It's an association fighting for the 'dead'. To draw attention to their plight, over 400 people, who have been wrongly declared dead in government records, will observe their punarjanm diwas or Rebirth Day on June 30 under the banner of Mritak Sangh.
Text of the Prime Minister's speech on the occasion
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati celebrated her 54th birthday on Friday, but without the trademark pomp, splendour and ostentatious celebrations. Instead, the CM surprised many by announcing welfare programmes for the poor and development schemes worth over Rs 7,300 crore for the state.Her earlier birthdays were celebrated as arthik sahyog diwas (fund raising day) when her partymen allegedly indulged in blatant extortion.
Inaugurating the Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas celebrations here, he pointed out that infrastructure, agriculture, health and education were the key priorities for the second term of the United Progressive Alliance government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the 'Run for Unity' in New Delhi on Friday on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, which is being commemorated as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas.
He is the fourth chief minister from the saffron party to head the northern state. Before Adityanath, Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh of the BJP had served as Uttar Pradesh chief ministers.
Undeterred by the ban imposed by the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Friday said that it will go ahead with its proposed 'Sankalp Diwas' to take a resolve to launch an agitation for rebuilding the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
A special session to discuss NRI women's issue was convened on the third day of the Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas.
A confident Indian cricket team arrived in Kingston for the second Test against hosts West Indies starting July 30, hoping to carry on the momentum it gained with an innings victory in the series opener in Antigua.
The 17th anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid largely remained a non-event in Ayodhya, in spite of the various programmes organised by political parties to mark the occasion. While the Vishwa Hindu Parishad observed it as 'Shaurya Diwas' (Valour Day) and the Babri Masjid Action Committee and the Samajwadi Party observed it as 'Black Day', the events held by them witnessed negligible participation by the locals.
Abhishek Bachchan pays tribute to the heroes of Kargil War on a special episode of Jai Jawan on NDTV.
Being repeatedly attacked by her political adversaries for collecting donations on her birthday Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister today said the system will be abolished from next year.
'To them, the day may not be far off when the state BJP starts claiming and propagating that Modi is next only to AIADMK's late boss Jayalalithaa,' says N Sathiya Moorthy.
On her birthday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati had an answer for each of her detractors: the Samjawadi Party, the Bhartiya Janata Party and the Congress. "If Congressmen have a problem with my celebrating my birthday, then we could also observe Congress president Sonia Gandhi's birthday as ghulami diwas (slavery day) - considering she is a person of foreign origin, for which she has always been targeted by other opposition parties", Mayawati said.
'I chose the army over glamour,' says Major Sheena, who feels no other profession elicits the kind of respect like the army does.
President Pratibha Patil released a Special Commemorative Stamp in honour of Late Field Marshal Sam Bahadur Manekshaw at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday.
Inaugurating the eighth edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, Dr Singh said: "I recognise the legitimate desire of Indians living abroad to exercise their franchise and to have a say in who governs India. We are working on this issue and I sincerely hope that they will get a chance to vote by the time of the next regular general elections."
Come January 15 and it is not unusual for Bahujan Samaj Party president and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati to show her paranoia invariably on account of the perennial accusation that the collection of money for her birthday 'gift', more often than not, culminates into extortion.
Accusing Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray of hurting the religious sentiments of people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan on Saturday demanded his immediate arrest for causing divisions in the society.
BJP protest outside Mamata Banerjee's residence over attack on BJP leader Roopa Ganguly's convoy
Replying to a question from a delegate participating in the Pravasi Baharatiya Diwas in Chennai that why the country did not have young leadership, he said Rahul Gandhi would follow the footsteps of his father Rajiv Gandhi, who became the prime minister at a young age.
'It is my duty to tell them about the brave soldiers who gave their lives for our land.' 'The free air of freedom that we breathe is because of men like them.'
Montek Singh Ahluwalia appealed to the Indian Diaspora at the PBD gathering to support health care ventures of the Indian government, for people below the poverty line.
Here's a recap of moments captured in India in the past 24 hours.
In the coming four months from August, agitating farmers will hold 400 meetings across the country to highlight farmers' issues and protest against government claims, reports Sanjeeb Mukherjee.
Strident Hindutva has not been the Shivraj Singh Chouhan's hallmark in his long tenure as chief minister. What has changed?
Inclement weather on Thursday forced Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag to cancel their scheduled visit to Drass for paying homage to the martyrs of the 1999 Kargil war.
A clerical error compounded by callousness of the higher bureaucracy has raised a storm over the already vexed Ayodhya issue.
Celebrating Kisan Diwas, e-retailing firm Snapdeal on Tuesday announced the launch of "The Agri store", offering products like seeds, fertiliser and irrigation tools.
Captain Saurabh Kalia was captured, tortured and barbarically killed in the Kargil War. For 20 years, his father has waged a war of his own to get justice for his son. Captain Kalia is no more, but he lives on in the home he did not return to.
Shashi Tharoor, who was sacked as Congress party spokesman in the wake of his effusive praise of the prime minister's Swachh Bharat program, on Thursday attacked the Narendra Modi government for "ignoring the martyrdom" of Indira Gandhi, whose death anniversary falls on Friday.
'Don't try to impose anything on us.'
On the eve of the sixth PBD, Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi clears the air about these perceptions and explains to rediff.com's Krishnakumar how this year's event will bridge the gap between the Indians abroad and Indians back home.
India plans to create a special centre to attract investments from overseas Indians as also to facilitate creation of a global Indian consortium to work with apex trade bodies, states of India and various associations of overseas Indians.
A recap of events that occurred in India in the past 24 hours.
'The Ladakh Scouts are a fantastic mountain troops suited to this terrain.' 'Other troops have to first get acclimatised, but these men are tough mountain people.'
Media persons mobbed Ratan Tata for comments on the controversy over the small-car project in West Bengal and also on the race to acquire Anglo-Dutch steel giant Corus.
Significantly, none of the one-time frontrunners of the temple movement were around. Even former local MP and founder of the Hindu hardline Bajrang Dal Vinay Katiyar kept away from Ayodhya.
July 26th is Kargil Vijay Diwas, the seventh anniversary of Operation Vijay.
With the 'Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Bill' turning into a law, cow slaughter in Haryana will now attract a rigorous imprisonment ranging from three years to 10 years.
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