancellor Stocker to India alongside being his first official visit to Asia. India and Austria share warm, friendly and multi-faceted ties, rooted in shared democratic values. The successful visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Austria in July 2024 substantially elevated the contemporary relations between the two countries. The visit of Chancellor Stocker also reflects the shared commitment of both countries to further deepen and expand partnership in new areas of mutual interest. With Suparna Saikia, Bhanu Pratap Singh, Akashvani News, Delhi.”
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Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India has achieved record exports of 860 billion US dollar in financial year 2025-26. In a social media post, Mr Goyal said that the milestone achieved despite global headwinds, reflects the country’s resilience and its growing strength in expanding its global trading footprint. The Minister said that the nine trade agreements concluded under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi are further accelerating this momentum, opening new markets and unlocking greater opportunities across sectors.
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Fresh tensions are emerging across West Asia as the United States tightens its naval blockade on Iranian ports while Israel continues military operations in southern Lebanon, even as diplomatic efforts cautiously move forward. US Central Command says, during the first 48 hours of the blockade, no vessels were able to pass US forces, and at least nine ships complied with directions to turn around and head back toward Iranian waters. Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon have continued, with Lebanese authorities reporting multiple casualties, including paramedics. Israeli forces said they struck around 200 Hezbollah targets within 24 hours.
“The west asian situation is further complicated by Iran issuing a warning that it may expand the conflict to key maritime chokepoints.Iran’s military, through the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, warned that if the U.S. blockade threatens Iranian commercial shipping and oil exports, Tehran could move to disrupt trade routes in the Persian Gulf, Sea of Oman and the Red Sea, including the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Iran could rely on allied groups, including the Houthis in Yemen, to target shipping routes, similar to previous attacks in the Red Sea. Such a move could significantly impact global energy flows and international trade, raising fears of wider regional instability. The warning comes as Iran describes the U.S. naval blockade as a potential violation of existing ceasefire understandings. Vinod Kumar, Akashvani News, Dubai.“
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In chess, India’s Grandmaster R Vaishali has won the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026 in Cyprus yesterday. The 24-year-old defeated Russia’s Kateryna Lagno in the final round, finishing with 8.5 points out of 14 to clinch the title. With this victory, Vaishali has earned the right to challenge China’s Ju Wenjun for the World Championship later this year.
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In IPL cricket, Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Lucknow Super Giants by five wickets in Bengaluru last night. Today, Mumbai Indians will take on Punjab Kings at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai at 7:30 PM.
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TODAY’S NEWSPAPERS
- The dailies have mentioned the unveiling of resolutions by Prime Minister Modi describing it as citizen-driven behavioural transformation roadmap aimed at accelerating India’s journey towards becoming a developed nation. The Statesman says “PM outlines nine-pillar citizen charter for Viksit Bharat 2047.”
- As a special sitting of budget session of Parliament takes place from today “Government plans to keep south share unchanged in Lok Sabha, list each state’s new count in ‘schedule’, cites The Indian Express. The paper adds “Delimitation exercise to demarcate constituencies based on 2011 Census, Lok Sabha seats for all states to go up 50 percent.”
- Hindustan Times reports on its front page “India’s exports rise 4.22 percent to hit a record 860 billion dollar in financial year 26.”
- Another headline in Hindustan Times says “Indian team to visit US from April 20 to advance bilateral trade talks” to ensure comparative benefits for both sides.
- All the dailies have covered the news of Bihar getting its new Chief Minister. The Tribune writes “Samrat sworn in as Bihar’s first BJP CM; Vijay, Yadav deputies.”
- “NHAI asks FASTags issuer banks to validate vehicle registration numbers” to enhance the accuracy and reliability of data in the electronic toll collection system states The Pioneer.
- Finally, A headline in The Economic Times writes on TIME’s Hundred most influential peoplewhere Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Michelin star Chef Vikas Khanna and actor Ranbir kapoor make cut.
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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN
- Three-day special sitting of Budget Session of Parliament begins today to discuss constitutional amendments to Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.
- Field operations for Houselisting and Housing Census to commence today across multiple States and Union Territories.
- Chhattisgarh cabinet approves constitution of high-level committee to prepare draft of Uniform Civil Code.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold talks with Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker in New Delhi today.
- India achieves record exports of 860 billion dollars in financial year 2025-26.
- In Chess, India’s Grandmaster R Vaishali wins FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament in Cyprus.
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