A former BJP MP in Rajasthan is facing accusations of religious discrimination after allegedly insulting a Muslim woman and taking back a blanket during a distribution event.
The home portfolio of Bihar, which Chief Minister Nitish Kumar kept with himself all through his nearly 20-year-long tenure, has been given to his deputy, BJP leader Samrat Chowdhury, this time, according to an official notification issued on Friday.
The ministry of minority affairs informed the Lok Sabha that in 2022-2023, it had been allotted Rs 5,020.5 crore (Rs 50.20 billion); in the Revised Estimates, it had got Rs 2,612.66 crore (Rs 26.12 billion); and had spent, until the end of March this year, Rs 712.5 crore (Rs 7,12 billion).
Maharashtra minister Manikrao Kokate was stripped of his portfolios after being convicted in a 1995 cheating and forgery case. His ministries have been reassigned to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. Kokate has been admitted to Lilavati Hospital after complaining of chest pain.
Her team scour platforms and trains, looking out for vulnerable children accompanied by adults who look or behave suspiciously or whose presence makes the child uncomfortable. They also look out for children travelling alone. 'We watch, listen and talk. All this is done tactfully and sensitively because we are dealing with young children.'
Of the Rs 31,820.80 crore allocated to central sector schemes and projects, only Rs 11,868.05 crore was utilised, according to the revised estimates.
NPS Vatsalya offers a disciplined investment avenue that parents can use to create intergenerational wealth by contributing even small sums.
Spiritual leader Devkinandan Thakur slams KKR for buying Bangladesh's Mustafizur Rahman
'Removing Nitish Kumar prematurely risks unsettling both the alliance balance and parts of the social coalition that delivered this victory.'
'Dating someone during divorce proceedings is legally permissible as long as it does not involve provable physical intimacy,' says lawyer Navaneet Kumar.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has distributed portfolios among the new ministers, keeping key departments such as Home, Personnel, and several others to himself. The Congress' Radhakrishna Kishore was given Finance, Commercial Tax, Planning and Development Department, and Parliamentary Affairs departments. JMM's Deepak Biruwa was allotted the departments of Revenue, Registration and Land Reforms (non-registration), and Transport. Chamra Linda, another JMM leader, was allotted the departments of Schedule Tribes, Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes (except Minority Welfare). RJD's Sanjay Prasad Yadav was given the departments of Industries, and Labour, Planning, Training and Skill Development. The Congress' Irfan Ansari got Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare, besides Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs, and Disaster Management departments. The chief minister also kept to himself the departments of Cabinet Secretariat, Personnel, Administrative Reforms and Official Language, Road Construction, Building Construction, and those departments yet to be distributed to anyone. Among the other ministers, JMM's Ramdas Soren was given the School Education and Literacy, and Registration departments. Party colleague Hafizul Hasan was allotted the departments of Water Resources, and Minority Welfare Department. Panchayati Raj, Rural Works, and Rural Development departments were given to Congress MLA Deepika Pandey Singh. The CM gave Drinking Water and Sanitation, and Excise and Prohibition departments to JMM's Yogendra Prasad. JMM legislator Sudhivya Kumar became the minister for Urban Development and Housing, Higher and Technical Education, and Tourism, Art Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs departments. Shilpi Neha Tirkey of the Congress was allotted Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperative Department. A total of 11 MLAs took oath as ministers in the Hemant Soren government in Jharkhand on Thursday.
A surprise inspection at a madrassa in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, India, has revealed that none of the class 10 students could write their names in English. The district minority welfare officer expressed alarm at the state of education and warned the madrassa of strict action if immediate steps are not taken to improve the quality of education. The madrassa has been asked to focus on subjects other than Arabic and Persian.
China has made serious inroads into Latin America, which the US may now be hinting is simply not ok: Stay in your lane, Xi! In simple terms, China will no longer have access to Venezuelan oil, points out Rajeev Srinivasan.
Nationalist Congress Party minister Manikrao Kokate has resigned from the Maharashtra Cabinet after a court upheld his conviction and two-year jail term in a 1995 cheating and forgery case. This marks the second NCP minister to resign this year.
India has expressed concerns over a rise in violence against Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh and Pakistan, reporting 2,200 cases in Bangladesh and 112 in Pakistan this year. The Indian government has urged both countries to take measures to ensure the safety of minorities and has highlighted the issue at international forums. The government has also stated that it is monitoring the situation closely and has shared its concerns with the respective governments.
