Puducherry has been battered by heavy rains since the beginning of November and officials have assessed that such a quantum of downpour had not been seen in the last 100 years.
After forcing some governors to quit, the Narendra Modi government on Friday sacked Lt Governor of Puducherry Virendra Kataria, in the first such action against political appointees of the United Progressive Alliance regime.
The Union Budget 2025-26 on Saturday allocated Rs 2,33,210.68 crore to the Ministry of Home Affairs with the majority of the fund -- Rs 1,60,391.06 crore -- being given to central police forces like Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) which are responsible for internal security, border guarding and security of vital installations.
The Indian Parliament will introduce a constitutional amendment bill on Tuesday that seeks to hold Lok Sabha and state assembly elections simultaneously. The bill, popularly known as "one nation, one election", will be introduced by Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and is likely to be referred to a joint committee of both houses for wider consultations. The bill also aims to align elections in the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Puducherry, and the NCT of Delhi. The move has been met with mixed reactions, with some supporting the idea of reducing election-related expenses and others expressing concerns about its impact on democratic processes.
Bedi is the fourth woman Lt Governor of the UnionTerritory, a post which was under the additional charge of Lt Governor of Andaman and NicobarIsland for nearly two years.
V Narayanasamy was on Monday sworn in as the tenth chief minister of Puducherry.
The Indian government has scrapped the 'no-detention policy' for classes 5 and 8 in schools it governs. This means that students in these classes who do not pass the year-end exams will be allowed to fail. The decision comes after the amendment to the Right to Education Act (RTE) in 2019, which has already led to 18 states and union territories doing away with the 'no-detention policy' for the two classes. The new policy will be implemented in over 3,000 schools run by the central government, including Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navaodyala Vidyalayas, and Sainik Schools.
The Lieutenant Governor's statement comes days after the Congress MLAs sought Centre's intervention complaining Bedi's style of functioning.
An average of nearly 78 per cent voters exercised their franchise to elect new assemblies in the key southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and the Union territory of Puducherry on Wednesday.
N Rangasamy, who ended the reign of his former party Congress in a stunning electoral debut for his outfit, was sworn in as chief minister of Puducherry for a third term on Monday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his cabinet colleagues Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, chief ministers of Nationalist Democratic Alliance-ruled states and prominent personalities from industry and Bollywood on Thursday attended the grand swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis as Maharashtra Chief Minister in Mumbai.
In an escalation of differences between Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi and the ruling Congress party, the former on Thursday declared as "null and void" the circular issued by Chief Minister V Narayanasamy banning the use of social media for official communication.
EPS has had its way on most things, alliance-wise. A week earlier, he reiterated that he would not re-admit OPS and Sasikala Natarajan back in the party. It was a message not just to detractors in the AIADMK. It was even more so for the BJP leadership in Delhi. Even more important for the AIADMK was their demand for accepting EPS as the chief ministerial candidate of any alliance that the party would form, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
In yet another shocking incident of sexual assault of women, a minor girl was allegedly kidnapped and raped in Puducherry by two persons, including a bus conductor known to her, police said on Thursday.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday issued a warning of significant rainfall in Kerala due to cyclone Fengal, currently positioned as a strong low-pressure area over northern Tamil Nadu.
Former IPS officer Kiran Bedi was on Sunday appointed as Lt Governor of Puducherry.
One more ruling Congress legislator A John Kumar, a close confidant of Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, resigned his MLA post on Tuesday, in yet another jolt to the ruling Congress dispensation ahead of the assembly polls due in few months.
Sowmiya Anbumani is the president of Pasumai Thayagam, an NGO involved in conservation of nature.
Batting first, Australia scored 184 in 49.4 overs with right-arm leg-break bowler Mohamed Enaan taking 4 for 32 in 10 overs.
Narayanasamy had served as the minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office in the second United Progressive Alliance government, after being minister of state, Parliamentary Affairs, in the first UPA government.
'The first and most basic responsibility of any government is to protect its people from external threats and internal harm.' 'Budget 2025-2026 has to focus on meeting this responsibility,' asserts R Jagannathan.
The daily said the DMK president, in his address at the 'Mupperum Vizha' on June 15 in Coimbatore, "stood tall by dedicating the victory to the DMK cadres, workers of parties of the INDIA bloc and all the leaders" of the alliance parties.
Cyclone Fengal expected to make landfall near Puducherry.
Congress leader V Narayanasamy on Monday called on Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi and formally staked claim to form government in the Union Territory.
Considering the competition, engineering aspirants should ideally consider taking a minimum of five to seven entrance exams to maximise their chances of success and broaden their options when it comes to college, says rediffGURU Nayagam PP.
With a 12-year-old boy succumbing to injuries at the Government General hospital on Tuesday night, the toll in the blast in Puducherry on Saturday rose to two.
Interestingly, Soundararajan's resignation comes on a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi held an election rally in Telangana's Jagtial and a roadshow in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore.
A summary of Friday's action in the Ranji Trophy matches across the country.
The outcome was crucial for the AINRC, which has a strength of 15 in the 30-member assembly and is in power with the support of an Independent. Puducherry Chief Minister and AINRC founder N Rangasamy had resigned one of the two seats he won, necessitating the byelection.
Spinner Shams Mulani (5/71) and Himanshu Singh (4/77) wreaked havoc by sharing nine wickets between them as defending champions Mumbai crushed Odisha.
The Supreme Court of India has ruled that religious conversions undertaken solely to avail reservation benefits without genuine belief in the adopted religion amount to "fraud on the Constitution". The court upheld a Madras High Court decision denying a scheduled caste certificate to a woman who converted to Christianity but later claimed to be a Hindu to secure employment benefits.
The Indian junior team had won the first and second Youth ODIs by seven and nine wickets respectively.
The second four-day match will start from October 7 at Chepauk, hence Samit has another week to recover from the knee injury.
Tennis ace Leander Paes on Monday met Puducherry Chief Minister V Vaithilingam for his project to set up a Sports Science-cum-Medicine and Training centre in Puducherry.
Rediff.com Readers Veena Ingle and Gaurav Deshpande share their beach pictures.
Samit Dravid, son of former India captain and head coach Rahul Dravid, was picked in the India Under-19 squad for the multi-format series against Australia.
Already Puducherry owed to the Centre as much as Rs 4040 crore (Rs 40.4 billion) over the years as loan and interest.
Widespread rains lashed parts of Tamil Nadu on Thursday, prompting authorities to declare a holiday for schools in Chennai and many other districts.
Unidentified persons on Monday desecrated a statue of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in Puducherry, leading to tension in the city. The police said an effigy of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa garlanded with footwear was found hanging around the hand of Rajiv Gandhi statue at the Tahattavam junction.
Two bills that lay down the mechanism to hold simultaneous elections were introduced in the Lok Sabha after a fiery debate on Tuesday, with the opposition terming the move 'dictatorial' and Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal asserting that the legislation would not tamper with the powers enjoyed by states.
