India

New Delhi, May 6: Taking India's Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVoA) policy to a new level, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) has approved the facility for residents of France, Germany and Russia. Now, TVoA is given to residents of only 11 countries, of which only two - Finland and Luxembourg - are in Europe. New Zealand is the only other non-Asian country to enjoy the facility. Confirming the

New Delhi, May 6: New census data on asset ownership among different social groups has shown that a far higher proportion of scheduled castes and higher still of scheduled tribes do not own basic consumer durables like a phone or bicycle as compared to "others". Three states however buck this trend; across caste groupings in Punjab, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the rate of ownership of basic consumer

Madurai, May 5: Income tax officials today conducted a raid at the Madurai Adheenam (mutt) which has been in the limelight following the appointment of the controversial self-styled godman Nityananda as head of the 1500-year-old Saivaite Mutt. Officials, who entered the mutt early this morning, sealed all exit points and started checking the strong room. Officials said they were conducting the

Chennai, May 5: DMK today gave its backing to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee as UPA's presidential candidate. ''If he is the candidate of the UPA coalition, the DMK will not hesitate to back his candidature," DMK chief M Karunanidhi told reporters here. Asked about his earlier observation that his party favoured a "good President" and whether Mukherjee could be the one, the DMK chief said, "I

New Delhi, May 5: Defending the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said the anti-terror intelligence hub will "supplement" the anti-terror capabilities of states and "not supplant" them. "It is not the government’s intention to affect distribution of powers between states and the union (government)," Manmohan Singh told chief ministers at a

Lucknow, May 5: The Uttar Pradesh government late on Friday night decided to implement the Supreme Court order upholding the Allahabad high court's verdict to quash provision of reservation for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) officers and employees in promotions. As a first step in this direction, the state cabinet approved the decision to remove the reservation system from promotion

New Delhi, May 5: Early in 2010, detectives walked into a grocer's store in Bolton, 16 km from Manchester, looking for a man his closest friends called “Tiger.” For 17 years, police in Gujarat had been hunting for Muhammad Hanif Patel, wanted for his alleged role in a 1993 grenade attack on a train which left an eight-year-old girl dead and 12 people injured. This week, the greying 54-year-old

New Delhi, May 5: Left parties on Friday decided to watch the unfolding scenario before finalising their stand on the presidential election, even as sources in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) indicated that the party preferred Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to Vice-President Hamid Ansari. Leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India, the All-India

Manila, May 4: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today dismissed as speculation reports that he has emerged as a front runner in the race for presidential election. "It is speculative. I don't want to comment on it," he told reporters on way to Manila where he will be attending the 45th Annual Meeting of Asian Development Bank's Board of Governors. Media today carried reports that he has emerged

New Delhi, May 4: In a first of its kind, the oil ministry has slapped a notice of $1.2 billion, or Rs 7,000 crore, on Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd for a sharp fall in gas output from its showcase Andhra offshore field. The notice, served on Wednesday, says the company would not be allowed to recover from sale of gas the cost of its investments worth $457 million made in the field in