| Photo Credit: V. SudershanPresident Pranab Mukherjee, on Tuesday, called for a constructive debate on simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies and state funding of polls to eradicate money power. “My government welcomes a constructive debate on simultaneous conduct of elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies. Referring to the surgical strikes, he said the government had taken decisive steps to give a fitting reply to the repeated incursions. “On September 29, 2016, our defence forces successfully conducted surgical strikes at several launchpads along the Line of Control to prevent infiltration by terrorists. “My government’s very first Cabinet decision [in 2014] was to set up an SIT on black money,” he said.

Source: The Hindu January 31, 2017 18:45 UTC