Asian Lite News Archive

Category: INDIAN NEWS

  • Border firing shows Pakistan’s frustration: Omar

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    Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said Pakistan’s indiscriminate cross-border firing, which left five people dead , only shows the neighbouring country’s frustration over its failure to rake up the Kashmir issue. The chief minister rushed here from Srinagar despite the Eid-ul-Adha festival to attend the cremation of five civilians killed in mortar shelling…

  • India joins to build the world’s biggest telescope

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    India, along with four other countries, will Tuesday start work to build the world’s biggest telescope in Hawaii Island, the media here reported . The 30-metre telescope, also known as TMT, will be constructed near the summit of the Mauna Kea volcano on Hawaii Island. Construction is likely to be completed by 2022, Japan Times…

  • Gold prices will go southwards

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    International gold price should bottom around $,1050-$1,100/ounce writes Vatsal Srivastava in his weekly column Currency Corner Gold has lost its year to date gains post Friday’s blockbuster US jobs data. The headline US unemployment rate came in at 5.9 percent—the last time the unemployment rate was below 6 percent was in July 2008. The US economy added…

  • Sena attacks PM over remarks

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     A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he won’t criticise the Shiv Sena out of respect for its founder Bal Thackeray, the Sena Monday hit back, saying the “real tribute” to the late Thackeray would have been to continue with the BJP-Sena alliance. “We are happy to learn that he (Modi) has respect for…

  • Modi attacks dynastic politics

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    Prime Minister Narendra Modi  launched a scathing attack on dynastic politics, rampant nepotism and corruption in Haryana and urged people to vote for the BJP in the Oct 15 assembly polls. Addressing an election rally for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Hisar town, Modi said Haryana had not seen a government in which political…

  • Sonali goes for ‘real’ look on TV

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    Film actress Sonali Bendre, who is entering fiction space on television with “Ajeeb Daastaan Hain Ye”, has donned kurtis with jeans and scarf, instead of the quintessential over-the-top ethnic wear sported by most small screen stars. The actress says the choice of attire is to make her character look as real as possible. In the…

  • Modi’s dress colour a hit in US

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      Narendra Modi was dressed for the occasion wherever he went, but the diverse colours that the Indian prime minister donned on his recent US visit had one unifying theme – to win America. And this is being talked about even a week after his visit. And win America he did even before he reached…

  • Violence in Kashmir kills and maims many

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      At least five people were killed Monday and 29 injured in Pakistani firing in Jammu district, police said. “The number of civilians killed in Pakistani firing in Arnia has gone up to five as one more person has succumbed to his injuries while being shifted to a hospital,” a senior police officer said here. “So far,…

  • Telangana, Andhra CMs hug each other

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    Chief ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, who usually miss no opportunity to target each other, Sunday displayed bonhomie on coming face to face and hugged each other. Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N. Chandrababu Naidu came face to face at “Allai Ballai” or a get-together organized by senior…

  • ‘India’s zoos need reforms’

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     The recent incident of a youth being killed by a white tiger at the Delhi zoo highlighted the need to restructure and revamp Indian zoological parks, while raising questions over the security of animals and visitors. While some experts say it’s time private organisations were given a role in their management, others question the very…

  • SPECIAL REPORT: Jodhpur Fest

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    Over the years, rustic folk music has often found space within Bollywood space, but the organisers of Jodhpur’s Rajasthan International Folk Festival(RIFF) aim to go a step beyond by nurturing a platform that creates a demand for bucolic music by retaining traditional ethos and flavours. “There is no demand for folk music in the cities…

  • Jindal to buy London Mining

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     India’s Jindal Group is considering the purchase of debt-ridden British firm London Mining, which is faced with crashing iron-ore prices and the ebola outbreak in Africa where it operates a mine, the Sunday Times reported. London Mining shares closed last week at just four pence after it said it was in talks with a strategic…

  • SPECIAL REPORT: Maharashtra Elections

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    Amulya Ganguli says bitter battle on the cards in Maharashtra  This month’s assembly elections in Maharashtra may well prove to be one of the most acrimonious contests in recent memory.Since the parting of close associates invariably arouses considerable antagonism, there is nothing surprising about the present hostility between the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata…

