A total of 13 motions were moved in support of Birla.
'Such incidents can only exacerbate the sense of alienation among the Kashmiri people, in particular the Kashmiri youth.' 'It is as if for some of our political figures and misguided youth, Kashmir is a piece of real estate over which we assert our claim, but the people there are dispensable,' notes former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
The HMO said it will amend the rules to increase the time limit of filing of appeals in foreigners tribunals from 60 to 120 days for those who would be excluded from the final NRC.
And the way to a cure begins with conversation.
In what is the first ever verdict in India on the right to freedom of speech on the Internet, the Supreme Court has scrapped Section 66 A of the IT Act. Justices J Chelameswar and Rohinton F Nariman said that 66 A cannot be properly implemented as governments come and go.
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter acknowledged on Friday that he failed to reform the scandal-ridden world soccer organisation but asserted he was not responsible for corruption in its regional organisations.
'It's a good thing that people will see our chemistry on screen. What happens off camera is not our concern.'
'According to the government's Economic Survey, the Indian state's generosity is not restricted to its poorest citizens. In fact, in many cases, the beneficiaries are disproportionately the well-off.'
'Almost deified by enough Indians now, never mind his politics and, worse, economics,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Here's a look at the events that shaped the world last week.
Here is your weekly digest of the odd moments from around the world
"A Meryl Streep or Jimmy Kimmel can speak their mind, and stay assured that they won't be harmed. That does not happen in India," say Manavi Kapur & Ranjita Ganesan.
An H4 visa is granted to the spouse/child of an H-1B worker.
"South Asian studies" academics in the US would do well to introspect how they wittingly or unwittingly become part of Pakistan's proxy war in wielding influence over academics and policy, says Sankrant Sanu.
A resident doctor, working at a government hospital, upset by the poor response from the state government, offers his side of the story.
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I cannot agree with the sentiment that hanging rapists will make sexual harassment and assault, and other forms of violence against women, magically disappear. Misogyny has stained our culture for far too long for merely judicial recourse to be able to wash it away, says Paloma Sharma.
Ullhas P Revankar spares no one when it comes to respecting the national anthem and national flag.
'I've seen the craze for English education even among the poorest. But that is only for their sons. Parents feel thrilled when they see their sons going to school wearing a tie. They don't mind paying for their sons' private tuitions too.' 'But daughters are sent to municipal schools, madarsas, small schools where teachers with no teaching skills are paid Rs 2,000 or Rs 4,000. That's why more girls come to my class.' Syed Feroze Ashraf, who has sent 500-odd girls (and a few boys) -- all first generation learners, children of grave-diggers, hawkers, rickshaw-drivers, tailors and watchmen -- to college, speaks to Jyoti Punwani. A Rediff.com Special.
'Minakshi Jafa Bodden is the first person to have ever taken Bikram Choudhury to trial and we greatly admire her courage.'
'It used to sound very strange.' 'That the same child who used to sing Jana Gana Mana the loudest in class, who celebrated August 15 and 26th January with such fervour and who has always nurtured the desire to make India a better nation being called desh drohi.' 'It was very painful.'
You could be suffering from sleep paralysis, says Dr Lancelot Mark Pinto.
Unlike most Bollywood kids whose careers tend to play out in fits and starts, Alia's growth has been swift and steady.
The UK has launched a probe after a "disturbing" footage caught a teacher on camera making anti-Muslim and Christian remarks to students at a camp organised by an RSS-inspired charity.
Every time a filmmaker wishes to explore history or religion on his or her terms, self-appointed experts and limelight-seeking zealots swoop in to protest, says Sukanya Verma.
'It's really about telling women to invest in themselves, finding more space for themselves.' 'Find space for their own dreams, do something about their own potential.'
Experts who work on race and gender issues have now put together a syllabus for desis.
An Australian national has said that he and his friend were abused and harassed by an unruly crowd in Bengaluru on Saturday for having a tattoo of a goddess on his shin.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
As people wait in long queues outside banks, they appear happy that the ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes will unearth black money and root out corruption.
G Sreedathan interviews Dinanath Batra, president of Siksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas and national convener of Siksha Bacho Andolan, who shot to fame after he was instrumental in getting American scholar Wendy Doniger's book on Hinduism pulped.
This is the story of Kirthi Jayakumar.
Junaid was my son. He was son and brother also to the people on the train compartment of his last journey. He was son or brother also of those at the railway station where he breathed his last breath. This moving excerpt from Harsh Mander's Partitions Of The Heart: Unmaking The Idea Of India reveals why we must immediately end the hatred surging across north India before it consumes us all.
'In Bollywood, the power is disproportionately in the hands of a few men, whether they are actors or producers or directors.' 'The woman who makes an allegation against them can forget working in the industry again.'
'His past as a cricketer makes it difficult for the BJP to question his nationalism.' 'He gets away by ridiculing Modi while something similar from most Congress leaders does not resonate as much.'
If the classical language is to live in India, its teachers and fans must separate their love for the language from that for the country or their religion, feels Arundhuti Dasgupta
Union HRD minister says women in the country are not told what to wear, whom to meet and where to go.
Images of the events that shaped the world last week.
'You are a Kashmiri first. You are not an Arab.' 'Revisit our traditional sufi thought.'
'We like to believe that it's the politicians who impose such bans. But it's the womenfolk of Bihar who made Nitish Kumar enact the ban,' says Ashis Nandy.
Sarmesh Kumar is the first in his family, that comes from the community of rat eaters, to go to college. Archana Masih/Rediff.com met the young man and traveled to his village -- which Bill Gates visited a few years ago -- as Rediff.com looks at Bihar through the stories of its people.
