Eight persons, including a Maoist leader, were sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment on Thursday by a court in Kandhamal district for the murder of senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Laxmanananda Saraswati and four others in 2008 that triggered communal violence leaving 37 dead.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Janakpur, the revered Hindu religious site in Nepal, has not yet been officially cancelled despite reports about the trip being called off due to opposition by some political parties, the government said.
You cannot just swing by to say hello to the Dalai Lama when you're in Mcleodganj but there's plenty to experience discovers Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff.com.
"Rai is a grass root worker, who is a sitting Congress MLA and has fought a number of elections successfully and he will be the best candidate in Varanasi", party spokesman Randeep Surjewala told reporters announcing the candidature.
Sumit Bhattacharya paradrops into the eastern Uttar Pradesh temple city to find it enjoying its moment in the national sun.
The party is looking at Amit Shah's visit to Tamil Nadu and the PM's to Sri Lanka to boost its expansions efforts in the state for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, reports Archis Mohan.
As the National Investigation Agency started its probe into the serial blasts in this temple town, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Wednesday did not rule out the involvement of three to four persons in the attack.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday thanked France and wrapped up his first visit to Paris that saw the two nations elevate their strategic ties to a new level as they agreed on a deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets and decided to move ahead with the log-jammed Jaitapur nuclear project.
'This is the only place on earth where Elephas maximus climbs to these heights.'
'Given the growing animus against the Mughals in the Sangh Parivar, only a brave person will be ready to bet that no harm will ever be done by Hindutva storm-troopers to the Taj,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Rohith's mother Radhika and brother Naga Chaitanya Vemula, also known as Raja Vemula, were given 'deeksha' at a function in Dadar in Mumbai in the presence of Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr B R Ambedkar.
'The police are busy arresting people from Delhi, but not those we saw burning our home!'
Devyani Khobragade, the Indian diplomat who is at the centre of a diplomatic row with the United States, is one of the 25 allottees who have been found ineligible to own a flat in the controversial Adarsh Housing society by a judicial panel which probed the scam.
His father spent Rs 5 lakh on his studies. He works with a chartered accountant in Delhi for Rs 8,000 a month. He's excited at the thought of landing a job at Rs 17,000 -- even if it is as a sweeper.
'It is vital that objects such as the Harihara -- and collections from South Asia generally -- remain here,' the British Museum tells Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
In northern Thailand, hundreds of international rescue workers have been spending their last waking hours for the past 11 days trying to get a group of 12 boys, ages 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old soccer coach who have been trapped in a cave after flooding caused by relentless monsoon rains. On July 2, rescue teams discovered all of the boys and their coach alive and in relatively good health, sheltering deep inside the cave complex. Outside, family and friends, who had gathered, welcomed the news. While the boys have been found, extracting them from the cave still remains a difficult task -- much of the return trip is underwater and even though pumps are lowering the water level, the rainfall is not letting up. Here's what's happening and what officials are planning to get them out.
The statements made by the opposition parties after the preemptive air strike on terror camps have made only people of Pakistan happy, he claimed.
The Dalai Lama headed Kalachakra Puja in Bodh Gaya has drawn devotees from 92 countries.
A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com records a heated discussion on NaMo at one of Varanasi's best-known locations.
Here's looking at Om Puri's career graph, through these pictures from his films.
China's ruling Communist Party has cracked down on Tibetans who planned to attend the Kalachakra Puja in Bodh Gaya. But the Tibetan people have dared the Communists by listening to the Dalai Lama's sermons on the Internet and sharing videos on social media.
PM urges lawyers to fight cases for the poor for free.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has accused BJP of practicing "politics of blood" by pitting one religion against another and one caste against another to come to power at any cost, escalating the Congress attack against the opposition party.
The Lok Sabha election will be held in 7 phases, beginning on April 11, 2019 and ending on May 19, 2019.
'I don't believe the talk of free will.' 'They are either forced to dress like this, or indoctrinated.'
In the past year, Beijing has hosted at least 70 delegations from India as part of its outreach to the Indian business community, youth leaders and Sangh Parivar affiliates
'The conception of Make-in-India, Skill India, Smart Cities, Digital India, Beti Bachao, Beti Padao and so on show a visionary breadth of mind, and Modi is almost the first political leader in India to put them into effect with single-minded zeal,' notes B S Raghavan, the former civil servant.
An alert has been issued by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, lead agency to check smuggling and customs duty evasion, to all international transit points across the country, official sources said.
Seeking to contain a controversy over Narendra Modi's marital status, his elder brother Somabhai on Thursday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate's marriage should be seen as a "social formality" which happened nearly 50 years ago.
Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's belated attempt to project himself as a statesman and a man of reason in his interviews to ANI and TV9 is being viewed with dollops of scepticism by his critics and political opponents. Anita Katyal reports.
'What if this was my child?' 'My 3 year old, my 8 year old, my 17 year old?' Would I be insular, silent?' 'Would I protect those who I so actively protect now?' asks Preeti D'Mello.
Modi, who has enjoyed immense reputation in Japan as then Gujarat Chief Minister in terms of ensuring the state's progress, said India wants to emulate Japan in terms of quality, zero defect and delivery systems while carrying out skill development.
Can you find a world leader who has met generations of Indian politicians, most US Presidents, European head of States, several Popes, celebrated cricketers, Hollywood and Bollywood stars, some of the greatest scientists and many ordinary people, including what he calls, 'Chinese brothers and sisters?'
Telangana government is all set for the week-long celebrations to observe Formation Day on June 2, marking one year of formation of the new state.
he also talked about India's tradition of respecting the nature through festivals like 'Chhat' and referred to the ongoing cleanliness campaign.
Modi invoked Gandhi and said solutions terrorism and global warming lie in his teachings
Delhi's ritzy Terminal 3 is on the global top 5 list on social media and the first among Asian airports on social media.
As the Uttar Pradesh assembly election battle hits new lows, Rediff.com's Aslam Hunani walks you through all you need to know about the fifth phase of polling on February 27.
Claude Arpi's fascinating account of the Dalai Lama's arrival in Tawang in March 1959.
