Making it clear that it is "not afraid" of talking, India on Wednesday said it expects Pakistan to take "concrete" and "visible" steps against perpetrators of Mumbai attacks and assure New Delhi that such incidents will not recur.
The Delhi High Court has postponed the hearing of former Union Minister MJ Akbar's appeal challenging the acquittal of journalist Priya Ramani in a criminal defamation case over her accusations of sexual harassment against him. The hearing has been adjourned to September 19 after Ramani's counsel sought an adjournment due to the unavailability of the senior lawyer arguing the case. Akbar had challenged the trial court's February 2021 order acquitting Ramani, arguing that the court erred in considering the case as a complaint for sexual harassment rather than defamation. The trial court had dismissed Akbar's defamation complaint and acquitted Ramani, saying no charges were proved against her.
India has expressed concerns over a rise in violence against Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh and Pakistan, reporting 2,200 cases in Bangladesh and 112 in Pakistan this year. The Indian government has urged both countries to take measures to ensure the safety of minorities and has highlighted the issue at international forums. The government has also stated that it is monitoring the situation closely and has shared its concerns with the respective governments.
The political and ideological differences between the Congress and Shashi Tharoor is no longer a matter of whispers.
After External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, another Union minister from Karnataka has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding a review of the decision of the Cauvery River Authority asking the state to provide Tamil Nadu with 9,000 cusecs of water daily.
While Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan questioned 'the haste shown' in reopening the temples, state Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran said the decision was only in line with the Centre's guidelines in allowing places of worship to permit entry of devotees.
Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, a bitter critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi regime, on Saturday joined Trinamool Congress days ahead of the high-octane West Bengal assembly polls.
Ahead of Sunday's reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers, three Cabinet ministers and a minister of state resigned on Saturday, saying they want to work for the party.
Special prayers were offered at a mobile temple outside Gandhi's 10, Janpath residence and enthusiastic Congress workers cut huge cakes and distributed it to all those gathered.
The TERC, which comprises, among others Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, will also review the state of play in the Doha Round of talks for a multilateral trade agreement under the aegis of World Trade Organization, sources said.
When word got around in the ministry of external affairs that Siddhartha and Malavika were going to New York and would be with SM Krishna, protocol officers went to Delhi airport to see off the couple. Siddhartha chided them for doing so and when the officials said a government vehicle would be picking them up at John F Kennedy airport on arrival, he told them that he would take a taxi to reach the New York Palace hotel where his father-in-law was staying. K P Nayar reports.
Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, on Tuesday addressed senior defence commanders in New Delhi in the wake of a deteriorating security scenario in the South Asian region, especially in neighbouring Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Union government on Friday decided to bear the expenses for bringing home from Britain the body of Indian student Anuj Bidve, who was shot dead by a gunman in Manchester earlier this week. External Affairs Minister S M Krishna also has approved the proposal to meet the return expenses of the travel of the family members of Bidve, sources said.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Friday asked External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to prevail upon the Sri Lankan government to allow unloading of a ship carrying relief materials sent by overseas Tamil diaspora for civilians displaced due to the war in the island nation.
Recent attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh have ignited political debate in West Bengal, with the ruling TMC and opposition BJP utilizing the issue to advance their respective agendas. While the TMC emphasizes communal harmony and calls for international intervention, the BJP criticizes the TMC's inaction and links the situation to its push for the Citizenship Amendment Act. The issue has also brought other opposition parties into the fray, with all sides highlighting the interconnectedness of the region's socio-political fabric.
What some of our leaders were up to over the weekend.
There is also speculation within the BJP that its national president J P Nadda, whose extended tenure will end by this month and who was among the leaders meeting Modi, may also be brought back in the government.
On Jawaharlal Nehru's 61st death anniversary, Utkarsh Mishra recalls how India's first prime minister cultivated a unique role for the newly independent country on the world stage.
It appears the row over the article penned by senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha refuses to die down.
Times have changed, situations have changed, but the basic nature of superpower geo-politics remains the same and so also India's diplomacy -- call it non-alignment, strategic autonomy or neutrality; it all depends on the time scale, notes Rup Narayan Das.
"Is it any surprise that the new Parliament is being consecrated with typically false narratives from WhatsApp University? The BJP-RSS distorians stand exposed yet again with maximum claims, minimum evidence," Congress general secretary communications Ramesh said in his tweet.
We may not be a super military power like the US, but we are the superpower in compassion, love and human values as taught to us by the Bhagavad Gita and the Guru Granth Sahib, says former BJP MP Tarun Vijay.
The Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on Tuesday morning to clear the Bill that is likely to come up in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday
The new candidates fielded from these constituencies by the BJP are: SP Singh Baghel (Agra), Parameshwar Lal Saini (Sambhal), Raj Kumar Chaher (Fatehpur Sikri), Jai Prakash Rawat (Hardoi-SC), Ashok Rawat (Misrikh-SC) and Arun Sagar (Shahjahanpur-SC).
Wearing a traditional Kerala dhoti and white shawl, Modi was received at the temple gate by the authorities with a traditional poornakumbh.
Full list of the rejigged Union Council of Ministers
Allegations also cropped up against the local BJP MP that he did not respond to the SOS calls from the stranded students, a charge denied by the elected representative.
He has served BJP in several capacities, will also be a saviour for the NDA in the Rajya Sabha, where they are still in minority.
Journalist Anita Saluja was one of the last persons to meet Sushma Swaraj on August 6. She spent nearly an hour chatting with the late leader, which is why her sudden death later in the evening came as an unexpected shock for her. She talks to Savera R Someshwar/Rediff.com about her association with Sushma Swaraj over the last few decades.
Doctors decided to discharge her after all her latest biochemical tests were found normal including kidney function.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday said she was undergoing tests at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi for a kidney transplant.
In the third reshuffle since coming to power, Prime Minister Modi raised the strength of his Council of Ministers from 73 to 76.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah handed over urns containing the ashes of the late leader to the party's state unit chiefs.
BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday revamped the party's national executive. Of the 178 members, only eight are women.
Thousands of mourners jostled and some clambered on trees to capture the moment on their phones as former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cortege left the Bharatiya Janata Party's headquarters for Rashtriya Smriti Sthal.
The two leaders had some firm convictions in defence matters and are idolised by their respective people because they salved the scarred collective psyches of their societies.
The ancient Nalanda University re-started its academic session on Monday in a low-key manner at its newly-established campus at Rajgir.
The Indian authorities have to reconfirm that Prabhakaran is dead. It may require seeking assistance from Interpol and also involve the re-opening of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, and more so, the investigations, formally or otherwise, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The Government of India should start a dialogue with the people of Ladakh, but the trouble is they are not willing to listen to our grievances.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi who inducted 19 new ministers into his Cabinet on Tuesday has carried out major changes in the portfolios of his top ministers.
