A young IT grad jailed for visa fraud committed by his agent, gives an insider's view of life in jail.
'As an idea, cleaning up India is a good one,' says Mitali Saran.
Sarmesh Kumar is the first in his family, that comes from the community of rat eaters, to go to college. Archana Masih/Rediff.com met the young man and traveled to his village -- which Bill Gates visited a few years ago -- as Rediff.com looks at Bihar through the stories of its people.
Indian coffee shops market over the next four-five years will grow between 6 and 18 per cent CAGR, all due to the growing coffee culture among the youth, increasing urbanisation, rising disposable income levels and changing eating and drinking preferences, says Atanu Biswas.
'Due to lack of physical activity and proper care, senior citizens are falling at home or complaining of orthopaedic injuries,' cautions Dr Rajeev Verma.
'While we are all trying to stay indoors and help flatten the curve, all recruitment processes have been put on hold and I am unable to find a job for myself.'
The British home secretary has granted permission for jeweller Nirav Modi's extradition to India. During their arguments in a London court, his lawyers claimed Modi suffers from mental illness and is a suicide risk if he was sent to Mumbai's Arthur Road jail. A fascinating excerpt from Danish Khan and Ruhi Khan's Escaped: True Stories Of Indian Fugitives In London.
There had been few signs of social distancing as thousands of farmers from Punjab and Haryana began their protest last week against the three new agro-marketing laws, setting off on a march to the national capital.
The two were arrested by the police for allegedly trying to breach peace and posting inflammatory material on social media.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has combined three bungalows into one in the prime location of the Lutyen's zone of Delhi and the unauthorised construction has come under the scanner of state-builder Central Public Works Department.
Budget is likely to focus on infrastructure creation in the N-E
Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen has labelled the South African court's decision of handing Oscar Pistorius a six-year jail term for killing his girlfriend as 'pathetic' and 'shambles'. While delivering her decision in a story that has attracted intense worldwide attention, Judge Thokozile Masipa said she had considered both aggravating and mitigating factors, such as rehabilitation and murder, and concluded that the latter outweighed the former.
Around 700 migrant workers, women and children have lost their lives in this reverse migration. But what is happening today with the migrant labour is only a continuation of the policies pursued by the Modi regime during the last six years. It is not for nothing that India was ranked the most dangerous country in the world for women in 2018 by the Thompson Reuters Foundation poll, points out Rashme Sehgal.
Here's your weekly digest of the most weird, true and funny news from the across the world.
In a surprising turn of events, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday pulled up his son's government in Uttar Pradesh, saying that the Akhilesh Yadav government only spoke of 'foundation laying' and not inauguration of schemes.
The arrests have been made in cases related to blasts outside court premises in South India since April this year.
In a joint operation with police of two states, the National Investigation Agency on Monday arrested three persons suspected to be part of a group sympathising with Al Qaeda and involved in five blast cases in court premises of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka since April.
Asked during a press briefing if special trains and private vehicles will also be allowed to transport these people as demanded by some states and others, Joint Secretary in the Union home ministry Punya Salila Srivastava said the orders issued at present were for 'using buses and for group of persons'.
'There was outside intervention which is what led to the initial violence.' 'Once the violence started, there was a brutal lathi-charge by the police.'
Harbhajan also believed that both Chahal and Kuldeep remain India's best bet for providing breakthroughs.
The Kerala government has made it clear that it would not provide security to any woman of menstruating age visiting the shrine, as per Devaswom Board Minister K Surendran.
Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday came out with its manifesto for the December 4 Delhi polls, promising to enact Jan Lokpal Bill in 15 days if voted to power.
The Congress hit back saying the PM could not mislead the people by 'lying' as he had been 'exposed'.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ordered a clean-up of all central government offices. Mahesh Vijapurkar laments the pervading culture of shabbiness in government offices around the country.
'Are all roads in India privatised? Are governments not playing a role in airports or ports? If they (private players) want to set up lines for a specific requirement, I see no reason to object. It will expand the opportunity and passengers will also benefit.'
The prime minister also raised the Rafale jet deal and the law against triple talaq, accusing the Congress of trying to block them.
From offering free food to passengers to re-arranging train timings Railways Minister Piyush Goyal announced a slew of measures to make the Railways more efficient
He recalled that democracy-lovers had fought a big battle against the Emergency.
Stocks to watch: ACC, Ambuja Cements, India Cements, Shree Cement, Ultra Tech Cement.
'Painting opponents as the enemy of the State, using fake news, making wild allegations about rival parties, curtailing civil liberties and challenging the Constitution itself are worrying developments.'
Praising villagers where he went to lay the foundation of a toilet for naming it as Izzatghar, Modi said, "I liked this word so much".
These dedicated COVID-19 facilities will have a capacity of 1,06,719 isolation beds and 12,024 ICU beds reserved for such patients in the country.
If Modi's truly a reformer and a believer in minimum government, he would bury the Vodafone ghosts now. He would also then go to Bihar, campaigning on his politically controversial reforms. Both will need him to dip deep into his accumulated political capital and risk it, suggests Shekhar Gupta.
'If the government does not take any action soon, 21 cities of India will become like Cape Town, with no water.' 'Four cities -- Delhi, Gurgaon, Meerut and Faridabad -- will suffer the worst.'
'Both India and Japan can find themselves in a win-win situation if they draw some lessons from each other's strengths,' says Dr Rajaram Panda.
'The only good thing that has come out of our current situation is that it has brought communities closer.' NRIs describe the impact coronavirus is having on their lives.
Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday asked young minds to come out with a fool-proof method to prevent ticketless travel in trains.
A first-of-its-kind travel show explores the special bond a father and daughter share.
Taking advantage of the indifference of passengers, the Indian Railways routinely indulges in several unfair trade practices, says S Pushpavanam.
