The 45-day Maha Kumbh 2025, billed as the world's largest gathering of humans, began on Monday with the first major bathing ritual or 'Shahi Snan' at the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati rivers in Prayagraj, India. This edition of the Kumbh is being held after 12 years, with the Uttar Pradesh government expecting over 35 crore devotees to visit. The event is being touted as a 'Digi-Kumbh' with Artificial Intelligence (AI) being used for various aspects, including security and cleanliness. The Maha Kumbh will be held from January 13 to February 26, and is expected to transform the area into the world's largest temporary city. Thirteen Akharas of seers from different sects are participating in the event, attracting attention from those seeking to learn about Indian spiritual beliefs.
'There is simply too much to watch, read and absorb.' 'Just online consumption (news, entertainment, social media) in India was 2.5 hours a day in November 2024.' 'Add TV (just under 4 hours), other media, and the figure is closer to 7 to 8 hours a day for over one-third of Indians,' points out Vanita Kohli Khandekar.
'The value of a human being is being lost. That's my biggest worry.'
The wedding season in Delhi has kicked off, with an estimated 4.5 lakh weddings expected over the next three weeks. Delhi Police are preparing for heavy traffic congestion and have deployed additional personnel to manage the situation. The season is also expected to provide a significant economic boost to the city, with wedding vendors reporting a surge in bookings.
The Congress party alleged that the BJP government has asked social media platform 'X' to remove Home Minister Amit Shah's speech from the Rajya Sabha, which they claim insulted Babasaheb Ambedkar. The party cited an email from 'X' to support their claim. The BJP has not yet commented on the matter, and 'X' has refused to delete the speech, citing freedom of speech. The Congress accused Shah of insulting the architect of the Indian Constitution and demanded his resignation.
Oscar Pistorius' girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp's text messages to a South African rugby player is set to play a key to investigations into her death as banned steroids reportedly found in the Paralympic star's home.
Kevin Pietersen has taken the first step to mend his damaged relations with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) by sending an apology through his agent on Tuesday.
Arjun Menon looks at 2024's top Web series from South India.
'Did anyone else get the feeling that AWIAL -- despite being ostensibly based in the Mumbai of today -- is actually set in a Neverland of Solemnity?' asks Sreehari Nair.
Repeated predictive texting, not radiation, is to be blamed for affecting brains of young people using mobile phones, says a new study.
World number two Rory McIlroy has said he still resents the Olympic Games for forcing him to choose between Britain and Ireland and revealed that Tiger Woods sends him texts in the early hours.
There are tweaks in references to B R Ambedkar's experience about the discrimination.
'Wherever in the world there is political instability, those countries are beset with severe crises today. But India is in a much better position than the rest of the world due to the decisions taken by my government in the national interest,' President Droupadi Murmu said in her address to both Houses of Parliament.
Following a fatal collision between a ferry and a Navy craft off the Mumbai coast, authorities have made life jackets mandatory for all passengers taking boat rides from the Gateway of India. The decision comes after survivors of the Wednesday tragedy claimed the ferry did not have enough life jackets. Some tourists, however, raised concerns about the effectiveness of life jackets if people don't know how to use them properly.
The National Informatics Centre uses AI to automate document analysis and detect fraud in government departments.
'That's the best bit of coaching I had.'
rediffGURU Ravi Mittal, the CEO and founder of QuackQuack and an expert on dating and relationships, can answer your questions.
'Slogans like 'Ek hai toh safe hai' and 'Batenge toh katenge' resonated with voters.'
Arjun Menon looks at the Top 10 South films that made an impact in 2024.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) may extend the deadline to whitelist URLs (Uniform Resource Locators), APKs (Android Package Kit), or OTT (Over The Top) links - through which it intends to curb their misuse -is likely to be extended by 30 days as only over 3,000 registered senders (businesses) have complied, officials indicated. According to Trai officials, over 3,000 registered senders have whitelisted more than 70,000 links, but many more (thousands of others) are yet to comply with the directive as the mandatory norms are set to come into effect from October 1.
The Bodleian library at the University of Oxford and the Vatican libraries are collaborating on a project to bring ancient texts into the digital era, which will make 1.5 million pages available online.
Dune: Prophecy feels like a moneygrab opportunity meant to capitalise on what's already popular, observes Mayur Sanap.
Former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede is trying to show the alleged messages exchanged with film superstar Shah Rukh Khan as certificate of integrity, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the Bombay high court on Monday during a hearing of a petition of the official who is accused of seeking Rs 25 crore as bribe from the actor for not implicating his son Aryan in the Cordelia cruise 'drug bust' case.
Telecom operators have started the process of scrubbing telemarketing messages but will allow their transmission to mobile subscribers till regulator Trai takes a final call, according to industry body COAI. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on March 12 gave three days' time to entities like banks, e-commerce firms and others for complying with telemarketing rules, failing which they were to be barred from sending out commercial communication to customers. The business organisations, however, have sought more time from the telecom regulator to implement the process. In the meantime, Trai has allowed telecom operators to start the process of scrubbing and prepare a database of messages that do not comply with norms.
Across the board, brands use influencers like a Bhuvan Bam or Kusha Kapila as the second or third rung of their strategy. The first rung is always a celebrity that has been created outside the Internet, through mainstream media.
Canada-based Zi Corporation said it has developed a Hindi-based predictive text input for mobile phone users in India.\n\n\n\n
The Rajya Sabha deputy chairman, Harivansh, has dismissed the impeachment notice against Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, calling it an act of impropriety, flawed, and hasty. The notice was signed by 60 opposition members who alleged that Dhankhar was "biased." The deputy chairman ruled that the notice was designed to denigrate constitutional institutions and malign the Vice President, and lacked factual basis. He also criticized the notice as a "misadventure" in "deliberate trivialising and demeaning" the high constitutional office of the Vice President.
Busy daters will use AI tools to save time and avoid awkward conversations. Two in 10 daters turn to AI for unbiased relationship advice, predicts rediffGURU Ravi Mittal, CEO, Quack Quack, an online dating Web site.
Prayagraj is a must-visit place in 2025, but in January and February you can't miss the Maha Kumbh, a spectacular event like no other.
As a leader, he was ambitious, not for himself but for India and its people. His was not the short-term election cycle calculation of individual political gain. His was a practical vision of how to better the lives of his fellow citizens, asserts Ambassador Shivshankar Menon, who served as foreign secretary and national security advisor when Dr Singh was prime minister.
Excessive texting doesn't just damage your fingers but also leaves its effects on your neck.
WTO has released a draft text on the contentious issues of agriculture and industrial tariffs but it appears that not much headway has been made with wide differences persisting among member nations.
Two Guinness World Records -- most people performing 'aarti' simultaneously and the largest display of oil lamps -- were set at the eighth edition of Deepotsav in Ayodhya on Wednesday.
Nathan McSweeney is on the brink of a major debut, set to partner Usman Khawaja as Australia's opening batters in the series against India.
According to a new study messages that end with a period are perceived to be less sincere than messages that do not.
'There are opportunities everywhere; my advice to all would be to not wait and just start.' 'Keep honing your skills you will see fruits of your labour.'
Some residents have already taken this step to relocate, either temporarily or permanently, some to their native places and others to clean-air destinations like Goa and Himachal Pradesh.
The new app sends a text message to your boss letting them know that you are quitting, eliminating the need for 'awkward parting words'.
