The Supreme Court of India has formed a National Task Force (NTF) to address the growing concern of student suicides in higher educational institutions. The court took note of the recurring cases and directed Delhi Police to register FIRs on the complaints of families of two students who died by suicide at IIT Delhi in 2023. The NTF, chaired by former apex court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat, will prepare a comprehensive report, including the identification of causes leading to suicides, analysis of existing regulations, and recommendations for strengthening protections. The NTF will also have the authority to conduct surprise inspections of higher educational institutions and make further recommendations to ensure a holistic approach to addressing mental health concerns and eliminating suicides.
An upcoming book by investigative journalist Chitra Subramaniam claims that senior Indian bureaucrats "tutored" Bofors officials in a secret meeting in 1987 on how to absolve then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of all blame in the infamous bribery scandal. The book, "Boforsgate," details how the meeting was held to cover up the alleged Rs 64 crore bribe in a Rs 1,437 crore deal for Howitzer guns, and how Indian officials provided advice on concealing information from investigators. Subramaniam's revelations are based on documents provided to her by the Swedish head of police investigating the Bofors case.
'For weeks, months and years, it would continue to be debated if India should have pushed the early advantage and decapacitated Pakistan militarily.' 'India refused to bite the provocatively proverbial bullet and escalate it into a full-fledged war,' notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The ISI strategy has been to use its proxies to target Hindus in India. They want an outrage and counter-targeting of India's minorities. Further, even the whiff of it restores the Pakistan army's popularity, especially when it's in the dumps, like now, points out Shekhar Gupta.
'We do not want to fall into a trap of uncontrolled escalation or all out conflict.' 'When the need arises we will do that.'
An offence under the SC-ST Act is not established merely on the fact that the complainant is a member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe community unless there is an intention to humiliate, the Supreme Court said on Friday.
In the case of the killing of the IAF personnel in a terror attack in Srinagar in 1990, the court had summoned two witnesses for identification, but they could not appear citing medical reasons, Bhat said, adding that both of them had to come from outside.
This Women's Day Week, we celebrate the groundbreaking achievements of Justice Anna Chandy, Justice M Fathima Beevi and Justice Leila Seth.
India needs another shot of difficult reform, of the kind only possible at gunpoint. Mr Trump holds that gun to our heads now. A drastic reduction in tariff protection, other elements of sarkari wet-nursing will force entrepreneurial India to become competitive again, argues Shekhar Gupta.
Leading Indian electric two-wheeler (e2W) companies have said that "swapping" of batteries is currently unviable and will only increase the cost for a consumer to run the vehicle.
'Journalists must ask the Mumbai police why are they sending notices via X to cartoonists.' 'The Mumbai police must come clean. Who is giving them such orders?'
The cabinet of the new government led by Rekha Gupta balances representation of all major communities that propelled the Bharatiya Janata Party to power in Delhi with a massive majority after over 26 years.
On the complaint of Rudrapur city section railway engineer Rajendra Kumar, an FIR was lodged at GRP Police Station Rampur under sections of the Railways Act 1989 against unnamed people.
Even a whiff of an incident like the violent 1989 shirt-ripping attack on Krishnamachari Srikkanth by a Karachi spectator would be ruinous. It would set back the ties further, derail an ongoing tournament, and harden Indian attitudes on playing Pakistan anywhere at all, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
According to the latest data, the CBI has so far registered 27 cases handed over to it by the state police -- 19 cases of crime against women, three related to an armoury loot by a mob, two of murder and one each of rioting and murder, kidnapping and general criminal conspiracy, sources aware of the developments said.
The CBI has so far registered eight cases which include two related to alleged sexual assault on women in Manipur.
