India

New Delhi, December 5: Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Tuesday expressed dismay over political parties giving tickets to people with criminal records due to which, he said, India has become a land of scams and slums. "The country has become a land of scams and slums and it is ironical that just for a vote bank political parties are giving tickets to those who have criminal cases against

New Delhi, December 5: The Supreme Court today upheld the election of Pranab Mukherjee as President and dismissed former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader PA Sangma's petition against him. The verdict was delivered by a five-judge constitution bench and went 3:2 in favour of Mr Mukherjee. Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir, Justice P Sathasivam and Justice SA Nijjar said there was no need

New Delhi, December 5: The Supreme Court, which relentlessly strove to bring to book perpetrators of the fake encounter killings of Sohrabuddin and Tulsiram Prajapati in Gujarat, has an explosive situation on its hands as the National Human Rights Commission informed it that 191 fake encounter killings took place in the country in the last five years. Appalled by the attitude of the Manipur

New Delhi, December 4: Aam Admi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday accused Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi of giving undue favours to some corporate companies and said the impression of him being honest was wrong. "Modi has gifted away 20 percent of Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation's (GSPC) stake in the Krishna-Godavari Basin to two companies, Geo Global and Jubilant Enpro Private

Ahmedabad, December 4: The Congress Tuesday roped in Sheila Dikshit, its three-time Delhi Chief Minister, as star campaigner for the crucial Gujarat assembly polls and unveiled its manifesto with a series of promises, including free laptops and tablets to students. Releasing the manifesto, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee chief Arjun Modhwadia slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government

New Delhi, December 4: Expressing confidence that the motion against FDI will be defeated in Parliament, the government hoped that parties will see through the "politics" of BJP and vote accordingly. "I am confident that the motion moved by BJP in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will be rejected... I am urging all parties not to subscribe to the politics of BJP," parliamentary affairs minister Kamal

New Delhi, December 4: Taking charge as the new CBI director on Monday, senior IPS officer Ranjit Sinha, 59, dismissed the controversy over his selection. “I don’t think there is any controversy. I think the government has taken a decision and because of that decision I am here,” he said. Sinha rubbished reports of resentment among IPS officers over his appointment. “I don’t think there’s any

New Delhi, December 4: The government has eased restrictions on tourist visas which had mandated a two-month gap between consecutive visits by foreign nationals. However, nationals of Afghanistan, China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan, Bangladesh, foreigners of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin and "stateless persons" will continue to come under the 60-day gap rule. The move is likely to breathe fresh

New Delhi, December 3: India can diplomatically "do something" in the alleged child abuse case involving an Indian couple in Norway, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi said today. "Government can diplomatically do something," he told reporters here. The couple - Chandrasekhar Vallabhaneni, a software professional from Andhra Pradesh, and his wife Anupama - have been charged with "gross

Dhaka, December 3: Living up to the promise made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to remove trade and non-tariff barriers between India and Bangladesh, India has decided to adopt a liberal visa policy for various categories of Bangladesh nationals, as a pro-active step, to promote economic engagement, people-to-people contact, cultural ties and tourism between the two nations. It was in October