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.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise being conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) was 'essential', as electoral rolls were not perfect.
'You can say it was a moment that can be described as unimaginable or unbelievable.'
The controversy also prompted a wave of support for Nafeesumma from various sections of society on social media on Thursday.
A seven-year-old girl died in Palakkad, Kerala after falling from a scooter and being run over by a bus. The accident has sparked protests over poor road conditions.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of 'linguistic terror' and plotting to delete Bengali voters from electoral rolls, vowing to protect voting rights.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accuses the BJP-led government of stealing votes with the help of the Election Commission during a rally in Siwan, Bihar.
'VS was a man who devoted every moment of his life, from the beginning till his death at the age of 100, to the struggle against the injustices inflicted upon land, nature and the common man.'
Twenty priests have been booked by the police in Kochi, Kerala, for allegedly assaulting a police officer during a protest at the Bishop's House. The incident occurred on January 11, with the priests protesting against the unified Holy Mass. The police registered a case against the priests under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for unlawful assembly, rioting, and causing hurt to a public servant. The protest follows a controversy over the unified Holy Mass, which the Archbishop has defended, stating that altering decisions approved by Pope Francis is impossible.
The Kerala police have registered at least four first information reports (FIRs) and arrested six persons for allegedly raping a girl at various locations when she was a minor.
'You know the situation in Yemen now. There is no government there.' 'The rebels are in control. So, there is no diplomatic channel through which we can negotiate.'
The police took action after cyber patrolling revealed that 60 fake lottery apps, 25 fake Facebook profiles and 20 websites are connected to the scam, the SPMC release said.
BJP state chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar stated that the arrest of two nuns in Chhattisgarh was due to a 'misunderstanding' and that they will be released on bail soon. He met with Archbishop of Trichur Andrews Thazhath to brief him that the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister have assured the nuns would be released on bail.
This was a soaring evening that sent hearts aflutter and for a few brief moments we tasted the breath of pure freedom that has been missing in this country for the past several years.
A minor Dalit girl was lured from her village in Uttar Pradesh and taken to Kerala where she was coerced into converting ahead of being recruited for terrorist activities, police said on Monday, blowing the lid off a suspected radicalisation network.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the Centre had sent multiple advance warnings to the Kerala government about possible floods and landslides in the state, starting as early as July 23, and nine National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams were rushed to the state the same day.
'What the US appears to be doing is to force India to be "the buyer of last resort", on whom their products can be dumped, 1.4 billion people have to eat something, so why not eat American corn?' 'What is exercising the Trump lot is the fact that most of the farms are in solidly Republican Midwestern states: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin,' points out Rajeev Srinivasan.
Amid widespread outrage over the brutal ragging incident at the Government Nursing College in Kottayam, the Kerala Nurses and Midwives Council (KNMC) on Saturday decided to bar all five accused students from continuing their studies.
'What is going on is the under counting of the migration population in urban areas.' 'It has been going on in the last few censuses.'
The BJP's MoSha leadership are past masters in encouraging defections from their allies if it helped their party capture the chief minister's chair. In Bihar, they are not sure if JD-U MPs and MLAs would be willing to cross over to the BJP if the Nitish leadership came on top -- and the NDA crossed the halfway mark together, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The customary naadan or home-cooked meal is rather memorable fare.
A BJP leader from Palakkad, Kerala, has filed a complaint against popular rapper Vedan, accusing him of defaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi and promoting caste-based division through his music. The complaint, filed with the Union Home Ministry and NIA, alleges that one of Vedan's songs contains defamatory remarks about the Prime Minister and inflammatory language aimed at dividing the Hindu community along caste lines. The complaint also highlights Vedan's past legal issues, including his arrest on April 28 in connection with a drug case. Vedan has denied the allegations, claiming that the criticism is part of a broader attempt to portray him as an extremist.
It's 'not looking like a Diwali lineup, which is usually grand and has superstar movies.'
Vijayan said the news that the SDMA had directed scientific institutions and scientists not to visit the disaster-affected Meppadi panchayat in Wayanad and not to express their opinions was misleading.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday urged various banks to write off the loans availed by landslide victims and survivors in Kerala's Wayanad.
The 10-day Ganesh festival has begun in Maharashtra, with devotees welcoming Lord Ganesha into their homes and public pandals. The state government has declared the celebrations a state festival for the first time.
As an IAS officer in Kerala, Gyanesh Kumar -- who the Congress described as Amit Shah's 'right hand man' -- had a good working equation with the state's Congress and Left leaders.
Hundreds of people were captivated by watching the auspicious Theyyam ritual at the Veerarkavu Temple in the Kasaragod district of Kerala when a thundering explosion and a ball of fire shattered the serene atmosphere around midnight.
The Kerala High Court has criticized both the ruling front and the opposition in the state for holding public meetings that block public roads and footpaths. The court observed that the December 5 incident, where the CPI(M) held a conference outside the Vanchiyoor court complex in Thiruvananthapuram, was a "clear case of breach of trust" as the government holds the roads as a trustee of the people. The court has directed the police to submit a report by December 16 identifying those involved in the meeting, including those who attended and were seen on-stage in news reports. The court also pointed out that the stage for the meeting was constructed right on top of the pedestrian/zebra crossing, completely blocking the carriageway on one side of the road. This caused traffic snarls and inconvenienced pedestrians, including school children, infants, and elderly persons. The court said that provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and other laws, like the Motor Vehicles Act, would be applicable to the incident.
The woman, her husband and two children, aged 4 years and four months, have already left for Wayand from their home in Idukki in central Kerala.
A 38-year-old man undergoing treatment in Kerala's northern Malappuram district has been confirmed to have contracted Mpox infection, the state health department said on Wednesday.
The Centre has proposed exempting life and health insurance policies for individuals from GST, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and convenor of insurance GoM Samrat Choudhary said on Wednesday. Currently, health and life insurance premium attracts 18 per cent GST.
A group of retired judges has criticized Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks about opposition vice-presidential candidate B Sudershan Reddy and the Salwa Judum judgement, calling them 'unfortunate'.
'It is for the first time in Independent India that collection of information on caste is being done.'
George reportedly waited for hours at the airport, hoping for permission from the Ministry of External Affairs.
The cheeky young man who once gave me one-word answers grew into a philosophical, detached star yet remained simple and humble, never letting stardom steal his heart, notes Rediff's Shobha Warrier who first interviewed the Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner in 1987.
Landslides blocked arterial roads leading up to Dharali where dozens of people were trapped and many homes and cars swept away by the raging waters on Tuesday. Eleven Army personnel from the nearby camp in Harsil were among those missing.
No author in the Malayalam literary canon has influenced and profoundly changed the way normal people interact with each other than the ever-relevant, eclectic yet elusive body of work left behind by MT Vasudevan Nair, notes Arjun Menon.
In one of the worst natural disasters in Kerala, at least 123 persons were killed and 128 injured in massive landslides triggered by torrential rains in Wayanad on Tuesday. With hundreds trapped under the debris, sparking fears of mounting fatalities, rescue agencies were racing against time to pull out any survivors.
Her claims of being detained overnight at the police station without food or sleep and being asked to drink toilet water by police personnel have sparked widespread outrage.
