Launching a two-year-long celebration marking the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday shared their messages on social media.

Demonetisation was not a good idea and the time should have been utilised instead to fine-tune the goods and services tax (GST) before it was introduced, said Gita Gopinath, John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and of Economics at Harvard University, in an interview with Advait Rao Palepu. Rising oil prices are emerging as a big challenge for the country, she said while she was in Mumbai to deliver Exim Bank's commencement day lecture. Edited excerpts:

More people die in road accidents than in wars. Highways are the death beds. And India is known for its killer roads. Tragedy is, one need not be in a vehicle or drive one to be an accident victim. As per the data available, on an average 56 pedestrians die every year on or by the roads. This number has increased manifold from 2014 to 2017, by a good 66 per cent. Number of vehicle commuters who died on the roads are even higher than this. More than a lakh and half people died on the roads in 2016 in about 5 lakh accidents.

In a shocking case, a 15-year-old boy has been apprehended here for allegedly trying to rape his neighbour -- a Class 3 girl student, police said.

An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale rocked Sumba island of Indonesia on Tuesday, barely four days after a 7.5 magnitude quake hit its Sulawesi island triggering a tsunami and killing nearly 900 people.

Kerala musician and violinist Balabhaskar, who was seriously injured along with his wife in a road accident last week, died here in the early hours of Tuesday, informed sources said.

Following the information that the accused in the murder of former Mayor Ravikumar would surrender before the court on Monday, the police waited on to arrest them, but in vain. Consequently, they got tired of waiting for the accused.

Noor-ul-Haq Qadri said Prime Minister Imran Khan had directed him to attend the event, according to several Twitter handles run by Saeed’s supporters.