LIVE News Updates: India is still fastest-growing economy among G-20: Nirmala Sitharaman

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, after meeting NCP chief Sharad Pawar, on MOnday said that the responsibility to form a government in Maharshtra was "not ours".

"The ones who had that responsibility ran away. But I am confident that soon we will have a government in place," Raut said.

Amid growing concerns over India's economic slowdown and rising unemployment, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that though there is "some deceleration" in India's economy but it is still "fastest-growing" economy among G-20 nations.

Also, junior Finance Minister Anurag Thakur said that 5% growth rate is not "slump". "I want to know which RBI Governor has said it," Thakur said in Lok Sabha.

A number of economists and experts have been flagging India's slackening growth and have warned of things getting worse if immediate remedial measures are not taken. However, the Modi government has consistently denied the economy is in trouble.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut late on Monday evening reached Sharad Pawar's residence in New Delhi. The meeting comes barely hours after Pawar met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi at her residence.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Monday said that he and Congress president Sonia Gandhi did not discuss government formation in Maharashtra during the meeting.

"This meeting was all about discussing Congress and NCP. We discussed in detail about Maharashtra's political situation. I briefed her on it. Mr. AK Antony was also there. Certain leaders of both parties (Congress & NCP) will meet and discuss further and get back to us," Pawar told reporters.

Pawar had gone to meet Sonia Gandhi at her residence, 10 Janpath, in the evening amid speculations of NCP and Congress entering in a coalition with Shiv Sena to form the next government in Maharshtra. The Shiv Sena has fallen out with its ally BJP over rotational chief ministership.

The Delhi Metro on Monday said that as per Delhi Police advice, trains are not halting at Lok Kalyan Marg and entry/exit gates of the station have also been closed temporarily as JNU students are protesting.

Trains are also not halting at Udyog Bhawan and Patel Chowk. Exit/Entry Gates for Udyog Bhawan, Patel Chowk and Central Secretariat have been closed temporarily.

Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday launched a scathing attack on the Centre for denying permission to members of Parliament to visit Jammu and Kashmir and giving access to members of the European Union in the region, making Kashmir an "international issue".

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh began by quoting BR Ambedkar's statement in the Constituent Assembly where he deemed the Rajya Sabha an essential component in maintaining the Constitutional system of checks and balances. "It is our responsibility to ensure that no law is passed in haste or in an atmosphere of heightened emotion," he said.

He suggested that the Rajya Sabha should find time to debate Centre-state relations. The Rajya Sabha is designed to be a permanent House, without the need to start afresh after every general election, Singh said.

He assures full cooperation in making the House a more effective instrument of legislation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Rajya Sabha said, Whenever it has been about good of the nation, Rajya Sabha has risen to the occasion. It was widely believed that Triple Talaq bill would not pass here but it did.Even GST became a reality after it was passed in this house.

The Congress on Monday alleged that electoral bonds became instruments of anonymous donations bordering on "opaque money laundering" and asked the Modi government to answer how many thousand crores were received by the ruling BJP through them.

Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala cited a media report, which claimed that the government, in a bid to seek "secretive funds", "overruled" the Reserve Bank of India on the issue of introducing electoral bonds.

"RTI reveals how 'electoral bonds' became instruments of anonymous donations bordering on opaque 'money laundering'," Surjewala said in a tweet.

"Will the Modi Govt answer -- 1. How many thousand crores of bonds issued? 2. How many thousand crores received by BJP? 3. The 'Quid Pro Quo'?" he asked.

Chants of 'we want justice' rang through the Lok Sabha as members from Opposition benches, including from the Congress, National Conference and DMK. Hitting out at the government for the scenario in Jammu and Kashmir, MPs raised slogans like ‘Nakli case wapis lo’ (take back fake cases), ‘Tanashahi nahi chalegi’ (dictatorship will not be accepted) and ‘vipaksh pe hamla bandh karo’ (stop attacking the Opposition).

Congress' Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, "We also expect from the PM and the ruling party that all the issues concerning to the interest of the common people must be allowed to be discussed inside the Parliament. Parliament is meant for discussion, debate and dialogue. It is incumbent upon the govt to run the House smoothly so that Opposition parties will be able to express their views, articulate their opinion in an appropriate manner. This is the essence of Parliamentary democracy."

