At a time when the BJP's stars are at the top on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls, the Puri-Joshimath Sankaracharyas may have kick-started a row whose efforts might be to divide Hindus, not in the name of castes, but on what passes for greater belief, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre that it may consider tweaking the protocols for the burial of bodies of COVID-19 victims in a way that essential tenets of the Zoroastrian belief are also taken care of.
The bench asked the respondents to file their response to the petition which seeks the constitution of a committee to examine 'workable solutions' to ensure that a kirpan permitted to be carried on the flight is 'appropriately designed and crafted' and does not have a blade length beyond 4 cm.
'It would have made (Producer) Ramesh Taurani very happy if I taken two Bombay stars, but the reason why I kept mentally rejecting the regular sort of casting was to discover this excitement, you know, can I crack it?'
With the reporting of Omicron, a highly mutated variant of SARSCoV-2 virus and its classification as a Variant of Concern (VoC) by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Union Ministry of Health revised its 'Guidelines for international arrivals', Mandaviya said in a written reply.
"We have paid a huge price in the second wave. We don't know if there is any household which has not suffered in the second wave, closely or remotely," the bench observed.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has prepared a pool of more than 100 personnel to man additional security counters expected to be handed over to it for easing the ongoing congestion at large airports of Delhi and Mumbai, official sources said Wednesday.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will move the Weapons of Mass Destruction Bill in Rajya Sabha, as per the house's list of business.
The Bhojpuri superstar and Gorakhpur MP was in Noida on Sunday to campaign for BJP's sitting MLA Pankaj Singh, who is again contesting the election as the party's candidate.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has proposed a new common income-tax return (ITR), with greater focus on disclosing income from virtual digital assets or crypto assets and foreign equity and debt instruments held by resident Indians. For non-resident Indians, the draft ITR seeks exhaustive details ranging from nature of business, permanent establishment (PE), business connection, whether the entity has significant economic presence (SEP) in India, along with the number of users in India. The ITR protocol for NRIs could widen the scope of the SEP principle that was introduced in the Finance Bill 2018-19, and the explicitly defined 'business connection' to include provision of download of data or software, if aggregate payments from such transactions exceed a prescribed amount, or if a multinational's interaction is with a prescribed number of users.
Hundred centrally-protected monuments, including UNESCO world heritage sites spread across the country, will be lit up for a week and bear the G20 logo starting December 1 when India will assume the Presidency of influential group, officials said on Wednesday.
'Why is a powerful person called Amit Shah who camped in Manipur for three days not able to maintain law and order in the state?'
Former England captain Kevin Pietersen on Tuesday called for abolishing strict bio-bubbles for players and support staff in international cricket, saying that the set-up meant to contain COVID-19 is 'ruining the best job in the world'.
The government has identified nine key focus areas in the AI national programme, including agriculture, education, Indian languages, smart cities, cybersecurity, transportation, and finance.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged bureaucrats to make national interest the sole basis of their every decision, saying the country has put its faith in them and they must uphold that trust.
Many believe that Saha should have refrained from making his conversations with Dravid public
'The pandemic had a significant impact on child trafficking.' 'With economic hardships, traffickers exploited the situation to target desperate parents and children.'
The panel also recommended giving approval to Bharat Biotech for carrying out a study on interchangeability of its Covaxin and the under-trial adenoviral intranasal vaccine candidate BBV154, but asked the Hyderabad-based firm to remove the word "interchangeability" from the study title and submit a revised protocol for approval.
Beijing's health officials on Monday announced 29 fresh cases taking the total cases to 70 in the city.
Citing complaints against Rajshekhar for 'running an extortion racket and demanding protection money', Delhi vigilance minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on May 13 ordered withdrawing all work assigned to the officer with immediate effect.
An expert panel of India's Central Drug Authority on Tuesday recommended granting permission to Serum Institute of India (SII) for conducting phase 2/3 trials of Covid vaccine Covovax on children aged 2 to 17 years with certain conditions, official sources said.
'It is Dhoni, Fleming and the support staff who decide on cricket.' 'The fans expect CSK to do well, and with Dhoni at the helm, CSK is capable of it.'
The ministry has also been allocated funds for Lok Sabha polls and photo identity cards for voters.
England and Wales Cricket Board's chief executive Tom Harrison on Thursday said a strict bio-bubble will not imposed for the upcoming England vs India Test series despite multiple COVID-19 cases in both teams in the lead up to the contest, starting on August 4.
On June 14, the World Health Organization designated the Lambda variant, previously known by its formal scientific name C.37, as the seventh and newest "variant of interest".
Polling began at 7 am on Saturday for 44 seats in the fourth phase of the West Bengal assembly elections amid tight security, officials said.
The Pune-based Gennova Biopharmaceuticals has submitted phase 2 data of mRNA vaccine and has also completed the recruitment of phase 3 data.
Gowda joins the list of central ministers like Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari and Dharmendra Pradhan, who had tested positive for COVID-19.
August 15, 2023 became for me, an extraordinary Independence Day. I will remember it as the day the country's largest political party -- one that struts around like a colossus and tutors us in apt behaviour -- suddenly looked bankrupt in terms of ideas and had to take out a personal guarantee from the prime minister to underscore its capacity to deliver our future, observes Shyam G Menon.
Pakistan's two flagbearers also chose not to cover their faces, unlike the vast majority of other participants at the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony on Friday.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Delhi has been sent as a special officer to oversee the counting process in Meerut and Bihar's CEO to Varanasi.
The Jharkhand government has asked health officials to remain on alert and arrange isolation beds in all district hospitals after a seven-year-old girl was detected with symptoms similar to monkeypox in Garhwa, an official said on Wednesday.
The Subject Expert Committee on COVID-19 examined the data and deliberated on the EUA application on Monday.
Amid rising coronavirus cases, the Election Commission on Friday flagged instances of star campaigners and political leaders not wearing masks while campaigning, and asked them to follow in all seriousness the guidelines on COVID-appropriate behaviour issued by it last year.
The Union Cabinet held its first physical meeting in over a year on Wednesday. Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held the first meeting with the Council of Ministers virtually after the Union Cabinet reshuffle on July 7.
The NHRC said that it has received several complaints regarding the ongoing farmers' protest.
Infosys chairman and Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani will join a panel set up by the central government, along with eight other members, to advise the government on designing and accelerating adoption of Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), aimed at curbing digital monopolies. The larger idea is to give 'free and fair' choice to consumers to buy products on an online platform, a senior government official said.
Kerala health minister said of the 251 contacts, 54 are high risk contacts out of which 30 are healthcare workers.
The minister said the state government is keeping a close tab on the present situation and it will take the "right decision at the right time" based on the prevailing scenario.
The ministry of home affairs has held multiple meetings, the latest being early this month, to thrash out the issues delaying the implementation of the policy.
