India

Lucknow, September 4: A panchayat in the Jat-dominated region of Uttar Pradesh, known for imposing controversial restrictions on women in the community, has banned schoolgirls above fifth standard from wearing skirts. A “mahapanchayat”, (grand assembly) attended by hundreds of people belonging to the Jat community in Garh-Mawana area in Ghaziabad district, about 450 kilometres from here, imposed

New Delhi, September 3: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday ruled out immediate cancellation of 142 coal block allocations as demanded by BJP and made it clear that he was ready for a fight with the opposition on the issue. Singh conveyed his determination about not going for immediate cancellation of the coal block allocations informally to some senior ministers here, sources told . BJP has

New Delhi, September 3: Amid the raging row over coal block allocation, as many as 90 mines face the threat of de-allocation as these are under scanner for non-production. Of these, 58 coal blocks are in the immediate focus with an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) set to decide their fate today. The government has already issued de-allocation notices to these 58 blocks -- 33 alloted to government

Kochi/New Delhi, September 3: A growing number of fitness gyms are selling and encouraging the use of body-building steroids. A family lost its young son Rijo to these drugs. "My son was very healthy and he used to go to the gym to maintain himself. His gym instructor lured him to take supplementary powders and six months later we lost our son after he got a sudden stroke," said Rijo's father

Ahmedabad, September 3: Shunning the Hindutva card, the campaign of the major parties in Gujarat for the forthcoming Assembly elections this time is centred around issues like water, housing and inflation. The 2002 and 2007 Gujarat elections were held in a charged environment by whipping up communal sentiments in the backdrop of the 2002 riots and numerous encounter cases, including the

New Delhi, September 3: Twenty people have been detained in connection with the violence that took place in Delhi's residential area of Mayur Vihar Phase III on Sunday night. Two cases of arson, rioting and looting have also been registered. A probe has been ordered into the incident in which one person died and many including 15 policemen were injured. Delhi's residential area of Mayur Vihar

Patna, September 2: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar today charged the Centre and Maharashtra government with failing to rein in MNS chief Raj Thackeray for his threat to throw Biharis out of Maharashtra. "The MNS chief's diatribes against Biharis pose a challenge to all governments to deal with a person who has been holding out threat to the migrant people. People have the constitutional right

New Delhi/ Mumbai, September 2: The BJP Sunday said it stood firm on its demand that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh resign in the alleged coal scam but would allow parliament to function if the allocations were cancelled and an independent probe ordered. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani meanwhile defended the chief ministers of party-ruled states, whom the United Progressive Alliance

Kanpur/New Delhi, September 2: Against the backdrop of opposition pressure, the fate of 58 coal blocks will be reviewed on Monday at a meeting of an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG), on whose recommendations wrongful allotments and cases in which mining has not started can be cancelled. Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said an IMG has been set up to examine the pros and cons and based on its report

Lucknow, September 2: Muslim religious leaders have now come forward to extend a helping hand to sadhus and seers who are campaigning for conservation of River Ganga. Maulana Saeedur Rehman, principal of Centre of Islamic studies, said that it is well known that Ganga is associated with the faith of Hindus but it is not any less important for Muslims. Terming the drive to clean the river as a