Maharashtra police on Tuesday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for suspected Maoist links. Near simultaneous searches were carried out at the residences of prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad, and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in New Delhi. Subsequently, Rao, Bhardwaj and Farreira were arrested. Although Navalakha was also arrested, the Delhi high court ordered police not to take him out of the national capital at least until Wednesday. According to unconfirmed reports, others whose residences were raided are Susan Abraham, Kranthi Tekula, Father Stan Swamy in Ranchi and Anand Teltumbde in Goa. The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year. Here are their brief profiles:
'Does Deepika not have the right to raise her voice in a democratic and peaceful manner on an issue she considers important?' 'Why should one view her only as an actor and not appreciate her role as a concerned citizen of the country?' ask Aftab Alam and Mohammad Asim Siddiqui.
'Umar is being targeted because he is emerging as educated, knowledgeable leader of the Muslim community and, unlike popular perceptions that many harbour about Muslims, took to peaceful means to protest against the NRC and CAA.' 'They (the State) are scared of educated Muslim leadership.'
A government statement said Modi conveyed to Putin that India attaches the highest priority to the safe exit of Indians from Ukraine and their return to India.
'If JNU students are anti-national, why do we send in the police? Why not send in intellectuals like M V Kamath to have a debate and discussion?'
"We are not concerned with other incidents. We are only concerned with the episode that had happened on February 15," a bench comprising Justices J Chelameswar and A M Sapre said when a lawyer on behalf of Karkardooma Bar Association sought to intervene in the matter.
The apex court refused to restrain pre-broadcast ban on Sudarshan TV from telecasting 'Bindas Bol' programme but the high court in an interim order stayed the telecast of the show which was scheduled for Friday itself at 8 pm. The news on the issue came from the high court where a bench of Justice Navin Chawla restrained the Sudarshan TV from telecasting its programme on the petition filed by former and present students of Jamia Millia Islamia University.
According to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who spent 19 months in prison during the 1975 Emergency imposed by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, it is not possible for anybody to convert a democratic India into a "dictatorship" in this day and age.
State and UT governments have been given the flexibility to take a decision on re-opening of schools and coaching institutions after October 15 in a graded manner.
10 central trade unions have called a nationwide shutdown against 'anti-worker policies' of the central government. Apart from being successful in Bengal, Kerala and NE states, the bandh has also got support from Cong leader Rahul Gandhi and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.
'What can be applicable in Manipur may not make sense in Bengal'
Rohith, like Mahatma Gandhi, was not allowed to speak the truth by the forces who killed him, said Congress vice president.
At a time when nationalism is a much-debated topic and the Armed forces' sacrifices are being ignored, a 'Wall of Heroes' at schools and colleges across the country to inspire the youth is a must, says Tarun Vijay.
J P Nadda is a man to watch in the BJP.
Senior Union Human Resources Development ministry officials said in Delhi that Justice (retd) Roopanwal will review the entire sequence of events, the circumstances and to establish facts and correctives in the context of the incident in a university.
As the Indian Army reported its first case of the infection with a 34-year-old soldier testing positive in Leh, the Army said it has taken a series of precautionary measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus among the forces such as checking flu symptoms among soldiers on their return from leave and cancelling non-essential travel, conferences and recruitment drives.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,01,11,294 pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate to 96.49 per cent.
An outstanding student, the Politburo member has emerged as a leader with considerable skills of political negotiations.
The great Indian election is over and now the wait for the results is shrinking with every passing moment. Though exit polls hint at a cakewalk for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his National Democratic Alliance, there are some battles which will be keenly observed on the result day.
Prominent journalists have been giving the HRD minister a hall pass, asking her about politics and TRP-generating issues rather than focusing on her visions for the country's education sector.
'I have nothing more to lose. My three sons were killed. I am not going to sit silent.'
The court also directed that police officers, who were earlier appointed as nodal officers to deal with incidents of mob lynching, would be now responsible to deal with cases of alleged assault on Kashmiris.
In dramatic scenes, Umar Khalid, the Jawaharlal Nehru University student who had been untraceable after being accused of sedition, returned to the campus late on Sunday evening. Khalid turned up at JNU's administration block, where hundreds of students began to gather, and gave a rousing speech just shy of 14 minutes, insisting that he would stand his ground and asked that all students unite against the attacks on our country. This is what he had to say.
Many in Kashmir believe he needs to stop talking so much. But they are wrong, says Aditi Phadnis. J&K's governor is intelligent enough to know what to say when.
A Delhi government-appointed magisterial probe did not find any evidence of Jawaharlal Union leader Kanhaiya Kumar raising anti-India slogans at a controversial event in the university, allegations based on which he was slapped with sedition charges by police.
While the row over allowing women into the AMU library has been wrongly portrayed, it does not mean gender biases are non-existent in AMU. The campus does have its own shares of all kinds of cultural and ideological prejudices prevalent in the world outside. The AMU campus is not a segregated island, says Mohammad Sajjad.
"The CBI lab sent a report to Delhi police's Special Cell on June 8 saying the raw footage was authentic," a police source said.
Influential Patel community leader Parshottam Rupala, minister in the first Narendra Modi government Mansukh Mandaviya and three-time MP Darshana Jardosh, all from Gujarat, were among those inducted in the Union cabinet on Wednesday.
While class 12 exams will be conducted across the country, the class 10 exams are only pending in North East Delhi where they were affected due to the law and order situation.
He has served BJP in several capacities, will also be a saviour for the NDA in the Rajya Sabha, where they are still in minority.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has taken to invest in young people from non-dynastic backgrounds to build a core team of 100-odd youths in every state who believe in the Congress party's philosophy, reports Archis Mohan.
'It is very hard to get the police to file a report against someone from an upper caste.' 'Things are so bad that sometimes we have to sit on a dharna with the body of a Dalit victim to get the police to file a complaint.'
'Kanhaiya Kumar and others of his ilk are now out on bail. But what about the NIT 'anti-nationals'?' asks Amulya Ganguli.
'There were 10-15 JNU guys who came in fake lawyer dress and instigated the violence. They want to give us a bad name.' 'When someone holds my brother lawyer's neck must I wait for permission from the media and the police to beat the attacker?' 'These JNU guys are raising anti-India slogans and I am saying Hindustan Zindabad and you say I have created problems.' Lawyer Yashpal Singh tries to explain the violence outside a Delhi court.
'His prosecutors have no doubt turned a student union leader into a national figure - howsoever briefly - with their miscalculations and misdeeds, and have done Kanhaiya a huge favour.' 'But he will soon realise that it is a double-edged sword that he has been handed,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
He said "it is very essential that the police keeps four steps ahead from criminals and criminal-minded people".
When word got around in the ministry of external affairs that Siddhartha and Malavika were going to New York and would be with SM Krishna, protocol officers went to Delhi airport to see off the couple. Siddhartha chided them for doing so and when the officials said a government vehicle would be picking them up at John F Kennedy airport on arrival, he told them that he would take a taxi to reach the New York Palace hotel where his father-in-law was staying. K P Nayar reports.
Five vaccine candidates are in advanced stages of development in India, out of which four are in Phase II/III and one is in Phase-I/II trials.
The president also said that there should be no room in the country for the "intolerant Indian" as this nation has been a bastion of free though, speech and expression since ancient times.
The tally of 114 includes two fatalities and 17 foreigners as well as 13 people who were discharged after they recovered from the infection.
