India

New Delhi, June 24: India's ambitious policy to provide free medicines to all patients attending a government health facility across the country will be rolled out from October. Strongly backed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself, the free-medicines-for-all scheme — being referred to as the "real game changer" — has received its first financial allocation of Rs 100 crore from the Planning

New Delhi, June 24: These are one set of statistics Kerala will not be proud to own up to: God's own country, and not the badlands of north India, is the most crime-prone state, ahead of Uttar Pradesh and even Delhi. The latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) figures comparing incidents of crime with the population of a state, notes Kerala is most affected by crime and Kochi is the most

New Delhi, June 23: With the battle lines drawn for the July 19 presidential election, the focus is gradually shifting to the vice-presidential poll in August, for which incumbent M. Hamid Ansari appears to be a strong contender, Congress sources said Saturday. After having had its way on fielding Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee as the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) nominee for the next

New Delhi, Jun 23: Reaching out to his new counterpart in Pakistan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today congratulated Raja Pervez Ashraf and expressed confidence that the two countries will continue to make progress on bilateral issues and build good neighbourly relations during his tenure. "I would like to extend to you my heartiest congratulations on your appointment as Prime Minister of the

New Delhi, Jun 23: CPI(M) today expelled young leader Prasenjit Bose, who resigned from the party attacking the leadership for supporting Pranab Mukherjee's Presidential bid, saying he had sought to "malign" its political line. Bose, the convenor of party's research unit and a familiar face in TV debates, quit the party yesterday and through an open letter, attacked the party for committing a

New Delhi, June 23: Vice President Hamid Ansari -- who was a strong contender for the UPA’s presidential candidate, as West Bengal chief minister Mamata Bannerjee revealed after she met Congress President Sonia Gandhi – may be offered a second term in his current job. A few days ago, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh, responding to a question in a TV interview on the possibility of a

Kolkata, June 23: The Calcutta High Court on Friday held the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, “unconstitutional and void.” The Act was the brainchild of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The Division Bench comprising Justices Pinaki Chandra Ghosh and Mrinal Kanti Chaudhury observed that the Act was unconstitutional and void since “sections of compensation in the

Belgaum (Karnakata), June 23: A day after TOI reported that President Pratibha Patil had commuted the death sentences of 35 convicts to life in prison, it came to light on Friday that one of the beneficiaries of her mercy died almost five years ago. Bandu Tidke's sentence for the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl came from the President's office on June 2. It has raised doubts about whether

New Delhi, June 22: Amid reports of delays in online applications of passports and the growing logjam, the external affairs ministry Friday announced that passport offices in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Amritisar will be open Saturday and Sunday. The ministry also defended what it called the citizen-centric online application system and said it has successfully

New Delhi, June 22: Pinning hopes on "conscience vote" and his tribal identity, P A Sangma today virtually dared UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee for a debate ahead of presidential polls, saying democracy needs debate. Maintaining that in a democracy people have the right to choose and there should be a debate at a time when the economy is sinking and scams are unimaginable, Sangma said, "Who is