India

Mumbai, August 13: Women activists want an apology from anti-corruption activist and former top cop Kiran Bedi for talking about "small rape" cases on a public stage. They have accused her of extreme insensitivity and say she shows a "feudal mentality." Ms Bedi denies she said that rape is a small crime. Ms Bedi had lashed out at the media for what she called inadequate reportage of Team Anna's

August 13: Armed with the latest monsoon rainfall data, weather experts finally conceded this month that India is facing a drought, confirming what millions of livestock farmers around the country had known for weeks. For over three months, even state agencies have been providing free fodder to those most vulnerable to a shortfall in India's annual monsoon -- farmers who eke a living out of small

New Delhi, August 12: Congress leader Digvijay Singh has hit out at BJP leader LK Advani alleging that his comments on Assam violence were adding fuel to the fire. Singh said that Advani's comments on illegal migration were "ill-timed" as the state was burning at that time. Accusing Advani of abetting violence in Assam by making provocative statements at Kokrajhar when the area was in the grips of

New Delhi, August 12: Top Team Anna members today rejected criticism that Anna Hazare was forced to adopt the path of political alternative and claimed that he was fully involved in the decision to go political. As a first step, Team Anna may test the waters in the Delhi Assembly elections next year while skipping the polls in BJP-ruled Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh later this year. The members

Mumbai, August 12: Mumbai's liberal Raza Academy Sunday offered unconditional apology to the the media and Mumbaikars for the widespread violence Saturday and sought forgiveness. "The people who indulged in violence cannot be Muslims. No Muslim would dare to do anything like this during a Ramzan fast. Some mischief mongers have taken advantage of the situation," Raza Academy president Mohammed

New Delhi, August 12: BJP leader L.K. Advani Sunday called upon President Pranab Mukherjee to take the initiative for bringing the country out of "perpetual election mode" and ensure simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies every five years with fixed term for the legislatures. In the latest post on his blog, Advani said successive elections to state assemblies was not good for

New Delhi, August 12: Ramdev on Sunday warned of a "big revolution" if the Prime Minister did not meet his demands for announcing immediate steps to bring back black money, enactment of a strong Lokpal and measures to end corruption.As his fast entered the fourth day on Sunday and the government continuing to ignore the protest, Ramdev wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, asking that

New Delhi, August 12: The decision to form a political party was Anna Hazare's, former Anna team member Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday. In a series of tweets, Kejriwal said a "malicious campaign" was on to show that the social activist was against the idea of a political move. "Truth is - it was Anna's decision," Keriwal tweeted. He said the "propaganda machinery" was trying to create a wedge

Mumbai, August 12: Over 20 people have been arrested in connection with the violence near Azad Maidan in Mumbai, in which two youths were killed and at least 55 injured, police said on Sunday. The situation is normal today and heavy police deployment has been put in place, they said. “The situation has been normal since yesterday evening. We have deployed a heavy police force in the vicinity of

New Delhi, August 12: India Saturday rejected Pakistan's charges of a "conspiracy" about giving so many visas to Pakistani Hindus, saying due process and diligence was exercised in accordance with a decades-long visa pact. "We have exercised visas after due diligence and followed due process in accordance with the India-Pakistan visa pact which regulates travel between the two countries,"