The maiden voyage has 32 tourists from Switzerland signing up for the entire length of the journey.
Six decades and more later, we are now captives of our identities. Every poll is based on elaborate calculations of electability of candidates on the basis of their castes and other narrow definers. That, along with voter promiscuity, is what defines our political culture, which remains stubbornly resistant to any change, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
The probe report has estimated the cost of damage due to the accident at more than Rs 52 crore.
Heavy rains in the last three days triggered flash floods in parts of Bihar, where 41 people have died so far, and inundated large areas in Assam and North Bengal, paralysing normal life and snapping rail link to the Northeast from the rest of the country.
Markets regulator Sebi on Thursday said it has lined up three properties of Saradha Group of Companies for an auction on December 16, at a reserve price of Rs 5.21 crore. The move is part of Sebi's efforts to recover money raised by the company from the public through illicit schemes. In a notice, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said the auction will be conducted between 11 am to 12 pm on December 16, 2022. The properties to go under the hammer include land parcels located in West Bengal.
A bomb was recovered on Monday from an unclaimed bag in a train just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Assam
The Income Tax department Saturday issued an advisory that those permanent account numbers (PAN) which are not linked with Aadhaar by the end of March next year will be rendered "inoperative". "What is mandatory, is necessary. Don't delay, link it today!" the department said in a public advisory. "As per Income-tax Act, 1961, it is mandatory for all PAN holders, who do not fall under the exempt category, to link their PAN with Aadhaar before 31.3.2023. From 1.04.2023, the unlinked PAN shall become inoperative," it said.
Markets regulator Sebi on Friday said it has lined up as many as 69 properties of Saradha Group of Companies for an auction on November 1 at a reserve price of Rs 30 crore. The move is part of Sebi's efforts to recover money raised by the company from public through illicit schemes. In a notice, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said the auction will be conducted between 11 am to 1 pm on November 1, 2022.
aThe woman who died after being thrown out of a tempo taxi raising public outrage in Assam, was not raped, the post mortem report established, while one person was arrested on Thursday.
All these male politicians are unlikely to risk their sinecures to speak up in support of a bunch of women wrestlers who have chosen to challenge a politician who appears to have the ruling regime in a stranglehold, points out Kanika Datta.
Violence continued to rock Assam's Karbi Anglong district for the fifth day on Sunday over the demand for a separate state with government offices and properties of political leaders torched and curfew reimposed after a relaxation of four hours.
"Party is taking note on what is being said by whom. They have not come out against Narendra Modi, they have just made a comment on our strategy about Bihar. The section of media has highlighted it as a headline," Union urban development minister said.
Despite being sighted in several CCTV footage and photos with changed appearances at many places, including Patiala, Kurukshetra and Delhi, the radical preacher continued to hoodwink the police.
Privatisation-bound Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) on Monday said it will exit Numaligarh refinery in Assam by selling its entire stake to a consortium of Oil India Ltd and Engineers India Ltd for Rs 9,876 crore. The sale of Numaligarh Refinery Ltd clears the way for privatisation of India's second-largest fuel retailer. In keeping with the Assam Peace Accord, the government had decided to keep Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) in the public sector. As part of this, BPCL was to sell its entire 61.65 per cent stake to state-owned firms.
Senior bureaucrats Avinash Joshi and Niraj Verma are among the 10 candidates who are in the race to become chairman and managing director of India's largest oil and gas producer, ONGC. Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) director-finance Pomila Jaspal and ONGC director for technology and field services Om Prakash Singh are the other prominent names in fray for the top job, according to a candidate shortlist by the Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB). PESB - the government headhunter - will hold interviews to select the new head of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) this week. Both the bureaucrats are from the 1994 batch of IAS officers belonging to the Assam-Meghalaya cadre.
Labelling All India United Democratic Front chief Badruddin Ajmal as the 'enemy of Assam', state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday asserted that he is an extremist in protecting Indian and the Assamese culture.
Ms Usha may soon discover that winning four gold medals at the Asian Games and qualifying for the Los Angeles Olympics is a walk in the park compared with the challenges of stabilising governance at the IOA, observes Kanika Datta.
'As long as Amul was coming in with products it was not a problem because it was something value added and with a shelf life.' 'When it gets into the local market by procuring locally, it cuts into the market-share of local cooperatives.'
