India

New Delhi, Aug 11: Customers won't be able to conduct bank transactions at branches for 4 days in a row as all banks will be closed for business, starting August 12 in many parts of the country. The dates being - August 12 for second Saturday (Banks are closed on second and fourth Saturdays every month), August 13 for Sunday, August 14 for Janmashtami and August 15 for Independence Day. Here is

New Delhi, Aug 11: M Venkaiah Naidu was on Friday sworn in as the Vice President of India. President Ramnath Kovind administered the oath of office to Naidu, 68, at a brief ceremony in the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhawan attended by political leaders cutting across party lines. Wearing his trademark white panche (lungi) and white shirt, Naidu took oath in Hindi in the name of god. While he is

New Delhi, Aug 10: A TV news channel on Thursday evening aired a telephone conversation which it claimed was with India's most wanted Dawood Ibrahim, now holed up in Pakistan's Karachi, and its reporter. The 19-minute conversation, the channel CNN-News 18 claimed, began with Dawood himself picking up the phone and asking the caller who he was when the reporter takes his name. It said the

Ghaziabad, Aug 11: A senior IAS officer from Bihar was found dead close to railway tracks in Ghaziabad near Delhi on Thursday night. A suicide note was found next to the mutilated body of Mukesh Pandey, who was described by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as an "efficient administrator and sensitive officer". Mr Pandey, a District Magistrate in Buxar, said in the note he was "committing suicide

New Delhi, Aug 11: Popular Front of India Chairman E Abubacker expressed disappointment over the affidavit filed by Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board which supported building temple at the site where Babri Masjid was demolished. It should be suspected that Sangh Pawriwar is pressurizing corrupt individuals in the Muslim community to destroy Babri Masjid cause and the fight for justice. Some

New Delhi, Aug 11: In a crackdown on polluting vehicles, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed that no annual insurance renewal would be allowed without a valid Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate for all types of automobiles. A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta ordered the insurance companies to refuse renewal requests for vehicles without pollution certificates. The court

New Delhi, Aug 10: The Central Information Commission has directed the Union culture ministry to clarify its stand on whether the Taj Mahal is a mausoleum built by Shahjahan or a Shiva temple gifted to the Mughal emperor by a Rajput king. The question, forwarded as an alternative narrative of history by some claiming to be historians and the subject of various court cases, reached the CIC through

New Delhi, Aug 10: Upbeat after his victory in the Rajya Sabha poll, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel today said it was the BJP which made the contest a prestige issue and exuded confidence that his party would win Gujarat assembly election due later this year. Patel, who won the Upper House seat from Gujarat in an election that went down to the wire, said the victory had enthused the Congress

New Delhi, Aug 10: Narendra Modi on Thursday again tried to drill among BJP MPs a sense of responsibility towards their parliamentary duties and wondered why the party has to issue a whip to ensure their presence in both the Houses. The PM said this at the BJP parliamentary meeting held on Thursday morning where he also felicitated BJP president Amit Shah for successfully completing three years in

New Delhi, Aug 10: Outgoing Vice President Hamid Ansari said there is a feeling of unease and a sense of insecurity among the Muslims in the country, asserting the "ambience of acceptance" is now under threat. Ansari, whose second five-year term as the Vice-President ends today, made these remarks in the backdrop of incidents of intolerance and cow vigilantism and comments made by some saffron