2 min readJul 24, 2026 06:47 AM IST First published on: Jul 24, 2026 at 06:42 AM ISTDistrict collectors and superintendents of police will henceforth be held directly and principally responsible for any outbreak of communal violence within their jurisdiction, the Minister of State for Internal Security, P Chidambaram, declared in the Lok Sabha. He was responding to the demand repeatedly made during the debate that the government pin responsibility on the collector and SP.US President Ronald Reagan rejected what he called the emotional clamour for punitive sanctions against South Africa and called for deeper Western involvement to bring reform and an end to apartheid. Rebuffing Congress and some of America’s Western allies, Reagan said, “We must stay and work, not cut and run.” The speech, in which Reagan vigorously defended his stance towards the white minority government in Pretoria, but also urged it to set a time-table for dismantling apartheid, fell well short of demands in Congress for tough U.S. sanctions