India

New Delhi, Dec 28: A group of 40 women rights activists has opposed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018, in its present form, raising concerns over 10 points in the Bill which was passed by the Lok Sabha Thursday. In a statement, they urged the government to withdraw the Bill from consideration in the Rajya Sabha, and review the fundamental flaws pending broad-based

New Delhi, Dec 28: It is unlikely that there will be any major initiative to improve ties between India and Pakistan until Lok Sabha elections are held, official sources said Thursday. However, they did not "definitively" rule out any positive development. Last month, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, while calling for bettering ties between the two neighbours, had said that he was willing to

New Delhi, Dec 27: Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the bill which criminalises the practice of instant triple talaq, with the government rejecting the contention that it was aimed at targeting a particular community. The opposition, which had been demanding that the bill be referred to a joint select committee, staged a walkout when its demand was rejected by the government. The Muslim Women

New Delhi, Dec 27: Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday defended penal provision in the triple talaq bill saying it is important to instil fear in the minds of those still practising it and rejected suggestions that it was against any religion. Intervening in the debate on the bill in the Lok Sabha, the minority affairs minister said acts like murder are against the law but people still

New Delhi, Dec 27: Finance minister Arun Jaitley Thursday lauded the NIA for busting an alleged Islamic State terror plot, and defended a recent government order authorising investigative agencies to monitor any computer. "Well done NIA for cracking the dangerous terrorist module," he tweeted. "Would this crackdown of the terrorist module by NIA have been possible without interception of

Kochi, Dec 27: Two Navy personnel were killed on Thursday when an aircraft hangar collapsed at the Naval base in Kochi, a defence spokesperson said. Further details are awaited, he said. “Two Navy personnel died of casualties caused due to an aircraft hangar collapse,” the spokesperson said. A court of inquiry has been ordered into the matter, a news agency reported. The Indian Navy is in the

New Delhi, Dec 27: Former Punjab Minister and BJP leader Laxmi Kanta Chawla has rapped Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal for the alleged apathy towards the common man and urged them to forget about the “bullet” train. In a video that went viral on Wednesday, Ms. Chawla is seen aboard a train, appealing to the Modi government to “have mercy on the common man”. “I am on

New Delhi, Dec 27: It is a big day for Muslim women with the Lok Sabha set to discuss the bill on instant triple talaq, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Goel said on Thursday as the government struggled to get consensus on the issue. Leaders from various parties spoke on the issue of the proposed law that will make instant triple talaq illegal and void and attract a jail term of three

New Delhi, Dec 27: The Rajya Sabha was on Thursday adjourned for the day without transacting any business after the ruckus in the House over issues ranging from construction of a dam on the Cauvery River to violence in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr district. While slogan-shouting members of Tamil parties -- AIADMK and DMK trooped -- into the well of the House over the construction of Mekadatu Dam on

Noida, Dec 27: A Hindu religious event scheduled to be held on government land in Greater Noida was cancelled after authorities found it did not have requisite permission, officials said, days after the Noida Police asked private companies in sector 58 to stop their Muslim employees from offering namaaz at a park here. A nine-day Bhagwat Katha, the Hindu religious programme, was scheduled to begin