India

Patna, Oct 13: Amid poll boycott call given by the Maoists, the first phase of elections for Bihar’s 49 constituencies passed off peacefully. According to Election Commission sources, 57 per cent of the electorate on Monday came out to cast their votes in different constituencies spread over 10 districts in the state. Additional Chief Electoral Officer (ACEO) R Lakshmanan said turnout of woman

Mumbai, Oct 13: This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper. -- T. S. Eliot (The Hollow Men). There is no way of knowing if the Shiv Sena's top brass has read these lines. But their protest against former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri's book launch in Mumbai ended just like the concluding lines. On

New Delhi, Oct 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not attend the Central Information Commission's annual convention organised to discuss various issues pertaining to the the Right to Information Act, which completes 10 years. Barring 2010, either the President or the Prime Minister had addressed the inaugural or valedictory function of the convention on various issues related to transparency

New Delhi, Oct 12: The paint attack on BJP's former strategist Sudheendra Kulkarni was today roundly condemned by political parties with its stalwart L K Advani saying it reflected "growing intolerance" in the country that is cause for concern and Congress dubbing Shiv Sena as "Desi Taliban." As condemnation of the attack by Sena activists poured in from across the country including from the civil

Srinagar, Oct 12: Noted Kashmiri writer and poet Ghulam Nabi Khayal has joined the bandwagon of authors returning their Sahitya Akademi awards, saying the minorities in the country today feel "unsafe and threatened". "I have decided to return the award. The minorities in the country are feeling unsafe and threatened. They feel their future is bleak," Khayal said today. Khayal, who won the

Panaji, Oct 12: Incidents like the Dadri lynching "damage" the image of the NDA government and RSS has nothing to do with them, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has said. "These incidents damage the image of the NDA as well as the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It cannot be said to be the intention of the government," Parrikar said. He was asked about the lynching of man over beef eating

Mumbai, Oct 12: Shiv Sena activists today allegedly smeared black ink on the face of ORF chairman Sudheendra Kulkarni for organising former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri's book launch here. "Shiv Sena activists threw ink at me and smeared my face. They abused me," Kulkarni alleged and said that his Observer and Research Foundation (ORF), a foreign policy think-tank, will hold

New Delhi, Oct 12: Facing opposition fire for not taking them along, the Modi government on Sunday got a gentle nudge from BJP veteran L K Advani. “It is our collective duty to ensure that democracy and fundamental freedoms of citizens in India will never again be infringed,” Advani said at a function to commemorate the 113th birth anniversary of Jayprakash Narayan. Though Advani’s remarks were

Patna, Oct 12: The high-stake Bihar Assembly election began today with voting starting at 7 AM in 49 seats, spread over 10 districts, in the first of the five phases of elections amid elaborate security arrangements. A total number of 1,35,72,339 electorate will cast their votes in the 49 Assembly seats for which 583 candidates, including 54 women, are in the fray. The polling will be held between

Mumbai, Oct 11: Invoking the legacy of B R Ambedkar on the eve of the first phase of Bihar polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today categorically ruled out scrapping the reservation system and assailed "a group of liars" for the false propaganda that it is under threat. "Every time when a BJP government is in power, a group of liars spreads the malicious propaganda that we are out to scrap