Bill Aitken came to India nearly 60 years ago. He never returned. An Indian citizen since 1972, he tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih how India changed his life forever.
Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who was on an indefinite hunger strike in support of various demands, has broken his fast after the Punjab government intervened and dispersed protesting farmers at Khanauri and Shambhu borders. The Supreme Court lauded Dallewal's efforts and acknowledged the government's action, while also asking for a status report on the situation. Contempt proceedings against the Punjab chief secretary and Director General of Police for not complying with the court's order of providing medical aid to Dallewal were dropped.
Congress candidate Shafia Zubair won the Ramgarh assembly poll in Rajasthan, while BJP candidate Krishan Middha won over his nearest rival from the Jannayak Janata Party for the high-stakes Jind bypoll in Haryana.
Punjab Police detained several farmer leaders, including Sarwan Singh Pandher and Jagjit Singh Dallewal, while they were returning from a meeting with a central delegation in Chandigarh. The police also began evicting protesting farmers from the Shambhu and Khanauri border points, which have been closed for over a year. The action comes amid concerns from industrialists in Punjab over the prolonged closure of the border points, which they say has resulted in heavy losses. The meeting between the farmer leaders and the central delegation, led by Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, was inconclusive, but the next meeting is scheduled for May 4.
Haryana has recorded a voter turnout of 67.90 per cent with Ellenabad assembly seat in Sirsa district witnessing the highest polling percentage at over 80 per cent, according to the updated figures of the Election Commission on Sunday.
The BJP has fielded as many as 10 turncoats, including those who joined the party from the JJP in recent weeks.
Powerful khap leaders will meet at Jind town to decide the future course of action on the Jat agitation issue, even as security has been tightened in Hisar -- the epicentre of the movement on Friday in the wake of the threat by the protesters to block all roads to Delhi.
Results for assembly polls in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir were declared on Tuesday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party scoring a hat-trick in Haryana while the National Conference-Congress alliance emerged victorious in J-K. Here's how some big names fared.
Olympic medalist Yogeshwar Dutt has criticised Vinesh Phogat's handling of her disqualification at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Yogeshwar, a bronze medalist at the 2012 London Olympics, believes that Vinesh should have taken responsibility for her actions rather than blaming external factors.
The Julana assembly seat in Haryana's Jind district is set to witness a keen electoral bout with the Bharatiya Janata Party fielding Capt Yogesh Bairagi, a former commercial pilot, against Congress' wrestler-turned-politician Vinesh Phogat for the October 5 assembly poll.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which pulled off a hat-trick of wins in Haryana by bucking anti-incumbency, managed to make significant inroads into the Dalit seats and Jat strongholds.
Wrestler and Congress candidate Vinesh Phogat on Sunday said she expects to win each battle with the blessings of people as kicks off her campaign for the upcoming assembly election.
'You're on that bed not sure what is going on in you life, you're enduring your worst crisis.' 'And then you come there just to show the world that you're with me, you click a picture without telling me and then post it on social media.'
'Sports has been politicised, it is a sad thing': Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia Joining Congress
Indian Olympian Vinesh Phogat swaps wrestling arena for politics. Phogat retired from wrestling after she was disqualified ahead of the women's 50 kg freestyle final for failing to make weight.
The voter turnout recorded in the 2019 assembly polls was around 68 per cent.
A team of three Union ministers will hold talks on Monday with a delegation of farmer leaders, who are planning to march towards Delhi to press for their demands.
Tanwar had joined the AAP in April 2022. Before joining the AAP, he was with the Trinamool Congress briefly.
The city's 24-hour Air Quality Index (AQI), recorded at 4 pm daily, stood at 417, making it the worst in the country. On Friday, the AQI level was 396.
The government said in an order that mobile internet services would be banned in Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa districts.
After hectic parleys and much back and forth with the INDIA bloc allies, the Congress also ended up going into the polls with its original plan of largely going solo.
Farmers will march towards Delhi on Tuesday after a meeting with two Union ministers over their demands, including legal guarantee to minimum support price (MSP) for crops, remained inconclusive.
The bodies of Rajasthan's Bharatpur-based men, who were abducted, were found inside a vehicle in Haryana's Bhiwani district on February 16. The families of the deceased alleged that they were beaten and murdered by members of the Bajrang Dal.
Farmers from Punjab clashed with Haryana police at two border points between the states on Tuesday, facing tear gas and water cannons as they tried to break past barricades blocking their protest march to the national capital. The police lobbed tear gas shells -- some of them dropped from a drone -- and tried to disperse groups of stone-pelting protesters in the face-off that last several hours at Shambhu border near Ambala in Haryana.
The special team of Delhi Police searched Parliament breach accused Neelam Azad's residence in Haryana's Jind and took away her old diary and some books.
Instead of harvesting the wrath against the BJP and using it to their advantage by opting for a collective form of leadership, the Congress decided once again to bestow their trust in the Hooda family who were given a free hand in the distribution of tickets. This turned out to be the biggest blunder and this faulty selection was the single over riding factor in the Congress defeat, explains Rashme Sehgal.
The Haryana police in Ambala district Thursday said they will be seeking cancellation of passports and visas of those found indulging in acts of vandalism during the ongoing farmers' agitation.
Bajrang Punia along with the protesting wrestlers are stepping up their efforts to gather support in their fight against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan.
In a novel initiative aimed at increasing voter turnout in Haryana, the state election commission will send an invitation letter to every family in the state urging them to exercise their franchise in the Lok Sabha polls.
Olympic bronze medallist Bajrang Punia on Thursday indicated he might withdraw from the Asian Games if all the panchayats that backed him during the protest at Jantar Mantar ask him to do so.
Family members of Neelam, one of the two persons arrested for protesting outside Parliament on Wednesday, said she had earlier participated in several agitations including farmers' movement.
Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher on Thursday demanded registration of a murder case against those responsible for the death of a protesting farmer at the Khanauri border point of Punjab-Haryana.
The Punjab and Haryana high court Tuesday issued notices to the Centre, and the states of Haryana and Punjab, on two separate petitions filed pertaining to the farmers' Delhi Chalo march.
The AAP will contest all the 90 assembly seats in Haryana on its own, but the Lok Sabha polls will be fought as part of the INDIA bloc, Kejriwal said.
Police have also collected bank account details of all the accused to see if they received money from someone for executing the December 13 incident, police sources said on Monday.
With polls to elect the 18th Lok Sabha approaching, district poll panels are fixing the rates for expenses as part of the election expenditure monitoring process.
Haryana Police lobbed tear gas shells at farmers from Punjab at Shambhu border between the two states as thousands of protesters stayed put there on Wednesday, the second day of their 'Delhi Chalo' march.
Authorities in New Delhi intensified security arrangements on Tuesday to stop the farmers' march from entering Delhi as the Singhu and Tikri borders were shut while the Red Fort complex was closed temporarily after peasants on their way to the national capital clashed with the police at the Shambhu border between Haryana and Punjab.
Haryana Bharatiya Janata Party leader Birender Singh on Monday threatened to quit the party if does not sever ties with the Jannayak Janta Party, which he accused of indulging in rampant corruption in the state.
A 21-year-old farmer was killed and a few others injured following a clash between security personnel and protesting farmers at Khanauri on the Punjab-Haryana border.