Kodikunnil Suresh, the Opposition's pick for the Lok Sabha speaker who will go up against the Bharatiya Janata Party's Om Birla, is a Congress veteran, an eight-term MP and one whose election in 2009 was declared invalid by the Kerala high court before being restored by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court verdict on mining royalty case will give a further jolt to the Indian mining industry and will have very large financial implications, as arrears may work out to the tune of more than Rs 1.5 lakh crore to Rs 2 lakh crore, industry players said on Wednesday. The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the power of states to levy tax on mineral rights and mineral-bearing land, and allowed them to seek refund of royalty from April 1, 2005 onwards. According to a senior mines ministry official, the verdict will have a very large financial impact on mining, steel, power and coal companies.
'PM Modi would have swept the elections in Kashmir after notebandi but then he scrapped Article 370 so all his good work went down the drain.'
A government school teacher, his wife and two daughters were allegedly shot dead at their rented accommodation on Thursday, over a month after the family lodged a first information report (FIR) against a man saying he would be responsible if something untoward happened to them, police said.
Abdullah said they are claiming that terrorism is over but the ground situation shows that it has increased in otherwise peaceful Jammu region.
Former Pakistan opener Mudassar Nazar on Sunday revealed that his team faced immense pressure in the early 1990s as a defeat, especially against India, would inevitably spark suspicions of foul play and match-fixing among fans back home.
India is pushing for greater disclosures by credit card companies, fintech firms, and payment aggregators (PAs) at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), so that the sender and recipient in a cross-border financial transaction can be easily identified and the information shared with law enforcement agencies. Separately, the inter-governmental group, which sets standards to curb money laundering, will release the fourth round of its mutual evaluation report on India on September 19. FATF in June had adopted the mutual evaluation report on India and placed the country in the "regular follow-up" category - the highest rating given by the global watchdog and a distinction shared by only four other G20 countries.
'I had to persuade him. I think he was a sceptic to begin with, but later on he was convinced that what we were doing was the right thing to do, that there was no other way out.'
Much drama is likely to continue in the coming year, within the Sangh Parivar as well as involving the Opposition parties and, of course the BJP's allies, predicts Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
rediffGURU T S Khurana answers readers' personal income tax queries.
'Afzal Guru became a victim of Pakistan's conspiracy. He was used as a means, just like all other innocent Kashmiris.'
Lashing out at Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, Rashid on Wednesday alleged that they have "destroyed" Kashmir.
Malik again insisted on his physical appearance in the hearing on the killing of four Indian Air Force personnel in 1990.
Asim Malik's shift to the important DG, ISI post comes as something of a surprise now, but it indicates the army chief's confidence in him, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
The long term trends on violence in Kashmir are positive and India must secure these gains further, asserts Aakar Patel.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday took into custody three railway personnel in connection with the June 2 Balasore train accident, making its first arrests in the case, officials said.
In days of smart, networked technology and no shame over collateral damage, what will blow up next -- cars, mobile phones, TV sets, refrigerators? And where?, asks Shyam G Menon.
New Delhi -- which has had a disastrous neighbourhood policy that has alienated almost all the States with which it has a land or sea border -- seemed to be unwilling over the past years to even consider that its unquestioning support of Sheikh Hasina was painting it into a corner, points out Mihir S Sharma.
'Leave aside the negative fallouts of phraseology like 'urban Naxals' and 'terrorists', both the BJP and the Congress have to re-discover themselves in the context of the 2024 election results, including those of the upcoming ones for Maharashtra and Jharkhand,' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
On September 13, three nostalgic movies are up for re-release: Shah Rukh Khan's ageless romance with Preity Zinta Veer Zaara, Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia Deshmukh's first film together, Tujhe Meri Kasam and Soham Shah's horror film, Tumbbad.
Fifteen years after quitting the Sikkim Democratic Front in 2009, he decimated Chamling's party, scripting history by winning 31 of 32 assembly seats in the Himalayan state in 2024.
Four IAF personnel, including a squadron leader, were killed and 22 injured on January 25, 1990, at Rawalpora on the outskirts of Srinagar.
A cabinet meeting outside Lucknow -- a rare event -- was held for the first time in Prayagraj in January of 2019.
A special court in Jammu on Wednesday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to physically produce before it JKLF chief Yasin Malik, who is lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail, on October 20 in connection with the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of then Union home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
