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.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Suchismita Banerjee recounts the wonderful time she shared with her parents as a child.
Brigadier M P Bajwa (retd), commander of the troops that captured Tiger Hill, tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih how a band of young soldiers won the Kargil War's most famous battle with their blood and grit.
As India's turns 70, a 70 year old -- one of India's finest poets -- decodes his relationship with her.
'The appointment of 60 priests from the Dalit community is a historic moment.' 'Imagine this is happening in Kerala when Dalits are not even allowed to enter temples in some states even today.'
'How can a State, which claims to be a responsible power, unilaterally grab a "disputed" area to build a road on it?' asks Claude Arpi.
Waris Ahluwalia, 41, who had been on a trip to Mexico, took a photo of himself and his boarding pass for an Aeromexico flight back to NYC, explaining in a caption that he had been prohibited from boarding.
As they were not happy with her relationship with Peter's son Rahul.
When the hearings resume January 3, you wonder how many things will change and how many things will remain forever the same, as the Sheena Bora trial moves ahead.
How many of the 319 films Aseem Chhabra watched in 2018 have you seen?
A 69-year-old prominent Indian-American yoga guru who founded an exercise routine practiced in hot rooms is facing six lawsuits filed by women, accusing him of sexual assault or rape at various locations, including in India.
Samuel Stokes made India his home and participated in the freedom struggle. He was the only American to be imprisoned for sedition; the British CID maintained a special file on him.
'He only talks about what concerns our home, like what I have made for lunch or dinner. No politics at home and no controversies too.' 'If I want to know something, I have to update myself from the newspapers or the local people; unfortunately no inside information.' 'He is like a strong fort, which no one can break and get in, not even his wife.'
Did you know that Clark Gable nearly didn't say 'Frankly, my dear I don't give a damn' in Gone With The Wind? Or the film's India connections?
'The Modi government needs some big private sector trophies to affirm its anti-corruption credentials before the polls.' 'So on whose neck will the sword fall next?' 'To that extent, the outing of the ICICI Bank-Videocon story is cathartic,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Hyderabad-based Anshul Sinha is making hard hitting films on important social issues, but there are no takers.
The East Delhi MP was on protest demanding proof from Kejriwal about his allegations that he was involved in Khan's murder and demanded an apology in case the chief minister was unable to do so.
Most decorated Olympian Michael Phelps' self-proclaimed girlfriend has come out with a shocking revelation, saying that she was born intersex and lived as a boy until her teens.
'Please, ye gods of Bollywood: Someday, give us a tightly edited film, with believable characters and dialogue, definitely without endless close-ups of dabbas. Then maybe you won't need to moan mournfully about missing the Oscar bus with a film that doesn't belong there anyway,' says Dilip D'Souza.
'He was the manliest of them all, a true man's man. Warrior, King, Pioneer, Thespian, Womaniser, Drunkard, Scoundrel -- he made it all look grander than ever, and he did so with fluent effortlessness.' Raja Sen salutes the great actor who passed into the ages on Sunday.
'The BJP is thinking of advancing the polls before the situation deteriorates further in Kashmir.'
'Muslims, like people of all other faiths, are quite comfortable with the idea of nationalism and democracy today. But are they following Islam in its spirit? That is a different question.'
'Mrinalini Sarabhai was gracious, well-read, liberal, very secular, and very well informed,' recalls film historian S Theodore Baskaran of the celebrated dancer who passed into the ages last week.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Meet Randeep Hooda, the man with a great sense of humour, an actor who loves his craft, an animal lover and, over and above all that, a Jat lad in touch with his roots...
The two were convicted on July 6 in the Avenfield properties case linked to the Sharif family's ownership of four luxury flats in London.
Henry Blofeld, who charmed the cricket world for more than 40 years, bids farewell to the microphone come September. Haresh Pandya salutes the Master.
Giving up cricket isn't easy for a cricketer especially when you are the son of a cricket legend.
'The challenges of the world are too great for any one religious tradition to address alone... The best way to learn about other religions is not from books, but from people... Go talk to someone from a different faith tradition. Get to know them. Build up some trust.' Dr Katharine Rhodes Henderson, who jointly won Hofstra University's Guru Nanak Prize for inter-faith champions in the United States, discusses religion and the challenges of extremism in this lively interview with Rediff.com's Arthur J Pais.
Bharata Natyam legends Shanta and V P Dhananjayan discover they are a national sentation after their Vodafone ads.
One way to begin would be to access the material of our own culture, meaning the literature of India, recommends Aakar Patel.
'These children are wards of the State. They were exploited because the state government and its officials didn't do their jobs.'
The Bollywood stalwart turns 70 on January 17.
Umrika, which won the audience award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section at the Sundance Film Festival in 2015, finally releases in India.
'He only talks about what concerns our home, like what I have made for lunch or dinner. No politics at home and no controversies too.' 'If I want to know something, I have to update myself from the newspapers or the local people; unfortunately no inside information.' 'He is like a strong fort, which no one can break and get in, not even his wife.'
'Everything about you and your precious relationships spoke to me, stirred me and I wish you could hear how deeply you touched me,' Sukanya Verma says in her letter to Piku.
'I am only slightly puzzled by why the childishness has not left the minister. It is easy to be prejudiced and closed-minded when one is in one's teens. But adults should view the world as adults, not as squabbling and petty schoolchildren,' says Aakar Patel.
'To be good at the heptathlon takes at least seven years; to compete internationally and win medals takes 10 years.' 'Swapna became Asia's best heptathlete in just five years!' 'Nobody would have believed it. but she did it.'
Jacob Fugger could always add value for his customers. He made himself indispensable. That kept him in the game
