Master tailors, textile manufacturers and custom clothiers, however, say the upcoming festive season, reinvention in the form of new collections and digital outreach are salvaging the situation somewhat.
US President Barack Obama, who visited India in January, in his speech on Thursday referred to violence against followers of various religions in India in the past few years.
Cases range from murder to attempted murder and even rape. Some candidates even face cases of communal disharmony. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
'There is core BJP support on the Hindutva line. It will continue.' 'Along with that, the BJP is ready to play the OBCs trifurcation card to its benefit.' 'If you see the post-Kairana result, the BJP spokespersons and IT cell have already begun talking about Hindu unity against Muslim unity, Ram vs Allah.'
A day after Devendra Fadnavis was anointed chief minister-designate of Maharashtra, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday went into a huddle with top party leaders to discuss the future course of action but there were no signs of the party being in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government for now.
Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday night released the first list of 43 candidates for the high-stakes Bihar polls, giving about 60 per cent representation to those from SC and backward castes in an apparent attempt to target the base of rival Janata Dal-United-Rashtriya Janata Dal combine.
The head of a religious mutt in Varanasi has slammed Bharatiya Janata Party and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for using the temple town to further their political ambitions.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra framed several questions to be dealt with by the Constitution Bench, including whether the temple can restrict women's entry.
Modi may take satisfaction from his display of considerable political skill in managing a mercurial, temperamental and unpredictable US president and nudging him into uncharacteristic restraint and even carefully orchestrated remarks. This personal chemistry will come in handy if Trump returns as president in the November elections, says former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
'ADR's success is its ability to remain non-partisan for a very long period, sheer professionalism and tenacity, and that makes it one of the good things to happen to our democracy.'
Several Muslim leaders on Friday echoed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party's sentiments on the Section 377 issue with some even warning the United Progressive Alliance government that it would be taught a lesson in the 2014 polls over its move to file a review petition against the Supreme Court verdict against homosexuality.
>The ABVP has put the onus on Delhi University to verify Ankiv Baisoya's degree and is defending its leader. But there's not a single word of support from its political masters.
'Shivraj Singh Chouhan gave an affidavit in the Supreme Court that his government will give reservation in promotions which resulted in a powerful reaction by the youth.' 'These youth used to vote for the BJP, but will not vote for it in this election.' 'Even if the Congress does not make any gains, the BJP is losing voters in the current situation. It is losing farmers, OBC votes.'
With this, Heineken's stake has risen from 39% to 42.2%.
Xi, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, called the progress China had made under his watch "truly remarkable
The 54-page Paris agreement draft had been scaled down to 50.
Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Friday appealed to politicians and prominent personalties from other fields to work towards registration of youths as voters.
'Without doubt, India's success story will come up for close scrutiny when Modi's prime ministerial legacy is summed up in history.' 'A failure is simply unthinkable.' 'And the success will largely depend on national unity,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Thirty years after the massacre at Tiananmen Square, coerced collective amnesia envelops the Chinese nation about that horrific event. Claude Arpi glances back at how the student uprising could have changed the Middle Kingdom forever had the Chinese Communist party not traveled on the route of martial law.
Association of caste with the way people have tended to vote in Bihar has somewhat weakened.
'The poor manner in which the RJD stitched its alliance and mismanaged its electioneering, now reveals that Tejashwi was more interested in enhancing his political stature by cutting down many senior leaders, by downsizing and shrinking RJD allies, by displaying arrogance and inaccessibility and by committing silly mistakes in candidate selection,' points out Mohammad Sajjad.
'But that does not make him weaker than his adversaries.'
Trupti Desai's fight earned women the right to enter the inner sanctums of the Shani Shingnapur Temple, the Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple and the Haji Ali Dargah. Her next target is Sabarimala in Kerala. Aditi Phadnis reports.
'Akhileshji has to protect his political turf and if it means confronting his father, snapping ties with him and forming another party, so be it.'
'The Congress has finally drawn a line in the sand over its pro-poor credentials.'
'The rich better watch out.'
The situation is now under control in the area, which is on the border between the Kolasib district of Mizoram and Cachar district of Assam.
The narrow win in Gujarat can be contributed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his no-holds-barred approach and party president Amit Shah who plays to win and knows that there are rules to be followed when suited and broken when needed.
A parliamentary panel on Tuesday opposed the privatisation of six AAI-developed airports including Kolkata and Chennai, and charged the Civil Aviation Ministry with doing "a great disservice" by "using public property for private profits".
We suffered worse political degradation during the Emergency. But we emerged resurgent and vigorous because the spirit was not broken. This time around, we face an imminent threat to it, says Shreekant Sambrani
'I want to know, how can any God become impure if woman enters the temple?'
'The bottom line is that at least now we should take an honest look at this business of NSG membership (or Masood Azhar for that matter.),' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Union Minister Manish Tewari made a strong pitch to take forward the "secular agenda", asking spokespersons to talk strongly on issues related to communalism. The Congress has been gearing up to tone up its media strategy ahead of the next general elections.
India needs to be alert on how the Doklam standoff plays into the factional infighting in China's Communist Party, says Ambassador Shyam Saran, the former foreign secretary.
Cleaning up India's grubby business climate is top of the agenda for both regulators and the government.
A Delhi court on Saturday directed the Delhi Police to file a detailed action taken report on a plea for lodging FIR against Anna Hazare and his former team members for allegedly cheating over four crore people by selling them 'Anna SMS cards', whose service was discontinued before the promised one year time, which earned them Rs 100 crore.
The company faces a potential tax demand.
Archana Masih recalls that December evening 22 years ago when Atal Bihari Vajpayee logged into the Rediff Chat.
The scale and nature of Modi's election victory mean the higher tiers of the Sangh Parivar feel no need for restraint, says Sreenivasan Jain
Mumbai's 45 mohalla committees and the many voluntary groups working to bring communities together in the city can be counted upon to do their utmost to stop riots.
The Pampore attack 'has the stamp of LeT written all over it.'
'They are exactly like the so-called fidayeen of the 1999-2003 phase, when J&K witnessed a surge in suicide attacks on various important garrisons,' says Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd), who served as the General Officer Commanding 15 Corps in Kashmir.
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