If Saudi Arabia, with just two Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina, can create a huge tourism-based ecosystem beyond oil, Ayodhya is sure to become the world's hottest religious tourism site in less than a decade, predicts R Jagannathan.
Why weren't the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Maharashtra and Telangana -- all of which have borders with Karnataka -- not invited to Saturday's swearing-in ceremony, asks Shyam G Menon.
A college student, who was critically injured during protests demanding a separate Karbi Anglong state, succumbed to injuries in Diphu, even as curfew continues to be in force at a district headquarter town of Assam.
The Telangana Bill, which was rejected by the Andhra Pradesh assembly on January 30, will return to the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday along with six bundles containing 8,049 amendments.
Seeking to put a lid on speculation, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Thursday said the bill for creation of the new state of Telangana, bifurcating Andhra Pradesh, will be tabled in the winter session of Parliament starting on December five.
Kavitha has asserted that she had done nothing wrong and alleged that the BJP-led Centre was "using" the ED as the saffron party could not gain a "backdoor entry" in Telangana.
Addressing a huge rally in Maharashtra's Nagpur on the occasion of the Congress' 139th foundation day, he said unemployment in the country has reached its highest point in the last 40 years.
The Centre has adopted a cautious approach on Telangana, after a detailed report from Andhra Pradesh Governor ESL Narasimhan warned it against buckling under the pressure from regional parties, over the creation of a separate state.According to highly-placed sources, Narasimhan met the leaders of all major political parties in the state and then sent three top-secret reports to the home ministry.
Andhra Pradesh Health Minister Kondru Murali Mohan and Forest Minister Satrucharla Vijayarama Raju on Monday resigned from their posts protesting the proposed bifurcation of the state.
The MLC daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao reached the ED office in central Delhi from the Tughlaq Road official residence of her father around 11.30 am and left shortly after 9.40 pm.
The federal agency issued a summons to Vaibhav Gehlot (43) last week, asking him to appear before the investigating officer of the case at its headquarters on A P J Abdul Kalam Road here under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act.
'The non-vegetarian share of the population fell from 75 to 71 per cent between 2004 and 2014, no doubt in anticipation of the lotus blooming.' 'Three years of saffron authoritarianism may have thinned the non-vegetarian ranks even more,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Thursday avoided giving a direct response to a question about whether Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will run as the opposition's candidate for prime minister, saying that the opposition parties would meet and make that decision.
The Group of Ministers, set up to look into the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, has completed the process of discussions with various stake holders and will submit its report to the Union cabinet as early as possible to pave way for tabling Telangana Bill in the winter session of Parliament.
The division of Andhra Pradesh will see not just a change in the geographical profile of the state but will also totally alter the political landscape across the regions and re-write the fortunes of all major parties.
There are indications that the BJP may not be as enthusiastic as it was on the Telangana issue now that the Congress has cleared the decks for the creation of the new state.
The reverses for the BJP in the Hindi heartland threw wide open the 2019 Lok Sabha elections which until a few months ago appeared to be in the grip of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party.
A caveat application is filed by a litigant to ensure that no adverse order is passed against them without being heard.
Throwing a direct challenge at the Congress high command, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday said that he would ensure the defeat of the AP Reorganisation Bill 2013 when it comes up for passage in the state assembly.
The sources said the Congress is the binding force for the opposition bloc and the stronger the Congress emerges the better for the alliance.
While the actor did not specify the man in the cartoon, many social media users slammed the actor for making fun of former Indian Space Research Organisation chief K Sivan.
'It is violation of the Model Code of Conduct.' 'It is a penal offence under the IPC to exert undue influence on voters.' 'Under the election law, it is a corrupt practice.'
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.
The women's Reservation Bill is likely to be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday during the ongoing special session of the Parliament and in Rajya Sabha on September 21, government sources said.
Even as the indefinite strike by the government employees in Seema-Andhra regions, opposing Telangana state completed 40 days with administration remaining completely paralysed, private educational institutions were also set to join the stir from Monday till month end.
The two-day meeting will begin with BJP president J P Nadda's speech and at least two resolutions, including a political resolution, will be passed during the proceedings.
Political Joint Action Committee chief Professor Kodanda Ram says that there is no way in which this agitation is going to stop.
'Rahul should have learnt so much in the last 20 years. But give him a mic and he begins to talk without thinking about its consequences.'
The Election Commission (EC) had in September last year recommended to the Union law ministry to tweak the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 to ensure that voters on poll duty cast their vote at voter facilitation centre located where they are deployed.
In the months to come, the skies above promise to be a captivating theatre of action, where helicopters play starring roles, ferrying leaders, and echoing the pulse of democracy.
With several leaders from the Seema-Andhra region waiting to defeat the Telangana resolution in the assembly, the Congress is exploring the possibility of imposing the President's rule in the state.
With the assembly poll results in three states being a disappointment for the Congress, some rumblings have begun among the constituents of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) ahead of their meeting on December 6, with many leaders alleging that the grand old party ignored others, but was unable to win elections on its own.
As the Rajya Sabha passed the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2014 on Thursday, giving birth to India's 29th state, Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt takes final stock of how it was accomplished.
With Maharashtra in its kitty, the BJP has consolidated its position in the north-western region and now has set it eyes on southern states, especially Telangana.
She is criticising what is perceived to be KCR's strongest point -- welfare -- by charging the government with corruption.
As many as 35 of 53 Nationalist Congress Party MLAs were present at the party meeting convened by Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in Mumbai on Wednesday, party sources said.
Modi's BJP has promised more revdis or freebies for these assembly elections than ever before, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
BJP-led NDA has said it will strongly demand that the Telangana Bill be brought in the Winter Session of Parliament and press for debates on issues like internal security, violence against women and subversion of constitutional bodies like JPC on 2G scam.
Some of the Congress's new-found enthusiasm for hitting the streets will show its result in the Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Karnataka elections. That is when we will know if the Congress will go to the regional parties or the parties will come to the Congress.
Post-Karnataka, it would be a mistake to underestimate the BJP. It should be amply clear by now that the Right-Wing is more an elaborate theatre than a single scene, actor or play, warns Shyam G Menon.
