Union Home Minister Amit Shah to chair the 31st Southern Zonal Council meeting, attended by the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Telangana's Deputy CM, August 20, 2026. (File Photo)Union Home Minister Amit Shah will chair the 31st Southern Zonal Council meeting at a seaside resort in Kovalam on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram, bringing together the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala — Chandrababu Naidu, DK Shivakumar and VD Satheesan respectively — along with Telangana’s Deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka. The Southern Zonal Council comprises Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana and the Union Territories of Puducherry, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.If you are just joining us, this is The Indian Express Realtime breaking news blog – where we bring you the latest news updates of the day in real time. Scan the top headlines of the day here, or keep scrolling to see the latest updates stream in.Express investigation: Noida workers jailed 53 days on average before courts stepped inAn Indian Express investigation has found that workers arrested during the April protests in Noida were jailed for an average of 53 days before courts intervened, granting bail in 84 per cent of cases involving substantive allegations. Judges held that “mere presence is not enough to deny bail” and that workers could not be equated with instigators. However, bail has offered cold comfort to many families who face debt and fear of re-arrest, while some protesters had bail denied after the NSA was invoked and books and articles cited as evidence of dangerous intent.Story continues below this adMinisters handed social media report cards after Cabinet meetingEach Union minister was handed a sealed envelope after the Cabinet meeting containing a detailed assessment of their social media performance from May 1 to August 15 — covering X, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn — with the government asking them to step up engagement with Gen Z, in what amounts to one of the most formal internal digital accountability exercises the BJP has run.NTA to cut experts’ tenures to prevent compromise, stagger information spreadThe NTA is overhauling its system by shortening the tenures of subject experts, staggering the spread of question paper information and introducing air-gapped systems — steps the agency says are necessitated by the existence of “a big mafia that tries to get experts compromised,” according to an NTA official, in a candid admission of the scale of the threat to examination security.How India plans to count caste — and what went wrong beforeIndia’s plan for a caste census involves open-ended enumeration — a method that has historically produced messy, contested and politically charged data, with problems ranging from self-reporting inconsistencies to the challenge of mapping thousands of sub-castes onto a usable administrative framework. An explainer lays out the method and its risks.Structures outside Pakistan High Commission demolished in DelhiUnauthorised structures outside the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi have been demolished — a routine administrative action, but one whose timing, in the post-Operation Sindoor diplomatic environment, has not gone unnoticed.Live UpdatesAug 20, 2026 11:02 AM ISTKerala Governor reacts to Kerala University VC's ‘cockroaches’ and ‘lions’ remarksKerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on Thursday reacted to remarks by Kerala University Vice-Chancellor Dr Mohanan Kunnummal, who had used the terms "cockroaches" and "lions" while addressing students. Arlekar said he was unaware of the context in which Kunnummal had made the remarks. The Governor also used the analogy while speaking about what people should aspire to become, saying he did not want to be like "other cockroaches". Arlekar clarified that his remarks were not related to the ongoing student protests at Jantar Mantar. Kunnummal had earlier urged students to reject the description of young people as "cockroaches" and instead see themselves as "lions" representing the strength of the country.Aug 20, 2026 10:55 AM ISTAmit Shah chairs 31st Southern Zonal Council meeting in Mamallapuram, Tamil NaduUnion Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday chaired the 31st Southern Zonal Council meeting in Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan and Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka attended the meeting. The meeting brought together senior leaders from the southern states to discuss key regional issues.VIDEO | Chennai: Union Home Minister Amit Shah (@AmitShah) chairs 31st Southern Zonal Council meeting in Mamallapuram.Tamil Nadu CM C Joseph Vijay (@TVKVijayHQ), Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn), Keralam CM VD Satheesan (@vdsatheesan), Karnataka CM DK Shivakumar… pic.twitter.com/ySrM6E2T6o— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 20, 2026https://platform.x.com/widgets.jsAug 20, 2026 10:47 AM ISTIndia urges UN Security Council to avoid politicising terror sanctionsIndia has urged the UN Security Council not to allow its membership by nation states to pursue narrow political interests or "legitimise" terrorists through the sanctions process. Speaking at a Security Council open debate on working methods, India's Charge d'Affaires at the UN, Ambassador Yojna Patel, called for greater transparency and objectivity in the listing and de-listing of terrorists and terror groups. Patel said terrorists should not be removed from sanctions lists, or other entities added to them, solely on political considerations and without objective criteria or supporting evidence. India has repeatedly raised concerns over the opaque decision-making process of UNSC sanctions committees.© IE Online Media Services Pvt LtdTags:Amit Shah