The apex court observed that it respects the local sentiments but asserted authorities cannot let the law of the land not prevail especially when there is nothing affecting the personal rights or personal laws.
President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday approved 139 Padma awards including seven Padma Vibhushans, 19 Padma Bhushans and 113 Padma Shris.
A 60-page report by the Human Rights Watch titled 'Between Two Sets of Guns: Attacks on Civil Society Activists in India's Maoist Conflict', documents human rights abuses against activists in India's Orissa, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh states. This is part two of a three-part series
Several civil society groups and activists from Pakistan's northwest have formed a 'jirga' or council to work for the protection of Bollywood legend Dilip Kumar's ancestral home in Peshawar.
In the meeting, Ngodup Dongchung, an official in the Tibetan government-in-exile and representative of the Dalai Lama, thanked Blinken for the continued support by the US to the Tibetan movement.
Citing Section 144 CrPC was in force in parts of Sandeshkhali and it would not be prudent to allow them access to the area even in groups of four-five, senior police officers stopped their convoy at the Bhojerhat area, which is around 52 km from the riverine area, on Basanti Highway.
In the document, the global body expressed concerns over the increasing use of Internet and other information and communications technologies, including social media platforms, for terrorist purposes.
Virginia Commonwealth University's India Chair in Democracy and Civil Society a first in the United States. Aziz Haniffa reports
Rumour-mongering has largely affected the process to calm down the situation and bring peace in troubled Manipur.
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.
Congress on Friday backed to the hilt Robert Vadra, Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law, in the wake of an allegation by civil society activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan that he was hugely favoured by realty major DLF.
John unveils his next movie... Nimrat on a movie she cherishes...Varun, Ranveer, Aditya watch some fighting...
The body of the post-graduate trainee doctor with severe injury marks was found on Friday inside the seminar hall of the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital's chest department. The preliminary autopsy report suggested she was subjected to violent sexual assault.
Namrata Thakker picks her 10 favourite Leo movies.
Civil society, whose legitimacy lies primarily in its own eyes, has won an equal role in shaping the Lok Pal Bill, which has the potential to change the way India is governed.
Stressing that terrorism is now a world problem, Mariani said he did not want Kashmir to become a 'second Afghanistan'.
Arghyam Foundation on Monday said Rohini Nilekani has decided to retire from the foundation as Chairperson and member of the board on September 30, 2021. She will be succeeded by Sunita Nadhamuni, currently a member of the board at Arghyam and Head of Digital LifeCare, Dell Giving and Social Innovation at Dell Technologies. Rohini Nilekani, the wife of Infosys co-founder and chairman Nandan Nilekani, had set up the foundation in 2001 as a vehicle for her personal philanthropy.
Activist Anna Hazare on Sunday night said the civil society representatives will decide on Monday whether he should first undertake a nationwide tour against corruption before undertaking fast if a strong Lokpal bill is not ready.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday spurned Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's request for inputs on the proposed Lokpal Bill, arguing it would not be proper for a political party to submit its views to a drafting committee comprising civil society members as it would upset constitutional propriety.
A bench of Justices SK Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia said the Centre cannot preclude reservation from being extended to women in civic bodies by saying it doesn't apply to tribal areas.
Sharp differences broke out among Team Anna, the government and the Opposition on Friday over the wording of the resolution for the debate in both Houses of Parliament on various drafts of the Lokpal Bill
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested human rights activist Khurram Parvez under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in connection with a terror funding case, officials said on Tuesday, adding that he is likely to be taken to Delhi.
'I have been asking whether the chief minister (N Biren Singh) is in charge of the situation in Manipur.' 'Law and order is a state subject and chief minister is a Constitutional authority. Why did he follow the diktat, if at all there is a diktat from the Union government?'
It said the law must be just and fair and should protect the human rights and dignity of all members of society.
The Lokpal bill drafting committee on Monday appeared to be headed for a collision course with the government opposing demands to bring the prime minister, higher judiciary and MPs' corrupt acts inside Parliament under its purview, provoking a civil society threat to take to the streets again.
Much drama is likely to continue in the coming year, within the Sangh Parivar as well as involving the Opposition parties and, of course the BJP's allies, predicts Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
"The civil society members on the joint drafting committee presented a document with respect to the objects of the bill as well as a document which enunciated the general principles underlying the bill," HRD Minister and government representative in the committee Kapil Sibal told media persons after the second meeting of the committee.
In the midst of continued stand-off between the government and civil society activists on the proposed Lokpal bill, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday met President Pratibha Patil and briefed her about the efforts being made to resolve the issue.
Shops and markets have been opened in the morning while vehicles run on the roads in Churachandpur town where the maximum protests and violence took place on Friday and Saturday, officials said.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Sunday slammed Gandhian Anna Hazare for failing to acknowledge that its workers had played an "active role" in his nationwide crusade against corruption last year, though the Sangh itself was not part of the civil society agitation.
'The act of demolition, for whatever reason, was far too hasty without even giving an opportunity of an appeal.'
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said that the leaders of the civil society movement for a Lokpal Bill have given an impression as if they have become legislators.
Former Indian Police Service officer turned social activist Kiran Bedi on Friday dismissed suggestions that civil society had gone too far on the Lokpal Bill, saying the Anna Hazare-led agitation was very much "avoidable" but was made relevant by government's inaction on the issue.
After civil society activists slammed the government's Lokpal Bill, the Centre on Friday said that people who are not satisfied with the Bill can approach the Standing Committee of Parliament and persuade it to make changes. Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, who was part of the joint committee to draft the bill, said the government has already reconciled taking into account a number of provisions suggested by the civil society.
Civil society members of the joint committee on Lokpal will seek a referendum on the points of difference with government representatives including the issue of bringing the prime minister and the higher judiciary under the ambit of the anti-graft ombudsman.
Lashing out at the government for criticising civil society activists, Gandhian Anna Hazare on Saturday vowed to continue with the proposed August 16 agitation despite "threats" to "crush" it, saying he was willing "to face bullets and not just lathis.
Leaders of political parties met in Delhi on Sunday to evolve a consensus on Lokpal Bill amid a demand by civil society group led by Anna Hazare that the proposed law should have the prime minister and the higher judiciary within its ambit.
A court in New Delhi on Wednesday granted the National Investigation Agency (NIA) 10 days' custody of two people accused in a case related to NGO terror funding.
The groups were asking for Shashank's ouster over a row on allowing Bru voters lodged in Tripura relief camps to exercise their franchise from there.
Civil society members of the joint drafting committee for the Lokpal Bill on Monday submitted two documents to the government outlining "principles and objects" for the proposed legislation.
