India's Deepavali (Diwali), the festival of light, has been inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity during a meeting held at the Red Fort in Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked the Congress to tell the nation who prevented India's military response after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks linked to Pakistan, and accused the party of weakening the fight against terrorism when in power.
The prime minister was addressing the flagging-off ceremony of the Vande Bharat Express through video conferencing.
Attempts by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Governor C V Ananda Bose to pacify her did not bear fruit, as the chief minister chose to seat on a chair along with the audience.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asserted that the Union government is making record investment for railway infrastructure modernisation.
"Not only that, Pakistan is also the enemy of poor's bread and butter. What happened on April 22 in Pahalgam is an example of that. Pakistan attacked 'insaniyat' and Kashmiriyat in Pahalgam.
Officials said the government is keen to conform to the convention of the Union Budget for 2026-2027 being presented on February 1 despite it falling on a Sunday in 2026.
"We're deeply grateful for the swift coordination and support from the BCCI, local authorities, and the police who made this possible," the RCB statement added.
Experts say Indian Railways must grow its share in the freight market to remain financially sustainable.
Videos of Zinta asking spectators to vacate the stadium in an orderly manner also started doing rounds of the social media.
India needs to be technologically and militarily prepared to defend itself from both Pakistan and China, alerts Ramesh Menon.
Modi, who addressed a public meeting in Hyderabad after laying foundation stone and inaugurating several development projects, also said the lack of cooperation from the state government is leading to delay in the completion of several central projects in Telangana.
After a London-bound Air India aircraft crashed shortly after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport on Thursday, the spotlight is back on India's history with aviation disasters.
The incident occurred between Saradhna and Bangad stations of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor on the Phulera-Ahmedabad stretch.
Trains of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS), to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, will be known as 'Namo Bharat', Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri announced on Thursday.
Within a couple of hours after performing the last rites of his mother Hiraben, who died at 99 in a hospital at Ahmedabad, Modi inaugurated the Vande Bharat Express connecting Howrah and New Jalpaiguri, and other development projects in Kolkata via video link from Raj Bhavan in Ahmedabad.
'We carry 6.5 billion passengers every year. We have crossed seven billion this year, and are targeting 10 billion by 2030.'
Houses in low lying areas of Kerala were flooded in the heavy rains, while the accompanying strong winds uprooted trees, damaged homes and caused power disruptions, throwing normal way of life into disarray across the state.
"Earlier, governments were busy in vote bank appeasement but we are busy satisfying people," the prime minister said.
Recovering from an order dry-up and change in market conditions, Gurgaon-based Rites is looking to bid aggressively in global export and consultancy tenders and run with a volume-led approach, its chairman and managing director (CMD) Rahul Mithal said. Rites is a railway consultancy public sector undertaking (PSU) under the aegis of the Ministry of Railways. "We started the year with two huge challenges - the export order book, where no new orders had happened, and the opening up of Indian Railways quality assurance works to four players.
India's last three major commercial aviation accidents --Patna (2000), Mangaluru (2010), and Kozhikode (2020) -- could offer critical safety lessons for the ongoing investigation.
Air India is operating the San Francisco sector after 50 days as India had imposed restrictions due to COVID-19 spread.
Nehru had requested Tagore to compose a national anthem. But the poet died soon after and with that died the idea of a new song from Tagore that could be India's national anthem. It is remarkable that Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose agreed on Bharoto Bhaagyo Bidhaataa as India's national anthem.
On Sunday, chants of Bharat Mata Ki Jai and Vande Mataram rang around the stadium as the players made their way onto the field.
A lady in a white salwar suit leads the chants of people holding both Indian and US flags.
As the train which started from Howrah slowed down as a mark of caution running across freshly repaired tracks, a few muttered 'Jagannath, Jagannath', the name of the presiding deity of Puri, the destination of the train, but most were too stunned to speak.
The SOP said priority will be given to compelling cases of in distress, including migrant workers and labourers who have been laid off, short term visa holders faced with expiry of visas, persons with medical emergency/ pregnant women and elderly persons or those required to return to India due to death of family member, and students.
A large number of Indian community and diaspora representatives gathered outside the Indian High Commission in London to counter a Pakistani demonstration protesting against what they called "Indian propaganda" in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack. The pro-Indian demonstrators outnumbered the smaller group of British Pakistanis and chanted slogans like "Bharat Mata ki Jai" and "Vande Mataram". The Metropolitan Police was present to keep the groups separate as they exchanged insults. Later, a candlelight vigil was held at Piccadilly Circus by the British Indian groups to commemorate the victims of the April 22 terror attack. Similar protests and vigils have been organized by Indian diaspora groups across the UK to condemn Pakistan's alleged support for terror outfits.
Purnam Kumar Shaw, a BSF jawan who was held captive in Pakistan for nearly three weeks, returned to his home in West Bengal's Hooghly district on Friday evening. Shaw was greeted by his family and well-wishers at Howrah station and was escorted to his hometown Rishra, where he was welcomed by people and a band playing patriotic tunes. Shaw had been taken into custody by Pakistan Rangers on April 23, after he inadvertently crossed the international border in Punjab's Ferozepur district.
Movie star-Minister Suresh Gopi visited Thane over the weekend to campaign for the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra.
The Bharatiya Janata Party in Kerala is aiming to use the PM's visit as a springboard for its outreach campaign aimed at bringing youth and minorities into its fold.
'If you align your ambition with India's rise, the peak of your careers will unfold alongside the peak of India's power.'
Key infrastructure sectors -- from railways to power, and from coal to petroleum -- will not only be part of the achievements but promises too, as the BJP fights to get a third term at the Centre.
Launching its biggest ever repatriation exercise, India on Thursday airlifted 363 of its citizens, including nine infants, stranded in the United Arab Emirates due to the international travel lockdown over the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday came down heavily on opposition leaders, asserting that he will not "spare anyone involved in corruption" while pledging "to take every scamster to task".
Unfortunately, in India, infrastructure projects are lost in a miasma of political and personal vanity, observes Shyam G Menon.
Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) is India's largest engineering and manufacturing enterprise, operating across energy, industry, and infrastructure sectors. The investment path for the stock is based on a large order backlog, continued strong order inflows, and rising power demand, which should push demand for BHEL's equipment and services. BHEL has historically held over 70 per cent market share in power projects.
But special international flights have been operating under the Vande Bharat Mission since May and under the bilateral 'air bubble' arrangements with selected countries since July.
The MoCA said on Twitter on Wednesday that it 'has designated all the airlines operating under Vande Bharat Mission & air transport bubble arrangements as designated agencies for this purpose'. 'Passengers may book tickets directly with the airlines concerned. They need not apply/register with the Ministry of Civil Aviation,' it added.
A G20 dinner invitation from President Droupadi Murmu describing her position as 'President of Bharat' triggered massive debate on Tuesday, with the opposition alleging that the government is planning to drop India and stay with just Bharat as the country's name.
