Hindus will offer prayers from sunrise to sunset on Basant Panchami while Muslims to offer namaz from 1 pm to 3 pm on Friday.
Amidst growing calls for the removal of Aurangzeb's tomb at Khultabad in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, the administration has declared the area a 'no drone zone' and deployed additional security forces. The move comes after demonstrations and online posts demanding the tomb's removal, with some of these posts leading to violence in Nagpur. Authorities are actively monitoring and removing provocative content from social media platforms.
'Archaeological sites like Keeladi, having remained buried for 2,500 years, have come out and speak now.'
'At Keeladi, we have not come across any evidence for organised religion.'
The Supreme Court refused to stay a provision barring the declaration of tribal lands as waqf properties, upholding key provisions of the Amended Waqf Act.
'It has the potential to sow seeds of furthering discord when the direction of the discourse is aimed at propagating the perceived supremacy of 'cultural nationalism' from a distant past over the prevailing dominance of 'Constitutional nationalism',' argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
The theme for this year is "Yoga for One Earth, One Health" echoes India's vision of global wellness.
Rediff reader Nirdesh Singh discovered a hidden gem in the form of the Chitradurga Fort. Read on.
'While suppression of information is acceptable for the government, the Opposition's efforts at pinning the government and its leaders is labeled anti-national,' points out Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Be it a Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Parsi, Buddhist or Jain, everyone is welcome at the dargah, Rijiju said.
Hindus consider Bhojshala, an Archaeological Survey of India-protected 11th century monument, to be a temple dedicated to Vagdevi (Goddess Saraswati), while the Muslim community call it Kamal Maula Mosque.
President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday approved 139 Padma awards including seven Padma Vibhushans, 19 Padma Bhushans and 113 Padma Shris.
A body representing the 'Khadims' of the Ajmer dargah has condemned a plea in a local court that seeks to declare the shrine of Khawaja Gharib Nawaz as a temple, saying right-wing forces were trying to "isolate" Muslims and "disrupt" communal harmony in the country.
'They were ahead of their times. We don't expect this from a civilisation of the first century AD.'
A local court in Ajmer has issued notices to the dargah committee, the Ministry of Minority Affairs, and the Archaeological Survey of India on a plea seeking to declare the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti a temple. The petition, filed in September, has sparked a heated debate, with politicians and community leaders weighing in on the potentially volatile issue. The dargah committee has declined to comment, but the Anjuman Syed Zadgan, a body representing the caretakers of the dargah, described the petition as a deliberate attempt to fracture society along communal lines. The petition comes just days after four people were killed in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, following a local court ordering survey of a Mughal-era shrine. The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which fixed August 15, 1947, as the cut-off date for status quo on the character of religious places, is at the centre of much of the debate. Several politicians, including Union minister Giriraj Singh and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, have weighed in on the issue. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has called the civil court's decision to entertain the petition unwarranted and has asked the Supreme Court to immediately intervene.
However, a division bench of Justices SA Dharmadhikari and Gajendra Singh made it clear the ASI won't be given any more time at the end of this 8-week period.
The internet services giant wanted to cover most of the Indian territory through the Google Street View.
In a major victory for the Hindu side, a Varanasi court on Wednesday allowed Hindu devotees to offer prayers inside the 'Vyas ka Tekhana' area inside the Gyanvapi mosque complex.
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a PIL seeking the constitution of a 'renaming commission' to restore "original" names of ancient, cultural and religious places "renamed" by invaders, saying India can't be a prisoner of the past.
Made of silver with a coat of gold, the historical sceptre will be installed near the chair of the Lok Sabha Speaker on May 28, the same day the new Parliament building will be dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While the main building of the National Archives will remain intact, its annexe will be demolished and a new building will be constructed, officials said.
'The Megalithic period had a significant feature. Their pottery uses black and red clay.' 'Another identifying feature is that all Megalithic burial sites are oriented towards the east.'
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi has said that 31 bills will be taken up in the monsoon session. Among these include the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023.
The Hindu side had claimed in the lower court that a Shivling was found during the videographic survey.
Google will build its largest campus outside the Unites States in Hyderabad.
The apex court, which delivered a historic unanimous judgment putting the curtains down on the vexatious legal battle that has torn the social fabric of the nation, said citizens of all faiths, beliefs and creeds 'seeking divine provenance' are both subject to law and equal before law under the Indian Constitution.
After an all-party meeting in New Delhi, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi also said that some of these 32 bills have already been discussed by standing committees of Parliament.
'In China there is capital punishment for heritage theft. That is how they treat criminals, unlike us.' 'Here we treat them like it's a house-breaking theft.'
'Lord Ram's history has reached Indonesia, but not Owaisi's home.'
India said it is committed to building up Indian Ocean Rim Association in line with its own expanding bilateral ties with the members of the grouping.
The meeting had resumed for a day on Sunday, after being suspended a day earlier due to a failed coup bid in Turkey which claimed over 260 lives.
'We all know that when the Babri Masjid was demolished, P V Narasimha Rao was prime minister.' 'He did not do anything to stop the demolition.'
Think beyond the obvious and explore these unusual getaways.
Some 1,100 years ago, Uthiramerur had an election system similar to what India has today.
The apex court said the faith of Hindus that Lord Ram was born at the site was undisputed, and he is symbolically the owner of the land.
Whether we flew aircraft or mastered plastic surgery is immaterial for modern India, what matters is if ancient Indians understood the science and art of settlement planning, architecture and governance of natural resources. This is the history we need to learn, says Sunita Narain
As the number of cases crossed 2,56,000 with more than 7,100 fatalities, according to Union health ministry figures, and the country made a calibrated exit from the lockdown in non-containment zones, shop shutters in many malls went up for the first time since March 25 but the sprawling retail places were eerily empty.
Right in the midst of bustling Kolkata lies what might be the most prominent population of Britons in India.
It is rare for communal riots to spread to rural areas. The UP riot is the first time after the September 1969 Gujarat riots that a rural area have been affected. Electoral politics which divide society in majority/minority, going on since the early 1990s, is a major contributing factor to this heightened tension between communities, says Colonel (retd) Anil Athale in the first of a two part series.
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