Once a quiet riverside ritual, Dev Deepawali has evolved into UP's largest soft-power spectacle -- merging faith, art, enterprise into a global cultural brand that reflects state's growing confidence.
Visiting Varanasi for Dev Deepavali should be on your bucket list.
"We had declared four labourers of Assi Ganga Hydel project along with 19 workers as dead after the calamity. And now, four persons have been reported alive," said R Rajesh Kumar, district magistrate of Uttarkashi.
'Philosophy, politics and practicality cross paths in Mohalla Assi's ambitious premise.' 'Except it is directed in such an unwieldy fashion that instead of rich satire, what emerges is a lumbering flab of incoherence and opinion glut,' notes Sukanya Verma.
The court restrained the movie's director, producer and Central Board of Film Certificate from releasing the film on July three till further orders. The film stars Sunny Deol, Ravi Kishan, Sakshi Tanwar among others.
A senior official of the district administration said about eight lakh lamps were lit on the 84 ghats located on the western bank of the river.
People affected due the flood have taken refuge in safer areas as the administration prepares to shift them to relief camps.
'There will always be hiccups given that the Namami Gange programme is spread over different sectors and involves several agencies.'
Despite hundreds of crores of rupees being spent to clean the Ganga, the lifeline of north India, pollution levels in the river have reached septic levels at certain points with dissolved oxygen dropping to alarmingly low levels.
The water level of major rivers, including the Ganga and the Yamuna, in Uttar Pradesh has crossed the danger mark at several places.
In a show strength, he was joined by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders.
On the second day of his trip to Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi picked up a spade and took part in a Swachh Bharat drive at Assi Ghat on the banks of river Ganga.
Concerned over reports that many CCTV cameras were not functioning during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Varanasi, the Union Home Ministry has ordered a probe into the alleged security lapse.
The challenges authorities face in cleaning Ganga and other holy rivers in Varanasi.
To mark the Good Governance Day celebrations on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi where he will attend a number of programmes on the occasion of the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Macron and Modi will participate in several programmes in Varanasi, including a boat ride on river Ganga.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday enjoyed a boat ride with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Ganga with a glimpse of the rich cultural heritage of the temple city.
Taking forward his Swachh Bharat campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday revisited his constituency and lauded people for helping rid the Assi Ghat of mounds of soil and garbage to restore the historical site to its old glory.
In order to strike a balance between the diverse communities in Varanasi, the Aam Aadmi Party will focus on tree major issues -- river, weaver and sewer -- when it takes on Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Literally testing the waters in the politically crucial state, Priyanka Gandhi, who is in charge of eastern UP for the party, travelled about 100 kilometres on the Ganga over three days, ending Wednesday in Varanasi.
The hits and misses of the week.
Have Amethi and Rae Bareli got rough treatment in the last one year? Has Varanasi become cleaner? Business Standard's Manavi Kapur finds out
'It was a 20-minute boat ride journey of about 500 metres, but it must have been a giant leap together for the two staunchly secular leaders, Modi and Macron,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
They're bold, beautiful and totally unrecognisable!
Accusing the erstwhile Congress governments of pursuing "vote bank politics", PM Modi reached out to the numerically significant Nishad community in Uttar Pradesh
Celebrating the poet-saint's legacy in our times.
'Benares has always encouraged healthy debate where disagreement and dissent was never frowned upon. Today, the people are faced with a situation where a political opponent is not being allowed to give election speeches and is being physically attacked.' 'We are going to hand over power to a person who has a reputation of being dictatorial, who does not brook dissent and is known to be vindictive to his opponents,' author Kashinath Singh tells Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal.
Sanjeev Nayyar travels across India from Barmer to Arunachal to Mahabalipuram, and comes back humbled and impressed with the women he interacted with through his journey.
Narendra Modi has a once in a lifetime chance to change and take the RSS-BJP-VHP to a new level. Varanasi is the right place to turn the page on saffron history. By surrendering to the spirit of mystical Varanasi, Modi and his party can change the trajectory of their political journey.
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