Modi receives Israeli PM Netanyahu at airport

New Delhi, Jan 15: The Delhi government Wednesday told the high court that execution of the death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case will not take place on January 22 as a mercy plea has been filed by one of them.

The four convicts -- Vinay Sharma (26), Mukesh Kumar (32), Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Gupta (25) -- are to be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail. A Delhi court had issued their death warrants on January 7.

Justices Manmohan and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal were told by the Delhi government and the Centre that the petition filed by convict Mukesh, challenging his death warrant, was premature.

The Delhi government and the prison authorities informed the court that under the rules, it will have to wait for the mercy plea to be decided before executing the death warrant.

They also said that none of the four convicts can be executed on January 22 unless the present mercy plea is decided.

The Supreme Court had on Tuesday dismissed the curative pleas of Mukesh and Vinay.

The mercy plea hearing began Wednesday morning and will continue in the afternoon.

New Delhi, Jun 4: Press Council of India (PCI) member BR Gupta has resigned from his post, saying he was unable to work individually or collectively for the media, which is in a "deep crisis".

"I have tendered my resignation as a Press Council of India member," Gupta told PTI.

He said the PCI had the responsibility to encourage media and media professionals constantly.

"But everyone now realises that the media scenario is in a deep crisis. The motto for which the Council was created was not being fulfilled and I felt I was not doing anything remarkable for the freedom of media," Gupta said.

He claimed that the PCI was not a wholly representative body for the media.

"Then how can we come out of the crisis being faced by the media and mediapersons? It is a big challenge for us. I have quit as I have not been able to work individually or collectively being a PCI member," Gupta added.

Referring to salary cuts and job losses, he said media and mediapersons were struggling for social, political and economic justice.

When contacted, PCI chairman Justice C K Prasad said Gupta's resignation has not been accepted yet.

"I have received it (the resignation). I have not gone through it. It has not been accepted," Prasad told PTI.

Gupta was appointed as a PCI member for a three-year term on May 30, 2018.

He said liberty is one of the basic features of the preamble to the Constitution that continues to inspire people and the media.

"It is difficult (for me) to fulfil the unbiased role and responsibility to help citizens and the media for making democracy stronger," Gupta said.

Mumbai, Mar 9: India's Yes Bank will not be merged with State Bank of India, which is set to infuse funds in the beleaguered lender, the newly appointed administrator leading the rescue plan said in a television interview on Monday.

"There is absolutely no question of a merger," Prashant Kumar, the administrator, told the CNBC TV18 channel.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday took control of Yes Bank, after the lender - which is laden with bad debts - failed to raise the capital it needs to stay above mandated regulatory requirements.

Placing Yes Bank under a 30-day moratorium, the central bank imposed limits on withdrawals to protect depositors and said it would work on a revival plan. The move spooked depositors, who rushed to withdraw funds from the bank.

Kumar, a former finance chief at SBI, assured depositors their money was safe and that the moratorium on Yes Bank might be lifted much before the deadline on April 3 and normal banking operations might resume as early as Friday.

He also mentioned that the withdrawal limit of Yes Bank may be removed by March 15, 2020.

SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar said on Saturday the state-run bank would need to invest up to 24.5 billion rupees ($331 million) to buy a 49% stake in Yes Bank as part of the initial phase of the rescue deal, adding that the survival of troubled lender was a "must".