'There is a mafia operating in that area that lends money to these labourers. Loans are paid off with red sandalwood. The actual smugglers don't need to come to the area.'
Aam Aadmi Party, whose main poll plank is fighting corruption, on Wednesday announced it would field candidates against 2G spectrum scam accused and former telecom ministers A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran of DMK in the April 24 Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu.
The cross-country foot march stayed in the news almost right through, mostly for the barbs between the BJP and the Congress and occasionally for other reasons, including infighting in the opposition party.
The Popular Front of India (PFI) has been extensively using social media for recruiting youths for anti-national activities and one of the modules of the now-banned outfit even had prepared to attack foreigners, especially Jews visiting Vattakkanal, a hill station in Tamil Nadu, officials said.
The suspected terrorist arrested from Viswabharati fast passenger train at Burdwan station has links to terror groups Islamic State and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, a top Crime Investigation Department officer said on Tuesday.
While the wrestlers braved tough weather conditions, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu demanded custodial interrogation of WFI President.
In a joint operation with police of two states, the National Investigation Agency on Monday arrested three persons suspected to be part of a group sympathising with Al Qaeda and involved in five blast cases in court premises of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka since April.
They were distributing pamphlets which allegedly containing defamatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami.
The Indian Medical Association will consider taking back police complaints lodged against yoga guru Ramdev and also a defamation notice sent to him if he withdrew his remarks against COVID-19 vaccines and modern medicine, IMA national chief Dr J A Jayalal said.
The chief minister also put forth the demand to stop hydrocarbon extraction project in Neduvasal in Pudukkottai district that has attracted large-scale protests recently.
A man jumps from the 6th floor of Mantralaya, the Maharashtra government's administrative headquarters in Mumbai, but lands in the safety net installed in the building.
Tamil Nadu government has sought the Centre's intervention for the release of 14 Indian fishermen arrested by the Lankan navy on Sunday, and raised the issue of financial package for the community.
According to a senior police official, VB Chandrasekhar ended his life by hanging himself at his house in Chennai on Thursday evening due to debts.
'Farmers have been sent notices in which the government is threatening that if you will join the movement, then we will impound your ancestral properties.' 'We will seal your bank accounts.' 'We will revoke the passports of your kids.'
Ahead of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's first foreign visit to India, at least 16 Indian fishermen arrested recently for allegedly poaching in Sri Lankan waters will be released in a goodwill gesture.
For now, the DMK can be expected to sound the bugle for Opposition unity at the national level, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Devasahayam Pillai, who embraced Christianity in the 18th century, on Sunday became the first Indian layman to be declared a saint by Pope Francis during an impressive canonisation ceremony at the Vatican.
Country boat-owners in coastal Tamil Nadu are immensely upset over their non-representation in the talks over fishing with the Sri Lankan government, reports A Ganesh Nadar.
'I don't think we will need to support or get support from the Congress. I hope there is no such political exigency. The Congress will be gone from the political scene. There is no lesser evil. The BJP and Congress are the two sides of the same evil coin,' anti-Koodankulam nuclear plant activist and new AAP member S P Udaykumar tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar.
From the voter-level, traditionally anti-BJP, anti-Hindutva minorities and other secular voters would have an option, especially in the face of the mounting anti-incumbency against the ruling party -- as it happened in the 2001 assembly polls, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The two women, who had earned their daily bread selling lottery tickets on the streets of Kochi, were allegedly sacrificed by the accused to settle their financial issues and bring prosperity in life, police said.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday asserted that not even a "speck of dust" fell on state Governor R N Ravi during a black flag protest against him in Mayiladuthurai and said the opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's attempts to "do politics" over the matter will not fructify "as this is DMK rule."
The workers, who cleaned the statue, demanded the arrest of the culprits and warned that they would intensify their agitation if such incidents recurred, police said.
Students across Tamil Nadu, including in Chennai, continued their protests on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue while some fishermen in Nagapattinam district observed a fast mid-sea.
'In India, political parties want to portray their leaders as cinematic heroes critical of their opponents.' 'This is where memes come into play.'
'Heavy rains are not the primary reason for landslides in Wayanad.' 'There are all sorts of (human) intervention going on in that area.'
'They have started an institute, the Academy of Training and Sensitisation, for prison officials near Vellore.' 'This institute has been started by the Union home ministry and it is meant for all the four southern states.'
A 44-year-old man in Gujarat, who had allegedly made derogatory remarks on his Facebook page about the death of chief of defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, was arrested by the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Cell on Thursday, officials said.
Party insiders concede statements of the Raja kind have the potential to hurt the DMK's electoral chances in closely-fought seats in 2024, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
During a virtual meeting of the joint working group on fisheries on Friday, both countries agreed that the use of force could not be justified under any circumstances.
He was booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 298 (uttering words with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 505(2) statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill will between classes.
Devasahayam Pillai, a Hindu converted to Christianity in the 18th century, will become the first Indian layman to be conferred sainthood.
The Madras high court has upheld the arrest of a Catholic priest from Tamil Nadu, charged with abusing a minor girl in the United States, facilitating his extradition to face justice in that country.
Polling is scheduled in all 20 seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, eight seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, six seats in Madhya Pradesh, five seats each in Assam and Bihar, three seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.
Fifteen activists of two pro-Sri Lankan Tamils outfits have been arrested for attempting to burn the national flags of India and Sri Lanka in Chennai on Saturday. Activists of the Tamil National Socialist Party and Tamil Nationalist Liberation Movement were arrested when they tried to burn the flags of the two nations in front of Shastri Bhavan, which houses various Central government offices, police said.
'I was put in an anda cell. No window, light or air. Only grills.' 'During the monsoon, water would seep. There were rats running around all the time.' 'We were forced to sleep under bright lights all the time. Those bright lights are never switched off.'
'If you delay the diagnosis even by 24 hours, in that 24 hours individuals would have affected more people.' 'So, contact tracing, testing, isolation, quarantine needs to continue.'
BJP heavyweights Smriti Irani, Arjun Munda, Ajay Mishra Teni and Kailash Chaudhary were among the 13 Union ministers who tasted defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, as stunning losses in three Hindi heartland states forced the BJP to rely on allies to form the government.
The home ministry has recommended to the President that the mercy petition of Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, a convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, be rejected.
