A total of 3,372 nominations have been filed for 1,145 wards. The next phases take place on 10th, 13th and 16th October.
In 28 months, Manohar Parrikar as defence minister developed easy relationships with the top brass of the three Services as was rarely ever witnessed before. He threw caution to the winds and managed to pull the forces out of a downward spiral in operational capabilities.
Around 30,000 personnel have been deputed for poll duty as the state decides its fate today.
Amid heart-rending scenes, the mortal remains of five army jawans killed by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control were on Thursday consigned to flames with full military honours in their respective villages in Bihar and Maharashtra.
Bharati Dutt witnessed life-changing events that shaped India on the threshold of freedom. Her memories are an account of how ordinary Indians saw India change.
A dossier on the Indian Mujahideen, which was prepared following its resurrection post the Batla House encounter, had termed the outfit as a "start to finish jihad factory."
He challenged the Congress to select someone 'capable' as its president, who did not belong to 'that one family'.
'Now you have a full clampdown and a huge security blanket. How long are you going to maintain that? The moment you lift it, all that suppressed protest and anger will come out.'
As Xi is due to arrive in Goa on Saturday to take part in the BRICS Summit, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said the relations between India and China made "great headway" despite some "disputes" but there was no change in in Beijing's stand on the issues of NSG and Azhar.
Some of the letters exchanged between the arrested activists spoke of planning 'some big action' which would attract attention, Singh said.
Narendra Modi on Thursday trained his guns on Sonia Gandhi, saying she should speak up on coal and 2G spectrum scams as he alleged that the Congress was "misleading" the country on issues like development, inflation and employment generation.
The protesting fishermen have refused to accept the body of the fisherman unless a central minister visits the island and gives them an assurance that such incidents would not happen again, Rameswaram Fishermen Association President S Emiret said.
Their winning momentum punctured after a loss to Rising Pune Supergiants, Sunrisers Hyderabad would look to get back to their winning ways when they take on a struggling Royal Challengers Bangalore in an Indian Premier League Twenty20 match, in Hyderabad, on Saturday.
In escalating ceasefire violations that continued on the night of October 7, Pakistani troops targeted over 40 Border Out Posts and 25 border hamlets with heavy mortar shells in Jammu sector and LoC areas in Poonch district, leaving 12 people including a JCO injured. Military officials of India and Pakistan discussed on the hotline the cross-border firing in Jammu and Kashmir but there was no signs of a solution.
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The Indian Army must be given a free hand to retaliate punitively at one or more places of its choosing on the LoC. The aim should be to cause maximum damage to the forward posts of the Pakistan army, particularly those through which recent attacks have been launched, thereby raising the cost for the army, says Gurmeet Kanwal.
The scandal surrounding Lalit Modi serves as a reminder for how similar our mainstream political parties are in resisting institutional reform.
Troubles grew for the beleaguered former Supreme Court judge Justice Asok Ganguly with a non-governmental organisation on Wednesday moving the police seeking action against him in the alleged sexual harassment of a law intern even as he denied reports of fresh allegations that have appeared in the media.
Chhagan Bhujbal, son of a vegetable vendor, rose through the political ranks by hard work, determination and political opportunism. Now past ghosts have come to haunt him.
A three-member fact-finding team of the Bharatiya Janata Party, that was going to visit the violence-hit areas of Malda district in West Bengal, was detained at the Malda railway station.
India offers $1 billion towards Afghanistan's development during Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's visit.
'If there's one administration that would be likely to put the squeeze on Pakistan, it's the Trump administration.' 'This is an administration that views terrorists as a black and white issue (kill them all, no questions asked), and will have little patience for Pakistan's selective policy toward terrorism.'
The 1965 war teaches us that war by escalation is a real possibility. Despite clear threats, Pakistan never believed that India will ever cross the international border. In the age of nuclear deterrence, this failure to deter Pakistan is the central lesson of 1965, says Colonel Anil Athale (retd).
Twenty years after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, India is in rebirth mode. Whether there is a Babri Masjid or a Ram temple or not in Ayodhya, India will go on. And it will see many tomorrows, says Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
The Missionaries of Charity are unaffected by the recent comments of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat questioning Mother Teresa's motives
Neerja Pandey's Baby, one must say, wouldn't have been as interesting without the lead troika.
'We have leaders who would rather that we cohabit with the Indian Mujahedeen than fight terror, as long as the payoffs are there in the next polls... Obviously, we are not headed down the best route to keep terror at bay,' says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
Fuelling further the bitter quota debate in Bihar polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday accused his rivals Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad of having come together in July 2005 to demand a review of the policy to provide for religion-based reservation.
India is observing the sixteenth anniversary of the Kargil War this week.
Promising to change the Assam situation, Narendra Modi today assured voting rights to migrants from Bangladesh and restoring their honour, while holding "political blunders" responsible for their plight.
Hurling petrol bombs and stones, Gorkhaland supporters on Thursday fought pitched battles with police, who broke up protests, bursting teargas shells and baton-charging violent crowds, plunging Darjeeling hills into deeper turmoil.
'The incidents have remained confined to the paramilitary forces on both sides with both the armies scrupulously avoiding getting involved. While this incident has been going on, the LOC has been reasonably quiet. Cross border firing achieves no tactical or strategic aims and is more a symptom of hostility. Unfortunately, India has to learn to live with this. Like Israel, we must construct shelters for the border populations and be ready to retaliate in kind,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
A sub-inspector of the Andhra Pradesh's counter-Maoist force was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra, the highest peacetime gallantry award of the country, as India celebrated its 65th Republic Day on Sunday.
'The government has sent a clear message to Pakistan: It is no longer business as usual.' 'The rules of the game have changed and a new game is at play,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
'We were firing at Patton tanks that were moving towards India.' 'Fighter aircraft are the biggest menace for tanks because they come at great speed, attack from a height and their rockets are lethal.' 'The Hunter travels at 400, 420 knots. One knot is 1.6 times a km, so it was at a speed of 700, 800 km/hr.' 'You come at great speed and when you see the tanks, you pull up because attacks are always done in a dive.' 'You go up to 3,000 to 4,000 feet and then dive on to the target and let off your rockets...'
'We have not seen even during Vajpayee's time what Modi and the BJP has adopted now.'
Lieutenant General Harbakhsh Singh, GOC, Western Command, disobeyed the then army chief and took on a superior Pakistani armoured column. The Indian Centurion tanks outgunned the more modern Pakistani Patton tanks in the battle at Khem Karan, that proved the turning point of the 1965 War. Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd) salutes the Soldiers' General.
'If we had sent a few airplanes (into Tibet), we could have wiped the Chinese out.' 'And everything could have been different in the 1962 War.' 'They did not believe me there was no Chinese air force.' 'Can you imagine what would have happened if we had used the IAF at that time?' 'The Chinese would have never dared do anything down the line.'
'Whether Kashmir or anywhere else, whether in peace or in war, pay commissions or no pay commissions, hollowness and shortages notwithstanding, the Indian Army -- and Sekin Fif -- will always be there to keep India together.'
A week of bumping into trapped souls, savouring Achari Alia Paneer, envisaging Kishore Kumar crooning Kajrare and celebrating one year of Sukanya Verma's super filmi column.
A division bench of justices Biswanath Somadder and A Mukherjee said the government's silence on the permission is 'astonishing and astounding'.