The incident occurred on August 7 and reportedly stemmed from an attempt to separate one of the victims from a minor girl with whom he was in a mutual relationship.
'Judges have transmitted a terrible message to citizens across the nation. All right-thinking individuals will be disturbed by what the Delhi high court judges have done.'
The Supreme Court reprimanded an Israeli businessman residing in India, questioning his presence in Goa while seeking to halt the repatriation of his two daughters and their Russian mother, who were rescued from a Karnataka forest.
The party is slated to organise yoga events in 403 madrasas of UP on International Yoga Day (June 21).
The Karnataka high court on Friday permitted the Union government to issue travel documents to facilitate the return of a Russian woman and her two minor daughters who had been discovered living in a cave in coastal Karnataka.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah directed officials on Saturday to immediately retract all notices sent to farmers regarding Waqf land.
The DGCA has formed two specialised teams to internally monitor IndiGo's daily operations.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma believes that the BJP could win more seats in the state by aggressively campaigning in minority-dominated areas. He attributed the party's recent success in the bypolls to its beneficiary schemes, which he claims have garnered support from the minority community. Sarma emphasized that the BJP will continue with its development work for all communities and has no plans for appeasement. He also gave an update on the Guwahati-North Guwahati bridge project, which is progressing well and is scheduled to be opened to the public in July 2025. Sarma also hinted at a possible cabinet reshuffle in the coming months.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri arrived in Dhaka on Monday on a day-long visit to hold talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart, amid strained bilateral ties since August following the ouster of prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
'If the NDA returns with the BJP substantially ahead of the JD-U, a BJP CM bid becomes plausible; if the gap is narrow or JD-U holds pivotal seats, continuity with Nitish is the lower-risk option.'
Announcing the measures, the government presented an action taken report in Parliament on the steps it proposed to take to implement the Sachar Committee's suggestions. The government, however, remained silent on the Sachar Committee's recommendation favouring reservation for the most backward in the 150-million strong community.
Maharashtra minister Manikrao Kokate was shifted from the agriculture ministry to the sports and youth welfare department in a late-night reshuffle. Dattatrey Bharne will be the new agriculture minister. The reshuffle comes after Kokate faced controversy for playing online rummy during a legislative council session and allegedly equating farmers with beggars.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju clarifies that tribal communities in the northeast and other areas will be exempt from the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC) to preserve their traditional way of life.
The legislation sets clear expectations for National Sports Federations and the Indian Olympic Association, ensuring mechanisms for fair elections, financial openness, and inclusive representation.
The sweeping victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in the Bihar Assembly elections has caused ripples across the country, but perhaps more pronounced in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh, where Assembly elections are due in 2027.
'Bihar's voters' electoral memory is long, and their evaluations are relational; who came to the village, who followed up, who resolved a problem.'
The DMK may consider a two-tier campaign, where they keep the focus on Chief Minister Stalin, as a senior statesman with 50-plus years of political experience, and let EPS and the BJP shout in the wilderness. In such a case, the second-tier may project Udhayanidhi as the contender and chosen obstructionist in Vijay's path. The attempt, if any, would be to reduce Vijay to Udhayanidhi's level when the former is aiming at Stalin and Stalin alone in the state's political horizon, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
SP Group chairman Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry on Friday reiterated calls for public listing of Tata Sons to bring transparency, amid infighting among trustees of Tata Trusts which controls a 66 per cent stake in the holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate. Shapoorji Pallonji family is the single largest minority shareholder with about 18.37 per cent in Tata Sons.
'Parsis are inclined towards people who work for the welfare of others.'
Another populist decision of the government was the announcement of an unemployment allowance for the youth: Rs 1,000 per month for two years for graduates and those who have completed class 12 but remain unemployed.
Tata Sons, now debt-free, has asked the RBI to drop its 'upper-layer NBFC' tag and allow it to stay private.
'I disagree with much of Modi's politics, but it cannot be denied that in these years in office, he has carved more than a niche for himself in history,' points out Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author, Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
The arrest of two Catholic nuns from Kerala in Chhattisgarh on charges of human trafficking and forced religious conversion has ignited a political controversy, with opposition parties criticizing the arrest and the Chief Minister defending the police action.
Around 70 people were undergoing treatment at the District Headquarters Hospital in Puri, with nine reported to be in critical condition, an official said.
Manmohan Singh announces proposals to set up commissions on minorities
