India’s opposition Congress party has promised to strengthen economic and cultural ties with Bangladesh and pay greater attention to its immediate neighbours if it is voted to power in the upcoming national elections. “We will enhance economic and cultural relations between India and Bangladesh that are the two most populous countries in South Asia,” the party said in its election manifesto released at its national headquarters in New Delhi yesterday. Top party leaders including party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and former Congress Presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were present at the event, reports our New Delhi correspondent. The party also vowed to protect minorities while accelerating growth and jobs, reports AFP. Nearly a billion Indians will vote to elect a new government in six-week-long parliamentary elections starting on April 19, the largest democratic exercise in the world. In its manifesto, Congress promised to protect “linguistic and religious minorities”. “The plurality of religions represents the history of India,” it said. “History cannot be altered.” Party leader Rahul Gandhi -- the son, grandson and great-grandson of prime ministers -- said the upcoming election was “fundamentally different” from any other in India’s history. “It is between those who want to end India’s constitution and democracy and those who want to save it,” he said. The Congress manifesto, titled a “justice document”, offered “concrete guarantees unlike Modi’s empty promises”, said lawmaker and lead author P Chidambaram. The party has promised to address India’s “massive unemployment” on a “war footing”, adding that it would earmark half of all government jobs for women. Young people voted for Modi in droves when he was first elected a decade ago after he said he would create 10 million jobs a year. But a recent International Labour Organization (ILO) report warned that India was hamstrung by a “grim” crisis, with unemployment on the rise Congress proposed an unconditional annual cash transfer of Rs 100,000 ($1,200) “to every poor Indian family”, without precisely defining who would qualify.

India’s Supreme Court put on hold a lower court’s order that effectively banned Islamic schools in the country’s most populous state, lawyers involved in the case said yesterday, giving a breather to thousands of students and teachers in the system.

Cooch Behar, the crucial north West Bengal district in India, became subject to strong opposing political views yesterday as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi held rallies within 30 km of each other.

The Indian Air Force today said it plans to activate Emergency Landing Facility (ELF) on highways across the country

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is seeking re-election from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in the upcoming national elections, has filed his nomination papers along with the mandatory affidavit which says he owns assets valued at Rs 20.4 crore, the Indian media reported today

At least 13 Maoist insurgents were killed in a clash in central India, police said yesterday, taking the rebel toll in the long-running conflict to 50 this year.

As many as 23 Indian opposition politicians who crossed over to the BJP since the time it came to power in 2014 have got reprieve from federal agencies investigating corruption cases against them, The Indian Express reported yesterday.

India’s Congress leader Rahul Gandhi yesterday filed his nomination papers for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala for the upcoming elections.

India's Border Security Force was today asked by the country's Election Commission to keep strict vigilance along the international borders with Bangladesh for any illicit activity, especially 72 hours before polling, as part of a plan to ensure free, fair and peaceful national elections beginning on April 19

Rahul Gandhi, leader of India's Congress party, today filed his nomination papers for the Wayanad constituency in Kerala for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections

At least 13 Maoists were killed in an encounter with Indian security forces in a dense forest in the heartland state of Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district ahead of the parliamentary elections, police said

India rejected China’s renaming of about 30 places in its northeastern Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh yesterday, calling the move “senseless” and reaffirming that the border province is an “integral” part of India.

Unfazed by the opposition pushback, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today vowed to step up action against the corrupt in his third term

Senior opposition Indian politician Arvind Kejriwal was moved to a high-security prison yesterday after his arrest last month, a case supporters say is politically motivated and that comes ahead of elections.

India’s half-century-old decision to end a territorial dispute with Sri Lanka over a tiny island has become a hot-button election issue, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party accusing the rival Congress of compromising fishermen’s rights.

India’s Income Tax department will not pursue a 35-billion rupee ($420 million) payment from the main opposition Congress party until after the completion of general elections in June, the department told the country’s top court yesterday.

A court in Delhi today sent Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to judicial custody till April 15 in a case filed over money laundering linked to excise policy for liquor

After Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today attacked Congress for its government handing over Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka, the main opposition party defended the action as "part of a friendly agreement in 1974" and cited in this context the India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement of 2015 under which enclaves were exchanged.

The Indian government said it was rescuing its citizens who were lured into employment in Cambodia and were being forced to participate in cyber fraud schemes.

Indian opposition parties yesterday united to protest against the arrest of a prominent leader weeks before a national election, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party of rigging the vote and harassing them with large tax demands.