  • INTERVIEW: Mahesh Bhatt

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    Mahesh Bhatt told Nivedita that his daughters are far more intelligent than him Mahesh Bhatt has been one of the best filmmakers of his time and inspired generations with his movie-making skills, but the director, who now produces films with new talent, says his three daughters – Pooja, Shaheen and Alia – are far more intelligent and…

  • Big B sees cinema as an integrator

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      Megastar Amitabh Bachchan says he is “proud” to be part of the film fraternity, which acts as an integrator. “Cinema in today’s times is perhaps the only integrator left, in this fast disintegrating world … Proud to be in its fraternity,” the 71-year-old tweeted Sunday. A star, who rose on the film firmament during…

  • Modi refuse to attack Sena in Mumbai

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      Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday attacked the Congress and NCP in Maharashtra but said he would not utter a word against estranged ally Shiv Sena. “Some newspapers have reported that the prime minister has criticized the Shiv Sena,” Modi told an election rally here. “This is the first election in the absence of Balasaheb…

  • Indian hockey team get heroes’ welcome

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    The Indian men’s hockey team returned home  from Incheon to a heroes’ welcome, with fans turning out in large numbers to receive the Asian Games champions. Teary-eyed and overjoyed fans hugged and cheered the players and support staff as they stepped out of the Indira Gandhi international airport. The team got for India its third…

  • USAID, Gates Foundation to join clean up

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    Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit that saw him take up the issue of hygiene and toilets for all Indians during his much-applauded talk at New York’s Central Park has also led to the US aid agency USAID and the Gates Foundation join in his mission of improving water, sanitation and sewage in municipalities across…

  • Zuckerberg follow Nadella to India

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      Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg will be visiting India next week to attend a summit. Zuckerberg will also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to sources. His visit comes three months (July, 2014) after the visit of Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of the social networking giant, to the country, which is the second biggest…

  • Air India suspends staff over negligence

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    Cracking the whip against negligent Air India employees, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju Saturday suspended ground handling and security officers for lapses in detecting a stun grenade in one of the airline’s planes that was to operate from Jeddah to Mumbai. According to a civil aviation ministry spokesperson, staff that were involved in clearing…

  • PLEASE BE QUIET MR YESUDAS

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    Daily Dose by Bikram Vohra What is wrong with smart, clever people they can say such stupid things? Where was the need of an accomplished, wel l-respected celebrity like Yesudas to sound off about women wearing jeans. And then indicting himself for his hypocrisy when pictures off his daughters in law in exactly that apparel.…

  • Clean India: Mindsets need to change

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    Rupesh Dutta says mindsets need to change if India wants to clean the country from filth Mindsets need to change if Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan or Clean India Mission to make the country litter and squalor free in the next five years is to succeed, diplomats and foreign tourists say. “I believe…

  • SPECIAL: India’s richest woman on campaign trail

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    Savitri Jindal, India’s richest woman, campaigns like a commoner… reports Jaideep Sarin   She lords over a multi-billion rupee industrial empire. She is the mother of nine children, including a leading corporate tycoon-cum-politician son, Naveen Jindal. She has been tagged the country’s richest woman, yet she is no more than a commoner when she takes to the…

  • Saeed Naqvi on Modi’s dry Hindi

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    Saeed Naqvi is asking Indian Prime Minister to use more Hindustani than Sanskritized Hindi to wider audience  I did not understand a word of what our prime minister said at the United Nations General Assembly. Well, except for words like “taaqatwar”, “rozgar” and “zahir”, all other words were beyond my comprehension. I had to fall back on translation.…

  • Is Didi Going the Amma way?

