'That is why an emotional appeal to the President.' 'There needs to be a strict law. The accused should be punished immediately.' 'All cases should be heard in fast-track courts.' 'In rural areas, women's cases are not even registered. There, political pressure stops them.' 'And if cases are not registered under political pressure, then their voices are completely silenced.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday returned to power in Delhi after more than 26 years to sweep away the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party with a two-thirds majority on the back of a hyper localised campaign and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'AAP-da'(disaster) blitzkrieg.
The BJP's hyper-local campaign targeting the AAP's loyal base among the poor, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's depiction of Delhi's ruling party as "AAP-da" (disaster), proved decisive in the Delhi assembly elections. This victory marks the end of a 26-year drought for the BJP in the national capital. The BJP's campaign highlighted perceived failures in governance and corruption allegations against the AAP, while emphasizing its own welfare schemes. The party's focus on local issues resonated with voters, particularly the middle class and poor who were disenchanted with the AAP's performance. This win is a major setback for the AAP and the INDIA bloc, which has been on a losing streak after its strong performance in the Lok Sabha elections.
Power supply was yet to be restored in around 50,000 households in cyclone-hit areas in Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore districts, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has said.
'He is intrigued by the intractability of Kashmir issue. With his interest in dealmaking and peacebrokering, he sees it as an exciting challenge to tackle.'
The manifesto outlines 15 guarantees, with Kejriwal promising "robust" job creation for Delhi residents as his first guarantee.
A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com tracks the train from Jolarpettai carrying its precious cargo.
Scorching heat and delayed monsoon have crippled Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu with an acute water crisis.
A three-hour heavy downpour accompanied by a dust storm hit Delhi-NCR early morning on Friday, causing flight delays and traffic disruptions as seven people were killed in rain-related incidents across north India.
With water supply to Delhi under threat amid the ongoing Jat agitation for reservation, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday appealed to the Centre with 'folded hands' to immediately intervene and resume water supply from Munak Canal in Haryana.
Villages, towns, roads and highways in several regions of southern Tamil Nadu including Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi just resemble rivers in spate.
The Delhi government's Women and Child Development and Health departments issued public notices on Wednesday distancing themselves from the ruling Aam Aadmi Party's promised schemes of providing Rs 2,100 to women and free treatment for the elderly, triggering a fresh row ahead of assembly polls.
'If Pakistan's army wants to escalate violence in Kashmir, they have an unlimited supply of jihadis they can train and send. That's not an issue for them.'
The cabinet of the new government led by Rekha Gupta balances representation of all major communities that propelled the Bharatiya Janata Party to power in Delhi with a massive majority after over 26 years.
The Jat community that had blocked the supply of water to the national capital from the upper Ganges canal in Uttar Pradesh over demands for OBC reservations in central government jobs ended its protest and restored the water supply to Delhi on Monday.
A mysterious illness has claimed 17 lives in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, with the latest victim being a young girl named Yasmeen Kousar. The deaths have sparked concern and an inter-ministerial team has been sent to investigate the cause. The patients experienced symptoms such as fever, pain, nausea, and loss of consciousness before dying within days of hospitalization. The J&K government has ruled out a communicable disease of bacterial or viral origin.
This is expected to bring relief to citizens facing 10 per cent water cut since the beginning of this month.
From dubbing voices to putting faces with the help of AI, political campaigns are undergoing a Bollywood makeover. Among the favourites is a scene from the Anil Kapoor-starrer Nayak, posted by the BJP, where Kapoor asks about the Chunaavi Vaade (poll promise), with Arvind Kejriwal at the receiving end instead of Amrish Puri.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal in a rally in Delhi, comparing him to notorious criminal Charles Sobhraj and accusing him of spreading lies about the BJP government in Haryana mixing poison in the Yamuna river. Modi said Kejriwal's claims are an insult to India and that the AAP is desperate due to the fear of defeat in the upcoming Delhi elections. He also highlighted the BJP's track record of fulfilling promises and urged people to give him a chance to serve them. The attack comes as the Delhi election campaign heats up, with the AAP and BJP locked in a tight race.
The rivalry between the local leaders of the two parties could be a cause of concern for Shinde.
