Janata Dal-United parliamentary board chief Upendra Kushwaha said that violence was 'deplorable' but hastened to add 'Besides making an appeal for peace, we can do little'.
Trains were set afire and blocked, and public vehicles attacked as protests over 'Agnipath' swept across several places in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Jammu on Thursday amid partisan political voices in favour and against the new recruitment scheme for the defence forces that has set off a firestorm.
The Supreme Court on Monday said that it would hear next week pleas challenging the Centre's 'Agnipath' scheme for recruitment in the armed forces.
Two Al-Badr terrorists, responsible for the recent attacks on migrant labourers in Kashmir, were killed in an overnight encounter with security forces in Pulwama district, the police said on Thursday.
The Railways cancelled 234 trains while 340 trains have been affected so far due to protests against the Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the defence services, the Railways said on Friday.
A pistol of 9 mm calibre, laptop, mobile phones, USD 2,000, 13,000 in Bangladeshi currency and Indian rupees were recovered from him.
The Centre on Wednesday announced a raft of post-retirement employment possibilities for 'Agniveer' like priority in recruitment to the central armed police forces (CAPF) and Assam rifles but that failed to assuage the concerns of the opposition Congress which warned the 'transformative' 'Agnipath' scheme will reduce the operational effectiveness of the armed forces.
The abbreviation of the exams which is the same as the one used for the power producer has been widely used to refer to the controversial test during the reportage on the issue.
Let Bihar be damned under its contradictions of having gone 'dry' and then having been submerged under flood, which is a recurrent phenomena? After all it is a godforsaken land, having lost its promises of overcoming its problems, says Mohammad Sajjad.
Even as Union ministers allay misgivings over Agnipath, figures show a meagre 2.4 per cent of the ex-servicemen who applied for a government job could get one as the Centre and the states have been unable to recruit against the reserved quotas. Public sector undertakings (PSUs), ministries, and officials of Sainik Boards have blamed it on the lack of skill among ex-servicemen. They say veterans' inability to qualify in selection exams is one of reasons for this. Also, non-recognition of qualifications obtained from the military are reasons why their recruitment has remained significantly low, pushing them towards low-skill jobs.
The RJD supporters were creating a ruckus outside 10, Circular Road, where Rabri Devi lives and had been locked from inside by a Central Bureau Investigation team which had raided the house on Friday in connection with its case against Lalu Prasad Yadav, her husband, in the railway recruitment scandal.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday urged job aspirants not to destroy public property and assured them that their grievances would be resolved as candidates went on a rampage over alleged irregularities in a recruitment exam by the public transporter.
Tamil Nadu electricity minister was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), official sources said, making him the first minister in the M K Stalin-led government to face such an action from a central agency.
Nitish Kumar has failed to curb communal forces and hoodlums across communities. And that is ominous for Bihar's present and future, warns Mohammad Sajjad.
'I am helpless and there is no one to help me.' 'I have been on this platform since Saturday.'
The agency said these accused persons collected information regarding vital installations, deployment and movement of security forces, procured official secret documents and passed on the same to their LeT handlers through encrypted communication channels for monetary consideration.
Nobody bothered to articulate the upsides; instead, the four-year tour of duty and denial of life-long pensions got played up.
Job-seekers for government and related opportunities found that their future was at risk, points out Shreekant Sambrani.
Is it a divine, sacrosanct university, a holy cow, prohibiting human intervention?
Union minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday appealed to the youths protesting against the Agnipath scheme to shun violence and come forward for talks, asserting that the government is ready to look into their grievances with an 'open mind' and make changes 'if required'.
The Delhi Police on Tuesday said it has foiled a major terror plan during the festival season with the arrest of a 40-year-old Pakistani terrorist who has Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) links and had been living in India for over 10 years under a fake identity.
On Monday, August 29, a court in Saran, Bihar, sentenced the headmistress of the school where 23 children died after eating a mid-day meal to 17 years in prison. Three years after that tragedy, discovers Satyavrat Mishra, the state government has failed to learn its lessons.
The National Investigation Agency team that brought Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal to Bihar's Darbhanga district, raided at least half a dozen places to nab other terror suspects on the basis of information provided by him, on Saturday.
Providing reservation to women was one of the important poll promises made by Nitish Kumar in the recently concluded Bihar elections. Women had voted overwhelmingly to Nitish Kumar and his coalition in the poll.
Raids were carried out on Thursday morning in Mumbra (Maharashtra), Jalandhar (Punjab), Narkatiaganj (Bihar), Bijnor and Muzaffarnagar (both in Uttar Pradesh) in a joint operation of the Delhi special cell, the Anti-Terrorism Squad of UP and Maharashtra, and the police of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Bihar, an official said.
Kumar has been arrested from Jharkhand's Hazaribagh district, a senior police source said, adding of the four others arrested along with Kumar, two are his nephews.
Kumar accused Prasad of renouncing social justice agenda and making it a mere slogan for personal popularity.
The complaint alleges that Thakur misused his position as IG and both, he and his wife, possessed properties disproportionate to their income.
The arrest of Mohammed Sabauddin in connection with the recent blast at Central Recruitment Police Force camp at Rampur in Uttar Pradesh has shocked people of Mithila belt on the porous Indo-Nepal border where terrorist activity is unheard of.
In an unusual case of 'mass bunking' being confronted by the Central Reserve Police Force, 59 trainee commandos of its elite jungle warfare and counter-Naxal squad Commando Battalion for Resolute Action have gone missing from a train just before they were to report for duty in the Left Wing Extremism-hit theatre of Bihar as part of their first deployment.
Here's a recap of moments captured in India in the past 24 hours.
The Patna attack was just the beginning, the alleged SIMI terrorist told NIA agents. His organisation has resolved to attack Narendra Modi wherever possible.
India's Muslims need to assert their educational and economic upliftment and political empowerment rather than be provoked by communal remarks, says Mohammad Sajjad, reflecting on the Malda riot.
It might have taken several years, but the intelligence and security agencies in several states recently tracked down and arrested dreaded terrorists involved in creating havoc in the country. It began with the arrest of Zabbiuddin Ansari, an accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, then came the arrest of Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal followed by Lashkar-e-Tayiba bomb maker Abdul Karim Tunda, Zaveri Bazaar bomber Waqas Ahmed and now IM chief Tehsin Akthar. In a five-part series, Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa describes how each of these terrorists were painstakingly tracked by the Intelligence Bureau and arrested by the security agencies.
Cautioning against forces which fan communal tension in order to polarise the situation in their favour, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday voiced concern over the Muzaffarnagar riots and said such violence cannot be allowed to spread.
The ex-employee alleges that she was asked to 'walk out' when she elevated the issue to her bosses at TVF.
'One does not understand why you should launch your attack against the Constitution, against Gandhiji, against the Left and Congress regimes at a moment when the Hindutva regime needs such attacks against them.' 'By doing so, don't you think you are playing into the hands of Hindutva forces?', Mohammad Sajjad, who teaches history at Aligarh Muslim University, asks Sharjeel Imam who was arrested on charges of sedition on Tuesday, January 28.
If solutions are not found, adequately and in good time, things could simply slip out of everyone's hands, warns N Sathiya Moorthy.
Sher Shah Suri ruled for only a few years, but his huge influence on India continues six centuries later, reveals Farhat Nasreen.
The prevailing communal situation in the country does not indicate existence of alleged intolerance in the country, the government said on Tuesday.
