A young couple sharing a laugh - in the living room over a Polish joke book, on the beach, in the rain - with the tagline, "Made for each other", hung from billboards at prominent street corners from the 1960s to the 1990s. It was a campaign for one of the largest selling cigarette brands in India, Wills (Navy Cut) from the ITC stable, that resonated with a generation of smokers and non-smokers alike till the curtains came down on tobacco advertising in 2004. As we prepare to welcome 2024, ITC has metamorphosed from a tobacco giant into a conglomerate straddling multiple large-sized businesses. In the mind space of Gen Z or millennials, the company represents a gamut of branded products - from frozen food (ITC Master Chef), noodles (YiPPee!), and cookies (Sunfeast) to snacks (Bingo!) and notebooks (Classmate), and so on and so forth.
Audi and Mercedes-Benz have already opened dealerships in Guwahati -- a gateway to all the north-eastern states -- and BMW intends to join them soon. Ajay Modi reports.
Rediff.com's Surajit Talukdar got in touch with author Frans Welman, secretary of the Amsterdam-based Naga International Support Centre, who is considered to be close to the leadership of the NSCN (I-M). Here are excerpts from the exclusive e-mail interview.
Since its formation on June 6 in the southeast Arabian Sea, Biparjoy had maintained a northward track, gathering strength and becoming an extremely severe cyclonic storm on June 11, packing wind speed of more than 160 kmph, and then losing intensity a day later.
The home minister said the northeast and the Left-wing extremism-affected areas in the country are tribal-dominated regions and security is a precursor to development there.
As forty-five people lost their lives and 200,000 people were rendered homeless in the week-long communal violence between the Bodo tribals and the Muslim immigrants, the Assam government in northeast India ummed and ahhed, says Bibhu Prasad Routray
A Delhi assembly committee asked Facebook India on Thursday to furnish records of users' reports (complaints) on the content posted on the platform one month prior and two months after the northeast Delhi riots in February 2020.
The assault and humiliation of two women paraded naked in a Manipur village in May sparked nationwide outrage on Thursday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the incident had shamed 140 crore Indians and the Supreme Court terming it 'simply unacceptable'.
Taiwan in 1951 came up with an ingenious plan to improve tax compliance: citizens taking receipts for purchases could use them as lottery tickets. Customers were incentivized, and businesses found it hard to evade taxes. The plan's success prompted other countries, Slovakia and Greece among them, to launch similar initiatives. India doesn't seem to find the need yet for such schemes amid surging goods and services tax (GST) collections.
According to IMD, the cyclonic storm weakened into a 'deep depression' at 11:30 pm on Friday over Southeast Pakistan.
The grand dedication ceremony of Akshardham in Robbinsville, New Jersey was conducted on Sunday in the presence of Mahant Swami Maharaj following a nine-day celebration that commenced on September 30.
The era when anyone could encroach on India's land has passed and no one can dare to eye its border, Home Minister Amit Shah said in Kibithoo, Arunachal Pradesh, on Monday.
This season promises to be special for many reasons.
Soulmate from Meghalaya is belting out 12 bars across the globe. Sumit Bhattacharya listens in.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronaut Colonel Michael (Mike) Fincke, a veteran of two space expeditions of total duration of over 365 days, on Friday termed the Indian Space Research Organisation's Chandrayaan-1 mission a grand success, despite the abrupt end to the mission due to a technical problem.
Recalling the Galwan incident, he said the bravery, valour and restraint shown by the Indian Army are incomparable and unparalleled.
The grand old party is looking to retain power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh while seeking to come to power in the other three states going to polls -- Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Mizoram.
The rains have so far been four per cent below normal.
A home ministry spokesperson, however, said the decision does not imply that the AFSPA has been completely withdrawn from the three insurgency-hit states but will continue to be in force in some areas of the three states.
Meteorologists earlier said Cyclone 'Biparjoy' had been impacting the intensity of the monsoon and that its onset over Kerala would be 'mild'.
Gen Pande, who was serving as the vice chief, became the first officer from the Corps of Engineers to helm the force.
He cautioned people against forces inside and outside India which are working against the country by targeting it and its constitutional values.
A depression over the southeast Arabian Sea, south of Porbandar in Gujarat, is likely to move northwestward and intensify into a cyclonic storm, the India Meteorological Department said on Tuesday.
Almost every year, three to four waves of flood ravage Assam. The average annual loss due to the disaster is to the tune of Rs 200 crore, according to a state government website.
Sangma said finding the solution was not an easy decision, but for the political will of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
The Bharatiya Janata Party president also accused successive Congress government's of having alienated the region from the rest of the country.
With the fresh fatalities, the total number of people losing their lives in this year's flood and landslides across the state has gone up to 42.
The two men arrested by the Delhi police for raping a BPO employee confessed that they wanted to rob cattle, but landing up committing the crime, reports Sahim Salim.
"We are in the process of declaring a cash reward of Rs. 1 lakh to anyone who can lead us to the accused. We have detained four relevant suspects in the case and are questioning them," Deputy Commissioner of Police (south Delhi), HGS Dhaliwal said.
It had organised its 83rd anniversary event last year in Jammu after the government asked all paramilitary or CAPF to hold these events outside the national capital.
The PIL said the independent expert committee should be asked to submit its report within four weeks and direction be issued for action against state agencies for dereliction of duty.
Women politicians bring to politics and policy a sensitivity that most of their male counterparts, at least until a generation back, lacked.
The United Nations has dedicated a solidarity tree in remembrance of victims of terrorism with a solemn ceremony that also honoured victims of the 2008 Mumbai attack, on the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the world organisation.
In a tweet on Monday, Zarif said," Iran condemns the wave of organised violence against Indian muslims."
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is set to host a meeting of its constituents on Tuesday in what is being seen as a show of strength by the ruling alliance amid a get-together of opposition parties in Bengaluru to forge unity, as the two sides step up their campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
The Meghalaya government has sought a nuclear power plant either in Meghalaya or any other suitable part of the Northeast India as a pre-condition for uranium mining in Meghalaya provided there would be no health or environment hazards because of the mining process.
Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday said the government is riding on "mainstay" football to make India a sporting powerhouse and announced the formation of five zonal committees to hunt talent across the country.
Kiren Rijiju's exit from the coveted law ministry came in the midst of his frequent criticism of the judiciary, particularly on the system of appointment of judges to high courts and the Supreme Court.
Finding it a Herculean task to scan passengers' luggage with hand-held metal detectors, the GRP has requested the Assam government to install X-Ray machines like the ones used in airports to check passengers' luggage.
