Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah on Wednesday hit out at Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for his demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe Rafale deal and accused him of lying over the issue.

The government on Wednesday took several measures on the banking and financial front, including concessional loan for rebuilding houses, to provide relief to the people in flood-ravaged Kerala.

The Priority Sector Lending Certificates (PSLCs) scheme is gaining popularity as the total trading volume of the platform stood at Rs 1,843.3 billion at the end of last financial year, up from Rs 498 billion in the previous year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Wednesday.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), student wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), on Wednesday said it had formulated a comprehensive startegy to use "nationalism" plank to attract young and first-time voters towards the BJP ahead of the 2019 elections.

The Congress on Wednesday kept up its attack on the Rafale deal, alleging that Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was trying to cover up a "scandal with scandal" and asked why the government was "scared" for a JPC probe.

A Buddhist monk was detained on Wednesday after minor children in Bodh Gaya in Bihar alleged he had sexually abused them, officials said.

A committee of secretaries, formed to deliberate and make recommendations for a separate law to deal with the incidents of lynching, has submitted its report to Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, officials said on Wednesday.

The Centre has sanctioned Rs 730 crore for the Gujarat's Sardar Sarovar Dam project on the Narmada river for the current year and also committed soft loan of Rs 1,500 crore for the state's other irrigation projects, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said on Wednesday.