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    Anurag Dey says legal battles are Mamata’s Achilles’ heel?  The legal woes of West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee government seem to be unending. Constantly embroiled in legal battles, it has now been reprimanded by the courts, prompting the opposition to question the existence of rule of law in the state. In a blow to the ruling Trinamool…

  • Nikki Haley lead in governor’s race

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    South Carolina’s Indian-American Republican governor Nikki Haley has a 10 point lead over her Democratic challenger and state Senator Vincent Sheheen in the governor’s race, according to a new poll. The poll of 1,082 likely voters by Winthrop University shows Haley, born Nimrata ‘Nikki’ Randhawa, daughter of Sikh immigrant parents from Punjab, with a 43.6…

  • Defused explosive found aboard Modi’s stand-by Air India aircraft

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     Indian security agencies have launched an investigation into the discovery of a defused explosive on board an Air India VVIP special aircraft at Jeddah Airport early Saturday. Confirming the development, Air India officials guardedly said here Saturday that “a probe is under way” to unravel how, where and when the major security breach occurred. According…

  • When yoga and warm water clicked

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      As a fasting Prime Minister Narendra Modi sipped warm water at a very “warm dinner” at the White House, US President Barack Obama wondered how his guest kept up a rigorous schedule on such a diet. “It was a very warm dinner,” said US point person for South Asia Nisha Desai Biswal, who was…

  • Dussehra stampede kills 32 in Patna

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      At least 32 people, including women and children, died in a stampede Friday evening after the burning of the Ravana effigy at the Gandhi Maidan here, officials said. “Thirty-two people including women and children died due to stampede after the ‘Ravan vadh’ and 18 people were seriously injured,” Bihar Director General of Police P.K.…

  • London pays tribute to Gandhiji

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    High Commissioner of India Mr Ranjan Mathai led a cross-section of people from the Indian diaspora to pay tributes to Mahatma Gandhi to mark Gandhi Jayanti in London. The event held near the Gandhi statue at Tavistock Square was attended by mayors, senior politicians, diplomats besides members of Indian Journalists Association, London. Chairman of India League…

  • RSS speaks Swadeshi

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    RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat urged the government to go for Swadeshi by embracing “a new model of development” and also came out strongly against caste discrimination in Hindu society. In his annual Dussehra speech to mark the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh’s founding day, Bhagwat patted Prime Minister Narendra Modi government saying it was “moving in the…

  • Telangana dreams of big in tourism

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      The aroma of biryani slow-cooked over wood fire, a unique flower festival, beautiful waterfalls inside pristine tiger forests, Hyderabad’s famous Charminar and Salar Jung Museum and a modern IT hub: all this has led the newly-created state of Telangana to dream big about its tourism potential. Barely three months into existence, India’s 29th state,…

  • Portuguese PM candidate’s Goan connection

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    Socialist Antonio Costa, the top contender in Portugal’s prime ministerial race and known as Lisbon’s Gandhi, has a Goa connection. Antonio, who won the primaries of the country’s main opposition Socialist Party this week, is part Goan by origin. He has been a regular feature at several events organised by Goan expats in Portugal, which…

  • Modi urges people to rise up

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      Sharing his thoughts on radio, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recounted a story of a tigress and her two cubs as told by Indian mystic Swami Vivekananda, to urge people to recognise their own potential. “Swami Vivekananda used to recount a tale about a tigress who went hunting with her two cubs and saw a…

  • Indian pays tribute to 50 Australian greats

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    It’s a 50×1.5 metre canvas that took Melbourne-based, Kerala-origin Sedunath Prabhakar 18 months and AUS$7,000 to create as a tribute to 50 Australian greats, both living and dead, thereby bringing alive the country’s history. It is set to be unveiled next month. “Through my 50 portraits, I wanted to narrate the history of Australia. The…

  • Kamal Haasan calls millions to clean India

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    Actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan, who was nominated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to work towards a cleaner India, humbly accepted the invitation and invited nine million people to make this a “nation building” initiative. Modi  also nominated actors Priyanka Chopra, Salman Khan and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar among others. Modi has said the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched…

  • RSS pats Modi Govt

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    The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat  patted the government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying in the past six months it “is moving in the right direction”. In his customary Dussehra rally at the RSS headquarters here, Bhagwat said: “It is only six months but positive signs are already emanating.” Continuing the…

  • NSA talks counter-terrorism with US

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    Following up on the summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama, Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has met top US officials to discuss US-India security cooperation and counter-terrorism issues. Doval, who stayed back after Modi’s departure, met his US counterpart Susan Rice and Secretary of State John Kerry Thursday after meeting…

