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Here’s what you need to know today.



The Government, under the instructions of the Prime Minister, has ordered a probe into the Panama papers leak. It has constituted a special multi-agency group, comprising officers from the investigative unit of the CBDT and its Foreign Tax and Tax Research division, the Financial Intelligence Unit and the RBI, to look into all cases of Indians who are named in the leaked papers. Here’s all you need to know about the Panama Papers.



Centre has decided to withdraw its appeal filed in the Supreme Court against the Allahabad High Court Judgment which had held an amendment brought in 1981 according minority status to AMU, unconstitutional. The previous UPA government had challenged the HC judgment and had filed an appeal in Supreme Court but the current NDA government has decided to withdraw that appeal.



Delivering first conviction and sentence in the Coalgate scam, a special court yesterday sentenced RC Rungta and RS Rungta to jail for four years. A fine of Rs 5 lakh was also imposed on each of the brothers. Other 21 cases related to the Coal scam are at different stages of the trial.



Other Notables



The Government has drawn up a list of 16 PSUs for disinvestment which could fetch the exchequer Rs 40,000 crore at current stock value. The list includes state-owned companies such as Oil India, ONCGC, NMDC, MOIL, MMTC, National Fertilisers, NHPC, Nalco and Bharat Electronics. Most of these PSUs were up for sale in the last fiscal itself but the plan was postponed due to volatile market conditions.



In the first government-backed rankings for higher education released by MHRD, IIT Madras, IIM Bangalore, IISc Bangalore and Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal, topped the engineering, management, university and pharmacy categories, respectively. The rankings are based on five criteria — teaching and learning resources, graduation outcome, perception, outreach and inclusivity and research productivity.

Op-eds You Shouldn’t Miss



Returning India To The Gulf: India needed to drop its posturing and step up political and security engagement. That’s what PM Modi is doing.



Only 1.5 Lakh Ultra-Rich? Govt Isn’t Looking In Right Places; Land Law Must Have Created 50k Crorepatis In 2 Years: UPA’s land acquisition act is creating thousands of new crorepatis every year. Shouldn’t the taxman be looking at these new crorepatis instead of focussing on those who are already paying their fair share?



Tesla’s Electric Car And Its Mass Market Quest: It has potential, but an electric vehicle future will need government support.

Swarajya Special



There Is Need For Legal Reform To Make The Citizen Believe In The Rule Of Law: Transcript of the Shroff Memorial lecture delivered by Niti Aayog member Bibek Debroy.

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