Sushma Swaraj arrived in Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Wednesday night on her first official visit abroad after becoming External Affairs Minister during which she will hold talks with the top leadership on key bilateral issues including land boundary agreement, proposed Teesta river pact and illegal immigration.
After a few exciting days in Nepal, a land of alluring stupas, Rediff.com's Rajesh Karkera, on a tri-nation drive, heads east via India into mysterious Bhutan.
They were part of a five-member team of climbers from West Bengal.
The Gujarat government, which sought a probe into the role of activist Teesta Setalvad's NGO, is now targeting her main funding source, the US-based NGO, Ford Foundation.
The Gulberg massacre case verdict on Friday sparked a war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, with both the parties accusing each other of trying to turn the issue into a tool for their own political advantage.
It's something to remember as New Delhi welcomes Sheikh Hasina, says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
Kanwaljit Deol, joint commissioner, will be part of the committee headed by Registrar General B M Gupta to probe the veracity of the charges and counter-charges made by Zahira Sheikh and Teesta Setalvad.
The lawyer defending the Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team, which gave a clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 post-Godhra riots case on the complaint by Zakia Jafri, Friday said that "her complaint contains nothing but all irrelevant things".
The lawyer of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team, which has given a clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in 2002 post-Godhra riots case after investigating complaint filed by Zakia Jafri, on Thursday said that "Modi has never said that go and kill people".
Civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the appointment of Justice (retired) R A Mehta as Gujarat Lokayukta by Governor Kamla Beniwal, saying the verdict reflects that nobody is above the law.
Social activist Teesta Setalvad on Wednesday welcomed the court's ruling in the 2002 Naroda Patiya violence case, which convicted 32 people including Bharatiya Janata Party MLA and former minister Maya Kodnani of murder and conspiracy.
An Ahmedabad court on Monday rejected Zakia Jafri's demand for access to preliminary report filed by A K Malhotra of Special Investigation Team in the Supreme Court during the inquiry into her complaint against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others with regard to 2002 riots.
Former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa's, at the launch of his new political party, the Karnataka Janata Party had claimed that it was secular in nature. However, social activist Teesta Setalvad, who is in Karnataka, has said that Yeddyurappa needs to do a lot more to prove that he is secular by nature.
In a bid to sort out some thorny issues between India and Bangladesh -- including the delay in implementation of the land boundary agreement, signing of a deal to share water of the Teesta river, the Tipaimukh barrage project etc -- two advisers to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina are currently visiting New Delhi.
Like millions of people across the world, the year 2020 had dealt me irreplaceable losses and the lowest of blows. Like I have always done at such junctures, I had sought the refuge of the mountains. I wanted to end the year on a high, to show the finger to life, says Sumit Bhattacharya after a memorable journey to North Sikkim.
Agreements on Teesta River water sharing, land boundaries and extradition remain in limbo in spite of friendly relations between India and Bangladesh, says Syed Tashfin Chowdhury
Zakia, the wife of Ehsan Jafri, an ex-MP who was killed in one of the worst incidents during the riots, has challenged the Gujarat high court's October 5, 2017, order rejecting her plea against the SIT's decision.
The Special Investigation Team on Monday opposed sharing with activists its final report on the probe into allegations of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's involvement in 2002 riots. The court in Ahmedabad reserved till Wednesday its order on their plea seeking access to the crucial document.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned the Gujarat government for initiating a probe against social activist Teesta Setalvad for her alleged role in a case of illegal exhumation of the bodies of the 2002 riot victims, saying it is a "spurious" case to victimise her. "This is a hundred percent spurious case to victimise the petitioner (Setalvad)," said a bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai.
A magisterial court on Thursday issued notices to the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team after social activists Teesta Setalvad and Mukul Sinha filed two separate applications seeking the copies of the SIT report filed in the Zakia Jaffery case.The court of metropolitan magistrate M S Bhatt issued notices to the SIT and posted the hearing for February 13. The SIT on Wednesday filed a closure report in the sealed cover on the complaint of Jaffery.
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held nearly an hour-long meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday and are understood to have discussed various issues ranging from the Teesta water treaty to FDI in retail.
With Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar reportedly talking about the United Progressive Alliance's "low credibility due to scams", the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said the ruling coalition partners have started feeling they are on a sinking ship and may quit the alliance.
Bangladesh's main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Thursday called Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Dhaka visit largely "a failure" due to "weak diplomacy" of the Hasina government, while the mainstream media said the deferring of the Teesta water-sharing pact dealt a "severe blow" to bilateral ties.
The home ministry also ordered a probe by the Computer Emergency Response Team-India to ascertain whether there was hacking of government software systems as there have been several instances where licences of NGOs under scrutiny were renewed automatically.
The UNICEF said an estimated 2.4 million children have been affected by the recent floods in the country.
The South Asian nations could script a new history of cooperation and prosperity that could serve as an example for other nations, notes Dr Rahul Mishra.
UPA government has decided to take full responsibility for the Rs 4,874 crore East-West Metro Corridor project.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday left on a two-day visit to Bangladesh that is expected to put the bumpy bilateral ties in a new trajectory through signing of deals in a range of sectors including extradition of sentenced persons, connectivity, power, exchange of enclaves and border management.
A sessions court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to social activist Teesta Setalvad in connection with a case pertaining to filing false affidavits in the name of post-Godhra riot victims.
Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday alleged that former Gujarat DGP R B Sreekumar levelled charges of fake encounters against the Narendra Modi's government as a quid pro quo for the UPA dispensation giving him a clean chit in ISRO spy case "fabricated" by him.
The music composer is the state's first ever brand ambassador!
Tanvir Jaffrey, the son of former member of Parliament Ehsaan Jaffrey, who was killed in the post-Godhra riots in 2002, has lodged a complaint against the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's Praveen Togadia.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday arrived in Dhaka to a red carpet welcome on his maiden visit which is expected to put ties with Bangladesh in a new trajectory, as the two sides will firm up a number of pacts to boost cooperation besides ratifying the long-pending Land Boundary Agreement.
Modi will also push for involvement of Indian companies in setting up of ports in that country.
'Since 2002, we have not received any justice and we are still fighting for it.'
"We will not go into the larger debate as to what is Hindutva or what is its meaning. We will not re-consider the 1995 judgment and also not examine Hindutva or religion at this stage," a seven-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur said.
The Gujarat government on Friday stated that the Supreme Court did not have the power to stay the ongoing trial in the post-Godhra communal riots case and that the Special Investigation Team instituted by it cannot summon Chief Minister Narendra Modi and other accused in the murder of ex-Congress MP Ehsan Jafri during the riots.
The Special Investigation Team, probing some of the 2002 riot cases in Gujarat, has questioned three lawyers in connection with a complaint filed against them by some victims, SIT sources said on Monday.
The victims of the 2002 post-Godhra violence criticised Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday, for not appearing before the Special Investigation Team in Ahmedabad in connection with a riots case and asked him to come clean.
Blackmail on one side and bullying on the other doesn't make for a constructive partnership, says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.