Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday retraced the 1893 train journey between Pentrich and Pietermaritzburg of Mahatma Gandhi.
According to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, the ice lingam inside the cave has fully formed this year. There had been apprehensions that the ice lingam may not take form completely owing to global warming and shifting of glaciers.
According to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), on March 12, 61,652 pilgrims had darshan, after waiting for nearly five hours, compared to 57,352 on March 11, after they waited for nearly eight hours. On February 12, about 61,860 pilgrims had darshan.
The busy administrative schedule is being cited as the reason for holding of polls in October.
A total of 350 flights from 15 embarkation points will carry the pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, with the first being from Lucknow on November 11. Flights from Nagpur (to Jeddah-170 pilgrims), Kolkata (to Madinah-423 pilgrims), and Srinagar (to Jeddah-215 pilgrims) will also arrive on the first day.
Dubey was arrested outside the Mahakal temple at Ujjan in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday morning.
Can you ever imagine seeing Shrinathji of Nathdwara in Rajasthan weaved to come alive in Jamdani? This sari is to mark the 2021 Handloom Day Special on August 7, masterfully crafted by acclaimed weaver, Lakshmana Rao Tammisetty from Andhra Pradesh, says Ranjani Govind.
Opposition Congress termed the government's decision as 'unilateral' and said it was against the interest of a majority of Ayyappa devotees in and outside the state.
Two pilgrims died of cardiac arrest en route to the 3,880 m high holy cave shrine of Amarnath even as one lakh pilgrims paid obeisance at the shrine, officials said in Srinagar on Friday.
Catch up on all the big news of the week gone by, in images.
'Is this man crazy?' the postmaster asked. 'Yes, who? Ali, na? Yes, saheb. Five years have passed and, no matter the weather, he comes to collect a letter. It's very rare for him to receive a letter,' the clerk replied.
The pilgrimage to Kedarnath was suspended on Wednesday for three days in view of the weather department's warning of heavy rains in the area and frequent blockage of roads to the Himalayan shrine following intermittent showers in the valley over the past few days.
It was complained that the special financial assistance to the Haj pilgrims from the tax payers' money was discriminatory as no such similar facilities were being extended to Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs and other communities.
This year's yatra will begin on a happy note as the ice lingam has already started forming naturally inside the cave, nearly 13000 ft above sea level.
Cinemas, stadiums, town squares and other public gathering places are devoid of people as the coronavirus spreads to at least 118 countries around the world. As of Thursday, the Johns Hopkins University tracker says 1,26,258 people have contracted the disease and 4,638 have died across the globe. The vast majority of the victims have been in China but the country said on Thursday that it had only 15 new cases. The outbreak also claimed its most high-profile victim so far when Hollywood star Tom Hanks announced he and his wife, Rita Wilson, had tested positive. The couple, who are in Australia where Hanks is making a film about Elvis, said they had felt "a bit tired, like we had colds" before being "found to be positive" Take a look.
The C-17 Globemaster can airlift around 230 passengers in one go and takes less time to fly between different places.
Whether the third wave will ravage us depends on the pace of vaccinations, careful and calibrated opening up of establishments, and a strategy to contain the spread in specific states or pockets.
Nearly 125 people from Maharashtra and Telangana are stranded in Nepal after a high-magnitude earthquake struck the Himalayan nation.
'I know that they are a deadly terrorist group and that killing is their hobby. But I have no fear.'
Both India and Nepal claim Kalapani as an integral part of their territory -- India as part of Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district and Nepal as part of Dharchula district.
Here's a look at some deadly hajj-related incidents in the recent past.
'If the series of instances in the recent past are taken into account -- guns falling silent on the border; vastly reduced cross-border infiltration into J&K; positive approach to meeting Indian demands on the Kartarpur Sahib pilgrimage; resumption of overflight for Indian aircraft; visible disinterest in rhetoric and so on -- Commander Jadhav may see better days in a conceivable future,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The encounter began in the afternoon at a village in Kulgam as Jammu and Kashmir Police, along with the Central Reserve Police Force and the army, were carrying out operations to clear a national highway ahead of the Amarnath Yatra, beginning June 28, a senior police official said.
With the MeT department warning of heavy showers at various places in Uttarakhand on Friday and major rivers in spate, the Chardham yatra has been suspended even as the Centre decided to provide two Mi-17 helicopters to the state to deal with any emergency.
The previous state government had spent around Rs 1,300 crore for the Maha Kumbh, which was held in 2013.
In wake of the last year's attack, special gadgets and new and better technology have been used to further strengthen the security.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said there was no increased threat perception to this year's Amarnath yatra compared to previous years and fears of attack as reported in the media were "gross exaggeration".
Congress is the only other horse in the race for national power, never mind how distant. Narendra Modi and Amit Shah know better than to take the Congress lightly, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Here's our pick from CES 2014, which, we feel, you should be excited about.
The first batch of over 12,000 yatris (pilgrims) left for the cave shrine located at 14,500 feet above the sea level from the two base camps.
Asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was concerned about Jammu and Kashmir, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday assured "maximum possible assistance" to the victims of the last year's devastating floods.
'Stories can change people.' 'But there's a story we have been afraid to see and hear about ourselves in this industry.' 'A story about which voices we respect and elevate, and which we tune out.' 'Story about who's offered a seat at the table and who is kept out of the rooms where the decisions are made.'
Eleven persons, including 10 devotees, have died due to medical reasons during the ongoing pilgrimage to Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas.
Opposition leaders believe this entire plan has been put in place to ensure that Mamata Banerjee is kept out of office in West Bengal.
Here is part three of Deepak Kirpalani's Punjab travelogue.
Over 1.5 lakh Indians along with tens of thousands of Muslims from across the world began moving from the holy city of Mecca to nearby tent-city of Mina, marking the beginning of the annual Haj pilgrimage.
Pandalam Royal family member Sasikumar Varma, one of the petitioners, said he was happy with the apex court's decision to review the September 28 verdict.
The Yuva Sena chief asked the party's rank and file to gear up to win the hearts of the people and the state.
Sarfaraz Ahmad Khan went on his first Haj in 1972.
Modi, who inaugurated the centre in the heart of the national capital in Janpath, also took a jibe at Rahul Gandhi's comment on being a Shiva devotee and said some parties talked more of Baba Bhole (Lord Shiva) than Babasaheb.
