Catholic Bishops Conference of India, apex body of the Catholic priests in the country, on expressed displeasure over government's decision to organise Yoga day on June 21, saying Sundays are "sacred day" for Christians in the country.
Cinemas, stadiums, town squares and other public gathering places are devoid of people as the coronavirus spreads to at least 118 countries around the world. As of Thursday, the Johns Hopkins University tracker says 1,26,258 people have contracted the disease and 4,638 have died across the globe. The vast majority of the victims have been in China but the country said on Thursday that it had only 15 new cases. The outbreak also claimed its most high-profile victim so far when Hollywood star Tom Hanks announced he and his wife, Rita Wilson, had tested positive. The couple, who are in Australia where Hanks is making a film about Elvis, said they had felt "a bit tired, like we had colds" before being "found to be positive" Take a look.
Eight states and Union Territories have Muslim share of population in excess of national average of 13 per cent. Mayank Mishra report
In a huge embarrassment to the Communist Party of India-Marxist in Kerala, party's senior state leader P Jayarajan was on Wednesday arrested in connection with the murder of Indian Union Muslim League youth wing activist Abdul Shukkoor in February.
'Two days notice for the Janata Curfew.' 'Two-and-a-half days notice for lighting candles, but a mere four-hour notice for the lockdown without taking state governments into confidence.'
'The party will keep to the script that its core supporter understands: temples, statues, Muslims and cows.'
Singh said that children who study in missionary schools lack "sanskaar".
'... their love was jinxed.' 'His celluloid path to his partner's heart was seldom smooth; it had to contend with greedy relatives and indecisive sweethearts, who were more ready to sacrifice than woo and wed.'
'The cadres who die for the party are from the backward and scheduled caste communities while the leaders and those who enjoy power are from the forward community.' 'When this is the reality, who will stay with them?'
Whenever the history of India's National Law Schools is written, N R Madhava Menon's name will be deeply inscribed in it, says Mohammad Zeeshan Ahmad.
A day before the start of the Budget session of Parliament, as many as 18 opposition parties, led by the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Shiv Sena and the Trinamool Congress, decided on Thursday to boycott the President's address to the joint sitting of both Houses in solidarity with the farmers protesting against the new farm laws.
More than 40 artists from four cities -- Delhi, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune -- gathered in Mumbra, a township near Mumbai. The artists joined women in Mumbra protesting the Citizens (Amendment) Act.
Several activists belonging to Muslim women groups held placards demanding entry for females into the sanctum sanctorum of the historic dargah, which receives hundreds of devotees everyday.
The crisis in Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala in the wake of the murder of Marxist rebel and Revolutionary Marxist Party leader T P Chandrasekharan has exposed the "politics of violence" practiced by the party, Industries Minister and Indian Union Muslim League leader P K Kunhalikutty has said.
Tharoor was asked by a Pakistani journalist as to how the political fortune of the Indian government was impacted by the rising COVID numbers. He said it was paradoxical as the government was "not doing well" in dealing with the pandemic and people realise that, but polls suggest that it has not hurt the BJP politically as it should.
From Kutch to Itanagar, Kashmir to Kanyakumari, there is only one emotion, it seems. Fear. Of coronavirus.
The first batch of police personnel had taken charge of the security on Saturday.
'What we are today witnessing is the final act of the Pakistani army trying to retain its turf,' argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The interesting bit about the Azamgarh poll finding on India TV was the whopping percentage of Muslims backing the SP-BSP alliance, which sort of negates Mayawati's appeal to the community to not split their vote with the Congress, says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'Will the age of majority be decided on a case-by-case basis by judges?' 'Does a 24-year-old woman still need "care, protection and guidance" and only from parents?' 'Is a Facebook post enough to declare a person a dangerous radical?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
Pakistan's external spy agency is trying to push its South Indian agenda
'If they were really serious (about conferring the Bharat Ratna on Savarkar) what were they doing for the last five years?' 'Why do they have to take so long?' 'Gandhi himself never got the Bharat Ratna so it does not really matter.'
The people of the southern part of the country could see a greater part of the partial solar eclipse because of the geometry of the eclipse path.
India is going into the longest lockdown in the world, with the least amount of notice given to its people and the least preparation by its government.
Given the controversy over Uttar Pradesh's population control moves, Hemant Shivsaran/Rediff.com digs deep to find out how many children BJP MLAs in UP have.
Indian Union Muslim League leader P K Kunhalikutty, who was embroiled in a sex scandal-related controversy, has registered an impressive win by a margin of over 30,000 votes from Vengara in Kerala. Fending off an aggressive campaign against him over the scandal during the run-up to the elections, Kunhalikutty trounced his nearest Left Democratic Front-backed Indian National League opponent K P Ismail
'We are a national party that wants to remind people about Bharatiya sanskruti, which, at the moment, is being remote-controlled by an Italian lady and her agents,' says former Union minister O Rajagopal, the BJP candidate from Thiruvananthapuram who will challenge Shashi Tharoor.
'E Ahamed will be sorely missed as a decent and wise man who made the best use of his political career and personal abilities for the good of the nation,' remembers Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'As people have moved from cities to small towns and villages, they have carried the infection into new territories.' 'Poor healthcare infrastructure in these places should be a big worry in the days to come.'
What the Congress will have to understand is that it is not enough to have a 40-something vice-president in New Delhi, but young faces with fresh ideas in the states,' says Amulya Ganguli.
The Tamil Nadu chief minister may have opened a Pandora's Box on the religion front with the appointment of qualified non-Brahmin temple priests, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Several protests -- some peaceful, some violent -- erupted across India on Monday against the police crackdown in Jamia Millia Islamia and the controversial citizenship law as students and political leaders took to the streets, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi called these protests "deeply distressing" and appealed for peace.
The Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea of an Islamic organisation that Muslim girl applicants be allowed to wear 'hijab' (scarf), a customary religious dress, in the All India Pre-Medical Entrance Test on Saturday.
Justice Gogoi's tenure as judge and as CJI was marked by some controversies and personal allegations but that never came in his way of his judicial work that was reflected in the last few days when benches headed by him delivered some path-breaking judgments.
A senior opposition member in Rajya Sabha on Friday sought a probe into the manner in which the death of former Union Minister E Ahamed was "handled", alleging he had died soon after being rushed to the hospital but his demise was announced much later.
Imams (priests) in Kerala confirmed sighting of the new moon marking the beginning of the holy month.
Ahmed was taken ill during the President's address to the joint sitting of both Houses.
'Communalism and communal riots happened in India only during and due to colonialism. Pre-colonial India didn't have this problem of communal conflicts and religious strife.'
'The return of India to its own civilisational values can never endanger freedoms as pluralism is the bedrock of our culture,' assert Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (retd) and Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).