India, Mexico join hands against terror
Ram Jethmalani, Hema Malini, Dara Singh and four other nominated members of the Rajya Sabha will complete their term on August 26, enabling the United Progressive Alliance government to get own choice of persons of eminence nominated by President Pratibha Patil.
Come 2011 and the denizens of Hyderabad and the tourists will have a new attraction beckoning them. The historic Rashtrapati Nilayam, the southern abode of the President of India, will be throwing its gates open for the first time to the visitors.
A major disaster was averted at the Mumbai airport on Monday when an Air Force helicopter of President Pratibha Patil's fleet landed on the runway as an Air India plane was about to take off for Delhi. The pilot of the Air India flight to Delhi aborted take off when he saw the helicopter landing on the runway he was about to use, official sources said.
Political heavyweights on Sunday kept away from a Buddhist meet which led to diplomatic tensions between India and China and an indefinite postponement of their border talks.
Reacting to reports of a kin of President Pratibha Patil being in the race for a Congress ticket for assembly polls in Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said her family members should refrain from doing so keeping democratic norms in mind.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had his first substantive meeting with President Barack Obama on Thursday, during which he told the American leader that India would like to carry forward the Indo-US strategic relationship that had developed during the last five years.
The President and the Trinamool's demand concerning the nominated members of the Rajya Sabha has the government in a quandary
Terrorism, left-wing extremism and cyber crime will be the subject of discussions at the three-day director general of police conference that commences on Thursday.
Nalini, the life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, on Saturday met her husband and a death row convict in the same case, Murugan, at the Vellore prison, jail sources said.
Demanding immediate recall of Gujarat governor on Lokayukta appointment issue, a delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party Members of Parliament led by senior leader L K Advani on Friday met President Pratibha Patil who informed them that the matter is sub-judice.
Nobel laureate of Indian origin Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, noted theatre personality Ebrahim Alkazi were on Wednesday conferred the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award by President Pratibha Patil in New Delhi.
Claiming that Tamils will be happy if the three Rajiv killers are spared the gallows, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Monday "fervently" asked for a cancellation of their death sentence.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Tuesday said he would hand over to President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday a letter withdrawing support to the United Progressive Alliance government, over the issue of the Women's Reservation Bill, while SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav remained non-committal on the issue.
India on Monday signed a civil nuclear cooperation deal with South Korea, allowing a framework for Korean companies to participate in atomic power plant projects in the country.
A delegation of the Bharatiya Janata Party Members of Parliament and senior leaders met President Pratibha Patil on Thursday and submitted a memorandum and crores of signatures as part of its campaign against "abject failure of the UPA government" to control price rise.
India is sending two naval ships with relief and medical supplies to Myanmar, where a severe cyclone claimed over 3,000 lives and rendered thousands more homeless. The ships, carrying food items, tents, blankets, clothing and medicines will sail to Yangon from Port Blair, the External Affairs Ministry announced in New Delhi. The top leadership has conveyed India's readiness to provide immediate emergency relief assistance and to assist Myanmar in its rehabilitation efforts.
Unfurling of the national tricolour, cultural programmes and festivities marked the 60th Republic Day celebrations by the Indian community all over the world with patriotic fervour and enthusiasm.
Journalists across the country will on Saturday hold demonstrations in protest against frequent attacks on scribes and to press their demand that the Centre form a national security policy for them.
Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas is India's flagship annual event, which aims to connect with the Diaspora spread around the globe and focuses on boosting investment and sharing of expertise.
The Finance Commission, which makes recommendations on sharing of tax revenues by the Centre and States, has suggested a new path for fiscal prudence in its report submitted to President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday.
Protests in support of a separate Telangana state continued on Saturday in different districts of Telangana region.
According to sources in Congress, "The Communist Party of India-Marxist will have their nominee as Vice President in August when the elections are due."
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Gujarat government on Friday said that Congress was trying to spread a 'charter of lies' against the Chief Minister Narendra Modi to tarnish his clean and transparent image.
Union Home Minister Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday denied that any decision has been taken with regard to the mercy petition filed by Afzal Guru, who has been given death sentence in the Parliament attack case.
The Maharashtra unit of the Congress on Thursday suspended 16 rebels, including a minister and a Member of Legislative Assembly, for six years from the party, for contesting against official candidates in the assembly elections.State Finance Minister Sunil Deshmukh, who is contesting against Rajendra Shekhawat, son of President Pratibha Patil from Amravati, and sitting MLA Rajiv Rajale, who is in fray as a rebel from Shegaon in Ahmednagart district, were among the 16 rebels.
The road show of Bollywood star Sunil Shetty and cricketer-turned-politician Mohammad Azharuddin organised by the Congress candidate Raosaheb Shekhawat to woo voters saw good turnout in Amravati.
President Pratibha Patil's son is fighting on a Congress ticket against the powerful two-term sitting Member of Legislative Assembly and Maharashtra Finance Minister Sunil Deshmukh, who has quit the party to contest as an independent. A R Rahman made it a part of his Oscar awards acceptance speech. But not many imagined that the politics of Amravati would revolve around Salim-Javed's immortal dialogue in the Hindi blockbuster Deewar: "Mere paas maa hai!"
Deshmukh, Minister of State for Finance, is taking on President Pratibha Patil's son Rajendrasinh Shekhawat, the official Congress candidate, in Amravati constituency of Vidarbha as an Independent.
The government advised the warring Ambani brothers several times that they should stop fighting, but failed to bring about a reconciliation, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said on Wednesday.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal to increase reservation for women to 50 per cent in panchayats.
A petition has been filed with President Pratibha Patil for the release of former constable Mohammad Abdul Qadeer, who was convicted for killing a superior.
The Election Commission is likely to issue its notification for the Presidential election by mid-June, setting in motion the process of election to the country's top post. President Pratibha Patil's term ends on July 24 and the EC notification in this regard will be issued sometime in mid-June.
Combating inflation, protecting the common man from the impact of rising food prices and sustaining the momentum of economic growth while ensuring the poor get a fair share of the "fruits of growth" are among the government's "foremost priorities" in 2011-12, President Pratibha Patil said in her address to Parliament this week.
Rediff.com tells you all that you need to know about the census
President Pratibha Patil was the first of a billion-plus population in the country to be counted on Wednesday as lakhs of enumerators fanned out in a gigantic effort to document every citizen over the next three weeks in the world's second largest census.
The book titled Mohin kahan vishram (No rest for me) penned by noted Hindi writer Dr Kanhaiyalal Nandan spanning half a century of Arjun Singh's political career is full of understatements that may kick off many controversies even while he escapes saying he did not mean it. In an interview to the author, Arjun Singh talks of the internal democracy that was once the hallmark of the decision-making process of the Congress.
President Pratibha Patil has approved the award of Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak for Rukhsana Kosser, the Jammu girl who braved the bullets of Lashkar-e-Tayiba militants and killed one of them to save her family.
As she embarked on her last tour abroad as President, Pratibha Patil On Sunday dismissed criticism over a large number of foreign visits undertaken by her, insisting that they were not on her own volition but at the request of the government to promote India's relations.
From Presidential battles to prime ministerial ones... From Mamata Banerjee's shenanigans to Kapil Sibal's true passion... All this and more in this week's edition of Dilli Gupshup.