India

New Delhi, August 20: Union minister for Steel Beni Prasad Verma on Monday stoked a controversy with his comment that price rise was beneficial for farmers. The opposition pounced on his remark accusing the government of being part of the "mehengai mafia" (price rise mafia). The minister made the remark on Sunday while talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function in Barabanki, near Lucknow

New Delhi, August 20: Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde in a telephonic conversation with his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik took up the issue of social media-networking sites being misused by elements in Pakistan to circulate false pictures and reports in a bid to create communal strife in India. Responding to Shinde’s claims, Malik said that so far India has not given any evidence on

New Delhi, August 20: Expressing her “deep pain” at the ethnic violence in Assam, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday condemned the subsequent mistreatment faced by people from north-east in some states and called for strict action against the guilty. Speaking at the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavna Award ceremony here, she said the present conditions prevailing in the country were linked to

New Delhi, August 20: As the nation celebrates Eid on Monday, riot-hit Assam is on high alert. Security has been stepped up across the state, especially in the sensitive districts of Kokrajhar, Dhubri and Chirang that witnessed a spate of clashes between the Bodo tribal groups and Muslims at the end of last month. While the actual reason for the sudden breakout of violence in the lower regions of

New Delhi, August 20: India has blamed Pakistan for posting threatening messages on the Internet that triggered a mass exodus from Bangalore and Mumbai by migrants fleeing to their homes in the northeast. "Our agencies have discovered that bulk of these messages have been uploaded on various websites in Pakistan," Home Secretary R.K. Singh told reporters on Saturday. "This is a first of its kind

New Delhi, August 19: Pakistan Sunday rejected Indian charges that morphed pictures of Assam and Myanmar violence which sparked an exodus of northeastern citizens from other states originalted in Pakistan. Such remarks only widen the trust deficit between the two countries, sources in the Pakistan high commission here said. Home Secretary R.K. Singh said Saturday that the bulk of rumours of

Jalandhar, August 19: With Hindus who migrated from Pakistan more than a decade ago struggling to get Indian citizenship, they are unable to help Hindus in Pakistan, who want to come to India, due to discriminatory treatment. "I am getting calls and message from my relatives asking for help in crossing the border and coming to India. However, when we have not been granted citizenship even after 13

New Delhi, August 19: The government is contemplating levying heavy penalties on states overdrawing electricity that results in grid failure and possible imprisonment of chief secretaries to check the menace. "I am contemplating now heavy fine and also a provision to imprison authorities and state chief secretaries for disobeying that ... perhaps we need to enforce it," said power minister Veerapa

New Delhi, August 19: They are on death row even after the Supreme Court admitted — not once but thrice — that the decisions awarding death sentences had been rendered per incurium (in ignorance). The miscarriage of justice has prompted 14 retired judges of the SC and high courts across the country to appeal to President Pranab Mukherjee to turn the capital punishment imposed on nine persons into

New Delhi, August 19: Vice Chief of Army staff Lt Gen SK Singh on Sunday visited the spot where an armyman has climbed a 200 ft high mobile tower alleging harassment by his seniors and tried to persuade him to come down. Singh spoke to K Muthu, who is attached with Engineers Regiment, on phone for over 30 minutes, army officials said. Muthu, however, was not ready to believe that it was the Army