We are ready to discuss all issues. We are ready for any discussion, please let the House work, says Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Pralhad Joshi in Lok Sabha

Prince Raj from the Samastipur parliamentary constituency in Bihar, Himadri Singh from Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh, Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil from Satara in Maharashtra and DM Kathir Anand from Vellore in Tamil Nadu take oaths as Lok Sabha MPs.

Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha chairman P Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha speaker Om Prakash Birla begins session with obituary references.

Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha remembers Jagannath Mishra, Arun Jaitley, Sukhdev Singh Libra, Ram Jethmalani, Gurudas Gupta - former and sitting members of the House who passed away

Congress has given adjournment notice on Jammu and Kashmir. Farooq Abdullah should be released and allowed to come to the Parliament.

Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde was sworn-in as the 47th Chief Justice of India on Monday. President Ram Nath Kovind administered the oath of office.

Outgoing Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on October 18 had recommended Justice Bobde, the second senior-most judge of the apex court, as his successor. Justice Bobde will serve as CJI for around 18 months and retire on April 23, 2021.

Born in Nagpur on April 24, 1956, he completed his graduation and obtained a law degree from Nagpur University. He was enrolled on the roll of the Bar Council of Maharashtra in 1978 and was designated as Senior Advocate in 1998. His career as judge began on March 29, 2000 when he was appointed as Additional Judge in the Bombay High Court, and he rose to become Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court on October 16, 2012.

He was elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court on April 12, 2013. Justice Bobde was part of the five-judge constitution bench hearing the longest running Ayodhya land dispute case.

He was part of the in-house panel which has handled the controversial case related to allegations of sexual harassment against Chief Justice Gogoi, and gave him a clean chit, saying "no substance" was found in the allegation levelled by a former employee.

Justice Gogoi, the 46th Chief Justice of India, took charge on October 3, 2018 and demitted office on Sunday.

Unidentified persons robbed a truck driver of Rs 1 lakh and strangled him to death in Khatoli town in Muzaffarnagar, police said on Monday.

The body of Javed was found on Sunday with a belt wrapped around the neck, they said.

He had come to Muzaffarnagar where he sold tomatoes and was on the way to Amroha when the incident took place in Khatoli, police said.

Justice SA Bobde leaves for Rashtrapati Bhawan. He will take over as Chief Justice of India today; President Ram Nath Kovind to administer him the oath of office.

10 people killed, 20-25 injured in collision between a bus and truck on National Highway 11 near Shri Dungargarh in Bikaner district

The upward trend in petrol rates continued on the fifth consecutive day on Monday, while the diesel prices remained constant for the sixth day in continuation.

The prices have been affected by the rise in the crude oil rates in the international market. Though on Monday, the petrol rates in the international market remained unchanged, the Brent crude oil rates were the highest in the past two months.

Accordingly the petrol prices have been showing a surge with Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai seeing a hike of 16 paise/litre.

As per the Indian oil website, the petrol rates in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai were Rs 74.05/litre, Rs 76.74/litre, Rs 79.71/litre and Rs 76.97/litre respectively. The diesel rates, which have remained unchanged for six consecutive days are -- Rs 65.79/litre, Rs 68.20/litre, 69.01/litre and 69.54/litre respectively.

Brent crude futures were down by 0.05 per cent, at $63.31 a barrel, which is the highest in the past two months.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $57.84 a barrel, 0.02 per cent higher than the previous session

For a second time in just over two months, Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar and many persons affected by the Sardar Sarovar Dam have launched an indefinite protest demanding relief. The protest that began on Saturday has continued after the state government failed to put on record any assurances to help the oustees by bringing pressure on the Gujarat government.

Pro-democracy demonstrators holed up in a Hong Kong university campus set the main entrance ablaze Monday to prevent surrounding police moving in, after officers warned they may use live rounds if confronted by deadly weapons.

The police warning, which came after one officer was struck by an arrow, marked a further escalation of the near six-month crisis engulfing the city.

China has repeatedly warned that it will not tolerate dissent, and there are growing concerns that Beijing could intervene directly to end the spiralling unrest.