Modi speaks to Bangladesh PM
The Lok Sabha on Thursday unanimously passed a bill authorising India’s Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh. The agreement allows the two countries to exchange enclaves of each other's territory stranded across the border. Clarifying that the exchange would not reduce the length of India's border, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj added that the agreement will help in curbing illegal immigration.

Rahul accuses Modi of playing ‘politics of revenge’
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of practicing the “politics of revenge”, after the Central government scrapped plans for a food park project in Gandhi’s constituency of Amethi. Attacking Modi in Parliament, Gandhi said the project would have helped farmers in over 10 districts. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that the company setting up the project had pulled out of it even as he assured Gandhi that he would look into the matter.

Lok Sabha passes amended Juvenile Justice Bill
The Lok Sabha passed an amended Juvenile Justice Bill on Thursday, allowing children between the ages of 16 and 18 years old to be tried under laws governing adults if they commit heinous crimes such as murder or rape. At least 42 official amendments to the existing bill were adopted.  The new law does not contain any provision to award the death sentence or life imprisonment to convicted juveniles. Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said that the new law would help in stopping juveniles from committing crimes and refuted the opposition’s allegations that the bill could be misused saying that she had tried to strike a “fine balance” between ensuring justice to victims and guaranteeing the rights of children.

De-link terrorism from religion, says Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the international community had to de-link terrorism from religion, saying that it would “put an end to the emotional blackmailing which is inherent in this particular concept”. In an interview given to Time magazine, Modi said that this would help isolate terrorists who “tend to use this interchange of arguments between terrorism and religion”. The world needed to pass the United Nations Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism so that it would “clearly establish” the “definitional aspects of terrorism”, Modi added.

Congress to oppose land bill with 'full might’
The Congress on Thursday said that it would oppose the amended Land Acquisition Bill “with its full might”. “The Modi government is working totally in the interest of capitalists to handover farmers’ land to its favourite industrialists,” said All India Congress Committee General-Secretary Madhusudan Mistry. Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Nirmal Khatri said that the party would force the Central government to withdraw the re-promulgated land acquisition ordinance. The bill is likely to be tabled in the Lok Sabha on Friday. The government has extended the length of the Budget session by three days to allow for the bill’s passage.