India

Lucknow, July 13: A Taliban-like diktat in a village Panchayat in Uttar Pradesh has banned love marriages and also barred young women from using mobile phones. What is most shocking is that the Panchayat is located in Baghpat, which is barely 50 km from the national capital and is Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh's constituency. The Panchayat has also banned women under the age of 40 years from

New Delhi, July 13: Home Minister P Chidambaram's pet project, the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), is set to take-off again after being grounded and scuttled by as many as seven non-Congress chief ministers. Senior member of the Congress party and Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had also objected to the NCTC. The main opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) too had put up a stiff

New Delhi, July 13: Braving the intermittent heavy rains, Om Shanti Sharma sits in silent prayer. She calls upon God for a suitable groom for her daughter. But she wants the match to be none other but the General Secretary of the Congress party Rahul Gandhi. And if the Gandhi scion accepts her proposal, she is ready to shell out Rs 15 crore as dowry. Clad in a simple yellow sari, Sharma has been

Chennai, July 12: As Congress intensified efforts for a consensus candidate for the Vice President's post, CPI(M) today said it is in favour of a person who does not belong to Congress. This was conveyed by CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who had recently contacted him as part of efforts to seek support of political parties in selection of a candidate in the

Mumbai, July 12: Legendary wrestler and actor Dara Singh passed away at his Mumbai home early on Thursday. He was 83. Dara Singh, who was admitted to Kokilaben Hospital last week after a cardiac arrest, was released from the hospital on Wednesday night after his condition failed to improve despite continuous medical effort. Doctors, on Wednesday, had said that chances of Dara Singh's recovery were

New Delhi, July 12: The Centre has cleared a package to the tune of Rs. 45,000 crore for Uttar Pradesh, conceding almost half of the demand made by the Akhilesh Yadav government. Though Uttar Pradesh had demanded release of funds to the tune of Rs. 93,000 crore, the state government officials termed the Rs. 45000 crore package as "no mean achievement". The Samajwadi Party and the Congress-led UPA

New Delhi, July 12: It's "absurd and laughable" to suggest that PV Narasimha Rao was indifferent to the December 6, 1992 demolition of Ayodhya's Babri Masjid and sequestered himself in his prayer room, a key aide to the then prime minister says of the events of the fateful day, whose repercussions are still being felt. "It is absurd and laughable. They cannot target anybody else, as only this

Gurgaon, July 12: Mahatma Gandhi was never formally conferred the title of Father of the Nation by the government. This was stated by the Home Ministry in reply to an RTI query. "Although Mahatma Gandhi is popularly known as Father of the Nation, no such title was ever formally conferred upon him by the government," Shyamala Mohan, Director and Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), said in a

Lucknow, July 11: NDA backed Presidential candidate PA Sangma on Wednesday said that presidential election were not held on party lines and every body has a right to vote according to their conscience. "Today I have come to appeal to all MPs and MLAs. Presidential election are not held on the basis of political parties, it is above political party," Sangma told reporters. He said that in

New Delhi, July 11: Home minister P Chidambaram, who may take charge of the finance ministry before Parliament's monsoon session begins early next month, on Tuesday indicated that the government has lined up measures to boost revenue collection and control unnecessary expenditure. "I think the prime minister-cum-finance minister is contemplating a number of measures to tighten revenue collection