Nearly five months after its soft launch, the government's e-portal, the National Single Window System (NSWS), is seeing a significant increase in the number of investors using it to get a bunch of approvals for their ventures. The first clearance was granted on 18 January. Since then, the progress has been good. Out of the 1,258 registered users on the portal, 378 were registered in the last one week.
Government headhunter PESB on Friday did not find anyone suitable from nine candidates, including two serving IAS officers, to head India's largest oil and gas producer, ONGC. The Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) interviewed 9 out of the 10 candidates who had applied for the post of chairman and managing director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). "Keeping in view the strategic importance and vision for the company and its future, the Board did not recommend any candidate and decided to constitute a Search Committee," PESB said in a notice after interviews. Those interviewed included senior bureaucrats Avinash Joshi and Niraj Verma.
The federal probe agency wants to question and record Ayyub's statement in a money laundering case against her.
Four BJP leaders and former Supreme Court judge S Abdul Nazeer, who was part of the Constitution bench that upheld the archaeological report on Ayodhya, were among six new faces appointed as Governors on Sunday.
The dinner Jill Biden and her husband US President Joe Biden hosted for Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, June 22, at the White House brought together, Indians and Americans from so many firmaments.
The former Union minister said the population debate is 'utterly misplaced' and half a century out-of-date as a large majority of Indian states have achieved replacement levels of fertility.
It is rare for Cabinet ministers to tick off state-owned companies publicly, yet that was what then petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan did for ONGC. Speaking at an event on June 29, Pradhan said he has asked India's premier exploration company to find fresh oil acreages fast. "Do it yourself through some joint venture (or) through a new business model. But the government cannot permit you to hold resources for an indefinite time." The reason for this stricture is India's rising dependence on imported oil and gas. Or, to put it another way, falling domestic production (see chart: "Crude truth"), especially from ONGC, which faces a simple problem.
Few people know Ratan Tata as well as R K Krishna Kumar does. Widely perceived to be among the managers closest to Tata, Krishna Kumar assesses Ratan Tata, the man and business leader, in this exclusive interview to Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and a joint venture of billionaire Gautam Adani's gas arm and Total of France -- Adani Total Gas Ltd -- have bid for maximum number of licenses to retail CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to households in the latest city gas bidding round.
Poor dam management was considered as a major reason for the 2018 floods in the state that led to a loss of around Rs 50,000 crore and claimed as many as 483 lives, reports Shine Jacob.
'Imagine for a soldier -- first you conquer territory after fighting a fierce battle, suffer casualties and then you are ordered to come back to your side of the International Border in India.'
A helicopter of state-run Pawan Hans with three persons on board including a senior police officer on Tuesday went missing for a while before being spotted in a dense forest.
'Modi had not discussed demonetization with me prior to his announcement on 8 November 2016. 'I learnt of it along with the rest of the country. 'I was not surprised when he did not discuss the issue with me prior to making the public announcement. 'It fitted in with his style of making dramatic announcements.' A fascinating excerpt from Pranab Mukherjee's The Presidential Years: 2012-2017.
Besides, less than 200 applications have been received by the authorities challenging the inclusion of the names of suspected illegal immigrants in the NRC, a list of Assam's residents, two months after a window was opened for claims and objections.
As of now, just about 10 lakh people, out of the total 40 lakh, who were excluded in the draft of the NRC have submitted applications for inclusion of their names in the list of Assam's citizens.
The Centre stressed that the next three weeks will be critical for the country reeling from the worst health crisis as it announced a series of measures to shore up medical infrastructure and supplies and scale up vaccination.
The second and third positions in the category were grabbed by Surat and Navi Mumbai respectively.
Among the 36 new faces in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers, eight are lawyers, four are doctors, two former IAS officers and four MBA degree holders, besides several engineers, making it an eclectic mix of professionals.
As the industrial era wanes, the network era looms, notes Ajit Balakrishnan.
There are indications that Mithali may not be selected in all the matches against the 'White Ferns' and she has been made aware by a senior member of the team management.
He said the poll victory in Assam, the first for the party in the north east, has made it clear that BJP is rapidly receiving "popular acceptance" in all parts of the country which "augurs well" for the democracy.
The study showed that 50 per cent of households have reduced the number of meals ever since the lockdown was imposed