  • ASIAN GAMES: THE BIG FAT CHEATS

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    Daily Dose by Bikram Vohra Cheating is just that. Cheating. Sarita Devi was not a sore loser when she refused her medal. She was a sore winner and rightfully so. Even her opponent agreed she had been thrashed by Sarita. That no Indian official came to make the protest is also par for the course.…

  • REVIEW: Haider – A Masterstroke

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    Subhash K. Jha reviews Haider’ – Vishal Bhardwaj’s masterstroke . To see or not to see? That isn’t a question at all. Rush to the movies and forget all the slam-bang-bang stuff that is beckoning in glamorous postures. The glamour of “Haider” lies in fold after fold of poetic statement on love, life and politics. You…

  • Farmers urged to focus on basmati

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    Punjab wants farmers to grow Basmati …. reports Jaideep Sarin The Punjab government wants its farmers to diversify to other varieties of crops to reduce the burden on soil as well as water level from the water-guzzling common paddy variety. The farmers are being told to shift to growing the Basmati variety of paddy, which is…

  • Australia lauds the bravery of Indian soldiers

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    Indian soldiers’ bravery revisited on Haifa Day in Sydney….reports Sandeep Datta The Indian soldiers’ valour as displayed in 1918 during first World War to free the Israeli city of Haifa was remembered in Australia . On Sep 23, 1918 Indian soldiers of two elite army units from Jodhpur and Mysore, in a heroic battle with Ottomans,…

  • Where older women beat men voters

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    By Jaideep Sarin  As they grow older, women voters in Haryana get the better of men – numerically speaking. In the 70-years plus age group, it is the women who outnumber men among eligible voters in the state. That is quite an achievement given the fact that Haryana has the worst sex ratio (number of…

  • India win Asian Games hockey gold

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    Two-time champions India beat holders Pakistan 4-2 via penalties in the men’s hockey final to win the Asian Games gold medal after 16 years at the Seonhak Hockey Stadium here , and thus booked a berth for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Goalkeeper P.R.Sreejesh pulled off two brilliant saves as India won 4-2 in the shoot-outs.…

  • Modi’s ‘clean India’ a super hit

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      “I feel totally inspired. I will not only follow the rules of cleanliness, but will also try to influence others,” said Iqbal Khan, a Class 4 student of a government school when he heard Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s spirited speech here  on cleaning India by 2019. Iqbal was not the only one to have…

  • Modi nominates clean India campaigners

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    Forget the ice bucket challenge, Prime Minister Narendra Modi  started a similar chain, nominating actors Salman Khan and Priyanka Chopra, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and industrialist Anil Ambani among nine people to spread the message of Clean India. Modi, launching the Clean India Campaign Thursday, nominated nine eminent personalities to take forward his message to clean…

  • Mountains can’t slow this biker down

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    Ace rallyist Suresh Rana, who captured the Maruti Suzuki Raid-de-Himalaya, one of the world’s toughest off-road motor rallies, nine times in the four-wheeler Xtreme category, aims to capture the tenth title this year in the 16th edition beginning next month. “This time retaining the title for a record tenth time seems as tough as climbing…

  • RBI unbiased on rates: Raghuram Rajan

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    The Reserve Bank (RBI) is without bias either way about raising or cutting interest rates, while further policy will be contingent on relevant data coming in, Governor Raghuram Rajan said Wednesday. “Our policy stance today is reasonable and we see no reason to alter it today based on the information we have. As data comes…

  • Indian soldiers’ bravery revisited in Australia

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    The Indian soldiers’ valour as displayed in 1918 during first World War to free the Israeli city of Haifa was remembered in Australia Tuesday. On Sep 23, 1918 Indian soldiers of two elite army units from Jodhpur and Mysore, in a heroic battle with Ottomans, liberated the port city of Haifa. “The Indian horsemen armed…

  • Tutu ashamed of Dalai Lama visa row

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    Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said he is ashamed because his country refused to grant the Dalai Lama a visa to South Africa to attend the 14th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates to be held in Cape Town Oct 13-15. “I am ashamed to call this lickspittle bunch my government,” Tutu said Wednesday in a…