'We are very close to become a theocratic State where Hinduism is the official religion of the government.'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, along with several party leaders, embarked on the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' from Kanyakumari on Thursday, marking the beginning of a challenging journey through which the party is seeking to reach out to people and rejuvenate its organisation.
With one year left for assembly elections in Karnataka, the last big bastion of the Congress, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has found an emotive issue to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party as the latter prepares the ground for a fight to grab power. Raghu Krishnan and Nikita Puri report.
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.
What should be made out of the Madras high court order involving non-Hindus' entry into Hindu temples, when many non-Hindus are among the hundreds of thousands that have been worshipping at these temples for generations, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Wife of Siachen braveheart Hanamanthappa Koppad, Mahadevi Ashok Bilebal wants their only daughter to join the Indian army when she grows up.
Angry BJP workers flung chairs and other furniture and raised slogans against party president Amit Shah and even tried to stop the cars of Vijayendra and other leaders as they were leaving.
After topping it for two consecutive years, Gujarat slipped three places on the NITI Aayog's Export Preparedness Index (EPI) for 2022, as Tamil Nadu emerged as the most export-ready state, the central think tank said in its report released on Monday. In a continuing trend, coastal states were found to have the most robust export infrastructure, which officials attributed to the integration of maritime trade into the core of their economies. Maharashtra and Karnataka retained their positions -- second and third, respectively; Haryana was ranked first among landlocked states and fifth overall.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Friday declared 21 universities as "fake" and not empowered to confer any degree, majority of which are in Delhi followed by Uttar Pradesh.
'It is this fear that is behind all that has happened to Rahul Gandhi.'
Defying prohibitory orders, protests were held in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and several other cities. Protesters, mostly students and activists, were detained on a large scale in national capital and other places.
'For short-term gain, the BJP makes extraordinary promises, they take extraordinary decisions, but in the long term it is going to impact both them and the country.'
The fires that have broken out in Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary in Goa are being kept under control through the joint efforts of the Indian Navy, Indian Air Force and the forest department, state minister Vishwajit Rane said.
The grand old party faces the onerous task of rebuilding its moribund organisation, which is struggling to overcome a leadership crisis and regain credibility with the voters.
Should he begin the yatra from Gujarat's Porbandar, the birthplace of the Mahatma, on October 2, and skip campaigning for the five assembly polls?
The Congress's loss in the three states in the North-East, a region it had dominated for decades, shows there is a lot left to do to reclaim its political turf despite the Bharat Jodo Yatra which it had touted as a successful experiment in mass public outreach.
'The central government can stop further destruction... if they have the political will to do so.'
An unofficial and brutal justice system exists parallel to the official one, and it executes many times more of the accused than the official one executes convicts, points out Aakar Patel.
The plea said there is a deliberate attempt to ensure that the proceedings before this court become infructuous and a person who is not qualified and is ineligible, unauthorisedly assumes the office.
They just wanted their angst noticed, and as a symbol of recognition, Jallikattu, restored without the annual ritual of court cases and adjournments, explains N Sathya Moorthy.
Defending the panel's recommendation to retain the law, which is at present under abeyance following directions of the Supreme Court issued in May last year, he said enough safeguards have been proposed to prevent its misuse.
The southwest monsoon is expected to reach Kerala during the next two to three days, marking a sluggish start to the seasonal rains that are the lifeline of India's agri-based economy.
Women politicians bring to politics and policy a sensitivity that most of their male counterparts, at least until a generation back, lacked.
Till the lockdown was imposed in March, more than 200 Zee staffers had spent over 2,500 hours across 28 regions in Punjab, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal to understand the audiences. The effort paid off, again and again.
Four teams have been formed by police as part of its probe into the murder of noted Kannada progressive thinker and scholar M M Kalburgi, who was shot dead at his residence at Dharwad in north Karnataka on Sunday.
Overall, the record of the second term reveals a contradiction between the image and the reality. The image, especially on media and social media, is one of the man at the height of his power, and unstoppable. The reality on governance is someone who has found it difficult to get things implemented and unsure of what to do next, points out Aakar Patel.
A total of 50 people, including 11 from Hyderabad, died in rain-related incidents in the state. Chief Minister K Chandrasekar Rao urged the Centre to release Rs 1,350 crore immediately towards relief work and wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this connection.
He accused the BJP of creating friction between communities and 'igniting' fire and ramped up his attack on the PM.
In Delhi, Safdarjung, the base station for the national capital, recorded 44.2 degrees Celsius, while Mungeshpur observatory in northwest Delhi, reported 47.3 degrees Celsius.
Despite the national capital recording its best air quality on Diwali day in eight years, pollution levels may rise due to low night temperatures and sporadic burning of firecrackers though there is a ban on their manufacture, storage, sale and use within the city.
Cyclone Biparjoy has left a trail of destruction in Gujarat's Kutch and Saurashtra regions as some 1,000 villages are still without power with hundreds of electric poles getting damaged, while several coastal villages were flooded due to heavy rains and incoming seawater, officials said on Friday, a day after the storm made landfall.
Domestically, Indians are exploring popular beach destinations, the hills of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and the North-Eastern region as well.
The BJP chief said the ED and the CBI have taken prompt action in the Nirav Modi case.
VRL investors have punished the stock for his move, but Sankeshwar is defiant.
Nearly 33 per cent of the 424 parents who took part in a survey reported that their children were approached by strangers via online platforms soliciting friendships, seeking personal and family details and broaching up sexual advice.
It is not much of an issue just now, but it could become one if the idea of caste census captures socio-political imagination, going beyond electoral tags and identities, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Modiji has a vision for the country, not just to fight the elections but about achieving certain goals for the country.' 'Congress does not even have a vision for 25 days.'
What is most troubling is that not a single party that is part of INDIA has talked about any kind of reform and economic sense, argues R Jagannathan.
Their number is dwindling, but single-screens believe they have a place in the entertainment space
In a coincidence of sorts, Cyberababd police chief V C Sajjanar is at the helm when four accused in the rape and murder of a woman vet were killed on Friday in an alleged encounter, much like he was in Warangal when three men charged with throwing acid on two girls were shot dead by the police.
