Awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Shri, Pandit Jasraj also popularised semi-classical music like 'haveli sangeet' and reached out to devotees with his 'bhajans', a particular favourite for his fans being "Om Namo Bhagavate" in praise of Lord Krishna.
The mastermind of Pakistan's deadly attack on Bacha Khan University on Friday threatened to target more educational institutions, which he said were "nurseries that produced apostates".
The minister ruled out the possibility of any legal action against the groups saying 'how can you prosecute a group with whom the state itself has been involved with?'.
Various state governments had announced free transportation and accommodation, including West Bengal that ran special metro service for candidates.
It is a tribute to India's democracy, however flawed, that the very same MPs who had harangued her intermittently from Opposition benches now surged towards her, anxiety writ large on their faces. One offered her some homoeopathic tablets, another advised her to stay seated, another grasped her hand wishing her good health... the crowd parted as Prime Minister Narendra Modi strode up to congratulate her. But it was mostly well-wishers from the Opposition and the NDA that kept the finance minister cocooned with good wishes until it was time to leave, reports Aditi Phadnis.
Khan's detention was first reported by BBC Urdu, which said the officer had been serving in the Regulation Directorate of the General Headquarters for two years and went missing one-and-a-half months ago.
Theatre director Saif Hyder Hassan talks about his new play Ek Mulaqat.
Responding to a series of questions on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir during Question Hour, Shah also asserted that not a single person has died in police firing after August 5 when the special status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir was scrapped.
Reliable sources claim that certain top figures within one (of the three rival) factions of the Deobandi mass organisation Jamiat ul-Ulema-e Hind are the real brains behind the ongoing hate campaign directed against Vastanvi, and that they are using Vastanvi's alleged pro-Modi remarks and certain other accusations now being leveled against him to oust him, says Yogi Sikand
Pakistani Canadian Tahawwur Hussain Rana, co-accused in the Mumbai terror attack case, was arraigned in Chicago on Thursday for the trial that is set to begin on May 16. Rana's attorney Patrick Blegen told judge Leinenweber that he required time to translate about a 1000 pages of Urdu text in preparation for the trial set for May 16
It reinforces the Muslim stereotype, says Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
'Your jokes, your love for Hindi Films, your infectious laughter will always remind me of what a huge responsibility you have taken on at such a tender age...'
Beximco Group imports Nayek's Peace mobile.
Aijaz Ilmi is chairman of the Executive Board of Siyasat Jadid, a popular Urdu newspaper brought out from Kanpur and Lucknow. He is a senior political analyst with the television channel News X, and writes on Muslim, national and international issues in various newspapers. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand, he reflects on the present Indian Muslim leadership.
Samraz, the wife of Mumbai attacks co-accused Tahawwur Rana, said on Tuesday that India was her second home and there was no reason her husband would have planned to attack that country.
There have been uncorroborated rumours since Saturday afternoon, claiming that Ilyas Kashmiri, the head of the 313 Brigade, an affiliate of the Al Qaeda, was killed in a drone strike by the United States in South Waziristan on Friday night.
Now, let's wait for the movie, says Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
Indrani exclaimed excitedly, her face lighting up like a little girl's: "I know him soo0o well." Sanjeev Khanna, Accused No 2, jokingly suggested to Badami: "Influencing the witness!" Badami retorted good humouredly: "She can't influence witnesses. She can only influence you and Peter."
Maulana Gulam Mohammad Vastanvi, who stirred a controversy with his remarks on Gujarat, on Thursday said he has not resigned as the vice chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband. "I have not yet resigned. A meeting of the Majlis-e-Soora (governing council) will be held on February 23, which scholars from all over the country will attend. I will present my case and they will decide on whether I should continue or not," said Vastanvi.
The politicisation of ethnic sentiments in the state has coincided with the ascent of the BJP and increased activities of far right Hindu outfits, which organised rallies and other events on religious occasions such as Ram Navami a festival not very popular in West Bengal- unlike states in north India.
'By annoying the Arabs and cozying up to Iran, Pakistan may end up losing Arab economic support, annoying the Americans and increase Shia-Sunni tensions domestically,' Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) points out.
Eminent Malayalam litterateur O N V Kurup and noted Urdu poet Akhlaq Khan Shahryar have been chosen for the Jnanpith Award for the year 2007 and 2008 respectively for their contribution to literature.
Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh seems determined to stir the communal cauldron with unabated controversial statements. On Monday at the book release function of senior Urdu journalist and writer Aziz Burney's 26/11 an RSS conspiracy in Mumbai, Singh said that slain Anti Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare was a like a 'God to Indian Muslims'.
The original Mrs Gandhi -- Indira -- had delivered a second successive election victory for the Congress in 1971 but before that she had to win a war. The reigning Mrs Gandhi -- Sonia -- has also led the Congress to consecutive poll successes (in 2004 and 2009) but she hasn't had to go so far as to fight an external war, though there have been many domestic battles, writes Kidwai, whose second book on Sonia Gandhi, 24 Akbar Road, is soon to be released by Hachette Books
If the finance minister's tax proposals have stimulated demand at all, it's for CAs, notes Kanika Datta.
The information and broadcasting ministry has decided to lodge FIRs against the publications for producing "misleading" circulation data to fraudulently obtain its advertisements.
The department of information technology, Government of India will submit its proposal by next month to The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers, a non-profit organisation responsible for managing the internet's domain name system, including IP address space assignments based in California, USA.
'Were they two yaars of yesteryears brought together again by fate?' 'Were they two crafty spies hoodwinking each other?' wonders B S Prakash.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also issued notice to the Centre's Land and Development Office on the plea of the AJL, publisher of the National Herald.
Scattered incidents of violence, including torching of buses and clashes, occurred and 1,600 people were arrested during the 12-hour bandh.
Maharashtra state board results for class 12 will be declared at 1pm today.
Hundreds of students, including foreigners are being trained in militant camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to wage 'jihad' against India, but Pakistan denied the report by the BBC as "baseless".
Hundreds of university students, including foreigners, are being trained in militant camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to wage 'jihad' against India, BBC Urdu Service has reported.After a lull, several militant outfits have increased their activities in and around Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK, and pro-Jihad slogans can be seen on the walls of the city, said the report.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha on Tuesday rejected the apology tendered by Aziz Burney, the editor of an Urdu newspaper, for hinting in a book that the organisation was behind the 26/11 conspiracy and said that the criminal case against him would not be withdrawn.
Journalists from Uttar Pradesh have urged Chief Minister Mayawati to take stringent action and arrest the Shahi Imam of the Delhi's Jama Masjid, Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari, for assaulting a scribe at a press conference convened by him on Thursday in Lucknow.
Shahi Imam of the Delhi Jama Masjid, Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari, on Thursday lost his cool when a journalist questioned him regarding the Ayodhya verdict during a press conference, following which he was thrashed by supporters of the cleric.
Sarfraz's on-field taunt in Urdu was caught by stump microphones but he denied that they were aimed at South Africa all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo or anyone else in an apology he issued on Thursday.
The Bombay high court restrained the Maharashtra government and the police from taking any coercive steps against the editor of the Urdu daily.
In the wake of the spot-fixing scandal involving three Pakistan cricketers, the government has decided to investigate the assets of current and former players who have represented the country over the last five years.