'It was the hostility of the Yunus regime that made India careful and wary of dealing with them.' 'They gradually backed off and lowered the noise, but the damage was done.' 'Their true colours had been exposed.'
'A penalty of Rs 500 was immediately imposed as per rules on Wednesday and the fine amount was also remitted. The worker was using running water to clean the car, leading to wastage of water'
A cold wave has gripped many parts of north and east India, with Srinagar recording a minimum temperature of minus 5.3 degrees Celsius. Other areas experiencing below-freezing temperatures include Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Konibal, Qazigund, Kupwara, and Kokernag in Kashmir. Himachal Pradesh has issued an orange warning for severe cold wave conditions in several districts. Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 5.9 degrees Celsius, while Faridkot in Punjab was the coldest in the region at 0 degrees Celsius. Extreme cold conditions also continued in parts of Rajasthan and Jharkhand. The Met office has forecast mainly dry weather until December 26, with the possibility of light snowfall in the higher reaches of Kashmir on the intervening night of December 21-22.
The newly-formed Delhi Cabinet in its first meeting approved the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme in the national capital. The cabinet also decided to present 14 pending CAG reports in the first session of the assembly. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said that the previous AAP government did not allow the health scheme in the city, preventing the people from availing its benefits.
Widespread rains lashed parts of Tamil Nadu on Thursday, prompting authorities to declare a holiday for schools in Chennai and many other districts.
'The first two years of the Jal Jeevan Mission were wasted in UP.' 'But after a push from the Centre, work has picked up pace in the state.'
Faced with cut in water supply from Haryana due to the Jat stir, the Delhi government announced closure of schools on Monday as part of water rationing in the city to deal with the crisis.
India experienced its second-hottest quarter from June to August this year since 1970, with over one-third of the country's population enduring at least seven days of dangerous heat, according to a new report by a United States-based group of climate scientists and communicators.
Dr Jaishankar is expected to discuss the dates for the fifth Quad leaders' summit in India later this year.
The Jaldoot train supplying water from Miraj town to Latur in Marathwada on Monday made its 111th and last trip.
Such a collection of amiable characters were last seen in Panchayat. There are greedy dowry seekers, criminals, misogynists and the like, but the collective goodness of the others keep violence and male chauvinism in check, notes Deepa Gahlot.
With mercury soaring in Maharashtra and the onset of monsoon still a fortnight away, as many as 1,998 villages and 2,607 hamlets are reeling under acute water shortage where about 2,358 tankers are being used to supply drinking water.
A high-level inter-ministerial team conducted a six-hour investigation in Badhaal village, Rajouri district, Jammu and Kashmir, to ascertain the causes of death of 17 members of three families under mysterious circumstances. The team, led by a director-rank officer in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, collected samples and briefed by senior district, health and police officers. The team's visit follows the deaths of 16 people between December 7 and January 19. The investigation is ongoing, with authorities focusing on potential neurotoxins and a spring that tested positive for pesticides.
Glimpses from the floods which have disrupted lives in Bangladesh.
The Supreme Court on Monday sought a status report from Haryana government on the plea of Delhi government seeking resumption of water supply to the national capital.
Trump's sweeping tariffs and penalties on China-built ships have turned global shipping into the front line of economic war, observes Shyam G Menon.
India's economic growth slowed to near two-year low of 5.4 per cent in the July-September quarter of this fiscal due to poor performance of manufacturing and mining sectors, but the country continued to remain the fastest-growing large economy, data showed on Friday. The gross domestic product (GDP) had expanded by 8.1 per cent in the July-September quarter of 2023-24 fiscal. The previous low level of GDP growth at 4.3 per cent was recorded in the third quarter (October-December 2022) of financial year 2022-23.
V K Paul, Member (Health), Niti Aayog said, "Spread of transmission through water is not a concern. Not to worry."
In the months immediately following the 2024 tragedy, reporting on the landslide per se had been a straightforward affair. On one side was death and destruction. On the other side, survivors and the business of survival. It was black and white. What direction to take was clear. Rehabilitation in comparison, felt like a complex situation. One that is fraught with shades of grey. As grey as human life, explains Shyam G Menon.
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