Asrani may have never been a marquee name up in sparkling lights or on outsized posters but the sheer proficiency with which he realised his characters has unleashed gales of laughter over five decades and made a significant contribution to several landmark films. Dinesh Raheja salutes the iconic actor.
A timeline of key events that shaped the RSS' journey, including the various highs and lows, as the organization approaches its 100th anniversary.
Sources said a couple of resolutions are expected to be passed at the crucial meeting, with an eye on the upcoming Bihar polls.
The Bharat Mata controversy in Kerala shows how political and symbolic fights between the state and the Centre have taken attention away from education, throwing the state's oldest university into confusion and disorder, observes Shyam G Menon.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has expelled a local leader and his son after they were named in a dowry harassment and abetment to suicide case in Pune, India. The victim, Vaishnavi, allegedly hanged herself on May 16 after facing harassment from her in-laws for dowry. The police have arrested her husband, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law, while the father-in-law and brother-in-law are absconding. The case has garnered attention due to the involvement of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who attended the couple's wedding and gifted them an SUV.
A special investigation team (SIT) has been formed in Madhya Pradesh to investigate the deaths of 14 children in Chhindwara, suspected to be linked to a toxic cough syrup. The investigation includes arrests, exhumations, and a ban on the implicated cough syrup.
The Kerala High Court questioned the suspension of a university registrar who cancelled a program where a 'Bharat Mata' portrait was displayed, sparking a debate over religious symbols and law and order.
The Congress party launched a scathing attack on the RSS on its 100th anniversary, citing excerpts from a book claiming Mahatma Gandhi described the Sangh as a "communal body with a totalitarian outlook." The party also referenced Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's criticism of the RSS.
The Telangana CID has arrested the secretary of the Hyderabad Cricket Association in connection with a probe into alleged forgery, cheating, and criminal breach of trust.
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.
Rathore's alleged second marriage, without divorcing his first wife, has caused much embarrassment to the party as the Uniform Civil Code implemented by the BJP government in the state in January criminalises polygamy.
Each leader will look after six assembly constituencies.
Most of these leaders are known for their organisational skills and successful management of elections in their respective states.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat was unable to end its 18-year jinx in Visavadar as it lost the bypolls to Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party despite a strong campaign.
Former Jharkhand chief minister and BJP leader Champai Soren was placed under house arrest on Sunday to prevent law and order issues in view of a protest by tribal outfits against land acquisition for a multi-crore state-run health institute, police said.
...surpassing farmer suicides (11,000) in number. There is a 4 per cent annual increase in student suicides, double the national suicide rate (2 per cent).
Senior BJP leader B Sriramulu has invited K N Rajanna, recently sacked as minister from the Congress government, to join the party. This comes as a state minister and some ruling party legislators met with Rajanna, signaling potential political shifts in Karnataka.
The Raj Bhavan issued the statement hours after Sivankutty walked out of a state government event at Raj Bhavan, protesting against the display of a 'Bharat Mata' image, based on a claim that it was widely used in RSS functions, during the programme.
Bhagwat said that while India is 'Bharat', it should be kept as such when we talk, write or speak about it, whether in public or personal spaces.
Kerala has become the first state in India to achieve complete digital literacy, according to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Over 2.5 lakh volunteers contributed to this milestone, which included people of all age groups. The state plans to launch the second phase of the project soon, making all personal documents available in DigiLockers.
Modi said India has now established a "new normal" of not differentiating between terrorists and those who nurture terrorism as they are both enemies of humanity.
A tribal couple in Odisha's Rayagada district was allegedly forced to plough a field with a yoke placed on their shoulders as a form of public punishment for marrying against community traditions.
Bhagwat's 'retirement at age 75' comment lands just as he and Modi near that mark -- sparking whispers of retirement, rifts, and reshuffles.
Union Minister of State Suresh Gopi on Friday said that Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has to decide whether he wants to join the Bharatiya Janata Party and the changes seen in him were the outcome of understanding the people's interests.
Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar asserted that there would be no compromise on Bharat Mata.
The editorial came amidst the ongoing tussle between Arlekar and the Marxist party-led Left Democratic Front government over the usage of 'Bharat Mata portrait' during official functions being held in Raj Bhavan.
'The largest listenership for Vividh Bharati outside the country is in Spain.' 'The labourers who go there for the tomato-picking season feel cut off from their country and listen to Vividh Bharati to overcome their loneliness.'
For Harpreet, a 28-year-old IT professional working in Bengaluru, the journey to London was meant to be a joyous reunion as her husband, Robbie Hora, also an IT professional, awaited her arrival there.
All the 12 cabin crew members, including two pilots, on board the ill-fated London-bound Air India flight were killed in the Ahmedabad air crash on Thursday.
Any defect identified by the expert would have to be rectified within one month, failing which compensation of 5,000 per day would be payable.
'The government only wakes up after devastation.' 'The government does not understand the gravity of the situation nor they do not want to understand the gravity of the situation.'
Tata Motors on Thursday said it has filed 250 patents and 148 design applications, its highest-ever in a single year, in FY25. The filings encompass a broad spectrum of product and process innovations, aligning with key automotive megatrends such as Connectivity, Electrification, Sustainability, and Safety (CESS), as well as emerging technologies like hydrogen-based vehicles and fuel cells, the Mumbai-based auto major said in a statement.
'Mr Modi has the power and pre-eminence in the BJP-RSS to choose how long he wants to serve, and he is definitely going to want to contest in 2029.' 'He will only be 79, as old as Donald Trump now, and fitter,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
The orders issued this month have selected ministries ranging from home affairs under Amit Shah to rural development, headed by Shivraj Singh Chouhan, to move to Building 3 -- currently named CCS-03 -- on Kartavya Path. The scale of the shift will be even larger than when most of Lutyens' Delhi's present crop of government buildings came up in the early 1930s.
Before her flight to London, Air India crew member Maithili Patil had made a final, comforting promise to her father, Moreshwar Patil, that she would call him once she reached the city. But the call did not come.
'I make films which I think have the possibility of being liked by a majority of people, and you present it with the right emotions.'
The first national flag in Independent India was hoisted at Fort St George in Madras, not at Delhi's Red Fort.
The execution of Nimisha Priya, an Indian nurse on death row in Yemen, has been postponed by Yemeni authorities, sources said on Tuesday.
One hundred years ago, a group of 10 revolutionaries carried out an operation that shook the British Empire. Utkarsh Mishra revisits the 'Kakori Conspiracy Case', a turning point in the armed struggle for independence.
With local body elections approaching in Maharashtra, a significant portion of the Congress party is advocating for contesting independently to regain lost ground amidst the BJP's growing influence. The party is currently part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance.
A native of Mandangad in coastal Ratnagiri district, the Songhare family had moved to Mumbai for work and shifted to Dombivli two years ago.
