BJP's Kerala unit chief Rajasekharan sworn in as Mizoram Governor

Kochi, Jun 27: The Kerala government on Friday submitted an application in a local court requesting to stop the prosecution of ivory possession case against Malayalam film actor Mohanlal.

In the application for withdrawal of prosecution, the government has requested the court to stop the prosecution "immediately for the interest of justice".

''The legality of the possession of two elephant tusks by Mohanlal was accepted by the competent authority under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 by issuing him a certificate of ownership. The possession and custody of the elephant tusks thus become legal after the Chief Wildlife Warden (CWW) issued him the certificate," the state government said.

"Further conduct of the criminal trial may go against the good faith amongst the parties as far as the certificate of ownership issued to Mohanlal is concerned. One cannot go back from that ownership certificate and it was stopped from contradicting, deny or declare to be false the previous statement made by the actor in the court," it added.

"The government should not be allowed to revert from its promises in order to keep the faith of the people and in the interest of good governance," the government further said.

The case was registered by the forest department in 2012. The state government submitted the application in Kuruppampady Judicial Magistrate Court, which will hear the matter on July 24.

New Delhi, Feb 18: India emerged as the world's fifth-largest economy by overtaking the UK and France in 2019, says a report.

A US-based think tank World Population Review in its report said that India is developing into an open-market economy from its previous autarkic policies.

"India's economy is the fifth-largest in the world with a GDP of $2.94 trillion, overtaking the UK and France in 2019 to take the fifth spot," it said.

The size of the UK economy is $2.83 trillion and that of France is $2.71 trillion.

The report further said that in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms, India's GDP (PPP) is $10.51 trillion, exceeding that of Japan and Germany. Due to India's high population, India's GDP per capita is $2,170 (for comparison, the US is $62,794).

India's real GDP growth, however, it said is expected to weaken for the third straight year from 7.5 per cent to 5 per cent.

The report observed that India's economic liberalisation began in the early 1990s and included industrial deregulation, reduced control on foreign trade and investment, and privatisation of state-owned enterprises.

"These measures have helped India accelerate economic growth," it said.

India's service sector is the fast-growing sector in the world accounting for 60 per cent of the economy and 28 per of employment, the report said, adding that manufacturing and agriculture are two other significant sectors of the economy.

The US-based World Population Review is an independent organisation without any political affiliations.

Washington, May 20: The United States recorded another 1,536 coronavirus deaths over the past 24 hours, the Johns Hopkins University tracker said.

That figure, tallied as of 8:30 pm (0030 GMT), raises to 91,845 the total number of COVID-19 deaths in the US.

The US tops the global rankings both for the highest death toll and the highest number of infections, with more than 1.5 million cases.