Top 10 stories of the day - June 22, 2017

Presidential election: Meira Kumar is Opposition candidate

An Opposition meeting in New Delhi on Thursday decided to field former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar as the joint Opposition candidate for the coming presidential election. Ms. Kumar is the daughter of Dalit icon and freedom fighter Jagjivan Ram. Before turning to active politics, Ms. Kumar served the Indian Foreign Service.

Kulbhushan Jadhav files mercy petition before Pakistani military chief

Pakistani military announced on Thursday that Indian Naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav has filed mercy petition before Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa. Mr. Jadhav was sentenced to death by a military court in April this year for espionage and terrorism. International Court of Justice in May halted the execution after India's appeal.

Centre mulls different time zones across the country

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is conducting a study to assess the feasibility of having different time zones in the country. The study is being conducted to give “scientific inputs” on the matter, DST secretary Ashutosh Sharma said. Recently, Pema Khandu, the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, had demanded a separate time zone for the northeast.

One dies in security forces' crackdown on Pulwama protesters hurling stones

One person was killed in security forces’ action on Thursday against demonstrators who pelted stones in protest against the killing of three local Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) members in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Wednesday night. Their charred bodies were recovered on Thursday morning.

No question of going back to NDA: JD(U)

A day after backing Ram Nath Kovind’s candidature for the president’s post, the Janata Dal (United) on Thursday said that there was no question of going back to the National Democratic Alliance and it continued to be an integral part of the united Opposition.

Opposition skips Mamata’s meet on Darjeeling crisis

With only three political parties including the ruling Trinamool Congress joining talks on the ongoing situation in Darjeeling , the meeting called by West Bengal government in Siliguri on Thursday turned out to be damp squid. The isolation on the Mamata Banerjee government on the Darjeeling issue was also evident as only two of the 15 development boards set up by the State government in the hills came for talks.

Sedition charge against 15 in M.P. for celebrating Pakistan cricket win dropped

The Madhya Pradesh police on Thursday dropped the sedition charges against 15 persons who were arrested for celebrating the victory of Pakistan against India in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy. The 15 men from Mohad in Burhanpur district were booked under Sections 124-A of the Indian penal Code (IPC), among other charges, on Tuesday.

India’s fertility rate more than halves over 40 years

In seven years Indians will cross the 1.44 billion mark and the nation will go on to have a bigger population than China, according to a U.N. report. The World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision  report released on June 21, 2017 recorded two other dramatic facts: The fertility rate of Indians has more than halved over the last 40 years to 2.3 and Indians have added almost a decade to their life expectancy in the past 25 year which is now nearly 69 years.

OnePlus 5 launched in India with PayTM tie-up

The OnePlus 5 was launched in India at a live-streamed event at the NSCI Dome in Mumbai on Thursday. Following high-profile endorsement by personalities such as Amitabh Bachchan, Vir Das, Sushant Singh Rajput, Sania Mirza, the event was anchored by Rajiv Makhni and culminated in a contest to guess the price of the phone in India.

Countdown begins for PSLV-C38 launch

The 28-hour countdown for the launch of Cartosat-2 series satellite along with 30 co-passenger satellites from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh began at 5.29 a.m. IST on June 22. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its 40th flight (PSLV-C38), would launch the 712 kg satellite for earth observation and 30 other satellites together weighing about 243 kg into a 505 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) at 9.20 a.m. IST on June 23, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.