Making a strong Hindutva pitch at the hustings in West Bengal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday attacked Trinamool Congress leaders for calling those wearing saffron, sporting tilak and choti as "rakshas", and declared that he does not believe in "seasonal faith".
Here's a recap of the events from the past 24 hours.
Six queens and one king are making their own rules and celebrating the freedom to be their most fabulous selves on Vogue India's cover.
Poverty prevented Kami finishing his studies as a child. At 68, he goes to school six days a week to complete his studies and escape a lonely home life.
What makes The World Before Her stand out is that it has the courage to ask what nobody else does: who is the Modern Indian Woman? Paloma Sharma reviews the film.
Bringing Indian festivals home for the second generation
We re-visit the location of Satyajit Ray's first masterpiece.
We re-visit the location of Satyajit Ray's first masterpiece.
Ahead of Mother's Day, Rediff readers write about their mothers and tell us what they mean to them.
Legendary Diego Maradona finally kept his date with the football-crazy Kolkata for a three-day private trip, which was originally scheduled in September.
'The local administration is working overtime to improve voter turnout and take it beyond the 50% to 60% mark. This is evident from the massive advertising being done to propagate the same. Not a single government building is left standing without it being plastered with the Election Commission's posters and banners.'
President Pranab Mukherjee has yet again come out with an appeal for practicing tolerance and to accept differences while respecting dissent, in remarks that come in the midst of growing intolerance in the country.
He also highlighted that the number of active COVID-19 cases in the country are less than 7 lakh and the doubling rate has increased to 97.2 days.
Here's a recap of moments captured in India in the past 24 hours.
The policemen, most of whom are deployed on daily shifts, were sitting on wooden beds under a Neem tree, watching a steady stream of mediapersons arriving with a variety of questions.
Is the worst of the Covid crisis behind India? As cases dip three weeks after Diwali, the answer is a possible yes, say several experts, attributing the downslide to a large section of the population already exposed to the virus during the second wave and a stepped up vaccination campaign.
The Padma Bhushan was conferred on 17 personalities including N Chandrasekharan, chairman of Tata Sons, Krishna and Suchita Ella of Bharat Biotech, Cyrus Poonawalla, Satya Nadella, chairman of Microsoft, Sunder Pichai, chairman of Google.
As Gulzar turns 86 on August 18, Subhash K Jha celebrates the iconic figure by picking his five favourite songs.
The nod by the Heritage Conservation Committee came nearly a week after the Supreme Court asked the Centre to seek prior approval from the panel and other relevant authorities before starting construction of the new parliament building.
Cries of 'Jai Hind' rent the air as a large number of people bid a final adieu to Colonel Viplav Tripathi, his wife and five-year-old son, who were killed in a terrorist attack in Manipur two days ago, in their hometown Raigarh in Chhattisgarh on Monday.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday held Jharkhand and DVC responsible for the current "man made" flood in the southern part of the state and contended that it was caused due to the unplanned and enhanced discharge of water from dams and barrages in the neighbouring state without information.
'To keep laughing is the most important thing in life.'
A woman scientist working in a leading research institute in Hyderabad has alleged sexual harassment by a senior colleague at workplace and slapped a legal notice on the management.
'Goddess Laxmi doesn't come just by praying to her.' 'You have to make yourself attractive to Laxmi for her to come to you.'
The chief minister, who was re-elected as the JD-U president in 2019 for three years, relinquished the post in favour of Singh, its leader in Rajya Sabha.
Sukanya Verma handpicks 10 new interesting movies and shows from India and abroad just for you.
Pandit Jasraj's daughter Durga Jasraj will soon produce a Hindi film with a number of Indian classical songs.
The meeting lasted for 30 minutes, where Singh inquired about their well-being.
As the number of COVID-19 cases is witnessing a spike in India, religious places across the country remain closed to encourage social distancing, a key component in preventing the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Amid heightened tension on the border, Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire twice on Monday targeting Indian forward posts along the International Border in Poonch and Samba districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
'Who will cast me?'
'It's all about how many Instagram followers you have, which ramp you're walking on,' the actress who is sensational in Sacred Games tells Rediff.com's Ronjita V Kulkarni.
'Absolute non-violence is not only sinful, but immoral.' 'This doctrine of non-violence benumbed the revolutionary fervor, softened the limbs and hearts of the Hindus, and stiffened the bones of enemies.' A revealing excerpt from Vikram Sampath's Savarkar (Part 2): A Contested Legacy, 1924-1966.
All the details from the meetings of the Committee of Administrators (CoA) held on July 6 and on June 29
While the numbers of fresh COVID cases and active cases are going up, the administration is focussing on testing, contact-tracing and treatment.
'The bhadralok would have earlier baulked at the very idea of wearing a coloured dhoti; now, with Dr Banerjee wearing, it is quite likely to be the hot fashion item during Durga Puja next year,' says Uttaran Das Gupta.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R S Reddy and M R Shah said if any State/Union Territory in exercise of their jurisdiction under the Disaster Management Act (DMA) has taken a decision that it is not possible to conduct the final year/terminal semester examination by September 30, then they can make an application to the UGC for extending the deadline.
A purported video of Lok Janshakti Party president Chirag Paswan rehearsing for a video message a day after the death of his father, one of the foremost Dalit leaders Bihar produced after Jagjivan Ram, has gone viral.
