The productivity of the Budget session was abysmal. The Lok Sabha functioned for 33% of its scheduled time (46 hours); the Rajya Sabha 24% (32 hours).
The government on Thursday listed bills on personal data protection, to amend forest conservation laws and on the contentious ordinance on Delhi services for the monsoon session of Parliament beginning next week.
A local court in Ajmer has issued notices to the dargah committee, the Ministry of Minority Affairs, and the Archaeological Survey of India on a plea seeking to declare the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti a temple. The petition, filed in September, has sparked a heated debate, with politicians and community leaders weighing in on the potentially volatile issue. The dargah committee has declined to comment, but the Anjuman Syed Zadgan, a body representing the caretakers of the dargah, described the petition as a deliberate attempt to fracture society along communal lines. The petition comes just days after four people were killed in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, following a local court ordering survey of a Mughal-era shrine. The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which fixed August 15, 1947, as the cut-off date for status quo on the character of religious places, is at the centre of much of the debate. Several politicians, including Union minister Giriraj Singh and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, have weighed in on the issue. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has called the civil court's decision to entertain the petition unwarranted and has asked the Supreme Court to immediately intervene.
The ASI team, comprising more than a dozen members, reached the complex in the morning.
As many as 3,691 centrally-protected monuments and archaeological sites maintained by the ASI were shut from March 17 in view of the coronavirus crisis.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) team surveyed the northern wall, the dome and basements of the Gyanvapi complex here on Tuesday, the fourth day of the court-mandated exercise to determine if the mosque was built over a temple.
'Today, let us reaffirm our commitment to strive to realise Gandhiji's dreams. His watchwords, truth and nonviolence, will continue to remain relevant for the whole world. He also taught us that rights and duties are but the two sides of the coin - indeed, the true source of rights is duty. Today we recall his lessons in compassion too - compassion not only for our human neighbours but also for our other neighbours, namely, flora and fauna, rivers and mountains.'
Embracing the past and the present, Mexico City pulsates with warmth and vibrancy, discovers Payal Singh Mohanka.
Billionaire Gautam Adani on Tuesday did an hour-long session of yoga exercises in the open air as he led corporate India to join the International Day of Yoga celebrations. Several public and private sector companies held yoga sessions at their offices to promote the adoption of exercise in daily routines to stay fit and healthy. Adani, chairman of logistics-to-energy conglomerate Adani Group, and his wife Priti, who heads the Adani Foundation, "participated with more than 1,000 members of the Adani Parivaar team to celebrate health, mindfulness and meditation," the group said in a statement. The session was held at a football ground at Adani Shantigram in Ahmedabad. Several other business leaders tweeted pictures of their yoga sessions.
The ASI also said the fundamental right of the applicant cannot be availed in violation of the existing status of the land.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi has said that 31 bills will be taken up in the monsoon session. Among these include the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023.
Lal was the director general of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and had found temple-like pillars during excavation at the Ayodhya site where the Ram temple is now being built. Officials said that he was one of the youngest directors general of ASI and served from 1968 to 1972.
He hinted that the same hue and cry is not made about 1984 riots not being in textbooks.
The police had said there are videos where Sidhu can be allegedly seen to be present at the site of the incident.
Undeterred by last year's failure, India is having a second try at securing World Heritage Site from the UNESCO for the picturesque Majuli Island in Assam, which is also an important seat of Vaishnava culture.
Police sought extension of his custodial interrogation, saying it was required for further investigation and to identify other accused persons in the case.
Amid chants of Buddhist scriptures, Nepal PM K P Sharma Oli on Monday offered prayers at an ancient temple in Kathmandu to mark the reconstruction of five heritage sites demolished by last year's deadly earthquake.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath appeared to make a pitch in the assembly for a temple where a mosque stands now in Mathura, saying that Krishna Kanhaiya wouldn't have it any other way.
The Centre has also listed 24 bills, including the Cantonment Bill, the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill.
The Allahabad high court reserved its judgment on Friday in a petition challenging the maintainability of a suit seeking 'restoration' of a temple at the site of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi.
It was the first time in seven years Sri Lanka had imposed the measure. The country was under a state of emergency for nearly three decades when the government fought Tamil rebels Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the civil war that ended in 2009.
'The Megalithic period had a significant feature. Their pottery uses black and red clay.' 'Another identifying feature is that all Megalithic burial sites are oriented towards the east.'
Aggrieved by the direction, Dhar city's head cleric Waqar Sadiq said they (Kamal Maula Mosque management committee) will challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court.
The meeting had resumed for a day on Sunday, after being suspended a day earlier due to a failed coup bid in Turkey which claimed over 260 lives.
The Supreme Court ordered on Monday that no invasive work would be undertaken by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to determine if the Gyanvapi mosque located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi was built upon a temple and agreed to hear a plea moved by the mosque committee during the day.
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear an appeal of the Gyanvapi management committee against an Allahabad High Court order which held that lawsuits for "restoration" of a temple where the mosque stands in Varanasi are maintainable.
The past appears to have interrupted the future of the New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS). With two protected heritage buildings sitting in the way of the plan to redevelop the railway station, officials in the know say the project may end up back on the drawing board since the National Monuments Authority (NMA), the body tasked with the protection and preservation of monuments and sites, is yet to give its approval. "A nod from NMA is awaited before going into the next phase of bids for the redevelopment of the New Delhi Railway Station," a senior official of the Ministry of Railways told Business Standard. While the Railways ministry is hopeful of getting approvals from the NMA before the end of the current financial year, there is no clarity on this yet.
A 30-member Archaeological Survey of India team halted a survey here of the Gyanvapi mosque -- just hours after beginning the exercise Monday morning -- following a Supreme Court order.
A bench of Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar asked the petitioner to approach the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and make a representation before it.
The objections against the suit were raised by the management committee of the mosque and the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board.
In a statement Thursday, the Met said it will transfer the 15 sculptures for return to the government of India. The works range in date from the 1st century BCE to the 11th century CE, and include terracotta, copper and stone.
After an all-party meeting in New Delhi, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi also said that some of these 32 bills have already been discussed by standing committees of Parliament.
No one can make the audience laugh like Govinda, raves Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
The writ petition was filed Saturday in the registry of the Lucknow bench of the high court by Rajneesh Singh, who is the media in-charge of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Ayodhya unit.
Over 5,000 people were witnessing an open-air show organised to mark the Rash Mela festival when three crude bombs exploded on the premises of Kantaji Temple in northwestern Dinajpur.
'Rather than visiting famous monuments, travellers now prefer "experiential activities" such as biking, trekking/hiking, camping, river rafting, yachting, parasailing and zip lining; safaris and jungle adventures; and wellness holidays to rejuvenate themselves.'
Which are India's most impressive lakes? Choose and journey there now!
The high court further asked the Delhi Development Authority to state its stand on a batch of petitions challenging the action and also seeking a bar on the demolition till a fresh "demarcation report" is prepared.
A Hindu religious congregation at a International Society for Krishna Consciousness temple in Bangladesh was attacked by unidentified gunmen who hurled bombs and fired gunshots at the worshippers, injuring two people in the second such incident in the same area in less than a week.
