Asian Lite News Archive

Category: INDIAN NEWS

  • Indian wines charm visitors

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    Pleasing the palate of wine connoisseurs of central Europe, Indian wines made an impressive debut at Vino Ljubljana 2014 International Wine Fair in Slovenia with the entire stock sold out even before the event concluded, said their Italian importer. “My stock of Indian wines was completely exhausted well before the closing time of the Expo…

  • Surendra Koli’s execution stayed

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    The Supreme Court has stayed the execution of Nithari killings convict Surendra Koli by one week. Chief justice designate H.L. Dattu passed the order in the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, staying Koli’s execution on his appeal. Koli was represented by senior counsel Indira Jaising. Koli was to be executed Monday at Meerut jail.…

  • BJP accused of poaching MLA’s

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      The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Monday released a video which showed some BJP leaders allegedly offering a plum post and money to an AAP legislator in a bid to form the government in Delhi. Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of indulging in horse trading, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal said that he won’t allow…

  • Modi offers help to Pakistan

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      Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday offered Indian assistance to Pakistan for flood relief operations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, but Islamabad said its relief and rescue operations were proceeding effectively. “It is a matter of great distress that the retreating monsoon rains have played havoc in many parts of our two countries,” Modi said in a…

  • Italian marine being treated for stroke

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    Massimiliano Latorre, one of the two Italian marines facing trial in India for killing of two Indian fishermen in 2012, was discharged from a hospital here Sunday where he had been admitted after he suffered a transient ischemic attack or a mini stroke. Italian news agency ANSA, quoting medical sources in New Delhi, said that…

  • Bahrain king lauds Indian expats

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    Bahrain’s King Hamad has lauded the Indian expatriate community for its contribution in pushing forward the island nation’s development. King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa made the remarks Saturday during the two-day visit by India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to attend a forum meeting held here on investment opportunities in India. “The Indian migrants are…

  • Britain to resolve students visa issue

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      Britain’s Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Vince Cable is scheduled to visit India next month to resolve the matter of visas for Indians wanting to study in Britain. The move came following a sharp drop in applications from India, in contrast to a steep rise in the number of Chinese students coming…

  • Veggies prone to Vit B12 deficiency

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    Shweta Sharma says vegetarians prone to vitamin B12 deficiency Nupur De swore by a vegetarian diet which she said helped her keep “healthy and fit”. But what she did not know until recently was that such a diet could result in vitamin B12 deficiency which, health experts say, is a common condition among Indians. Thirty-two-year-old…

  • Modi reaches Jammu with Rs1000 cr aid

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      Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday arrived at the Jammu airport here, specially to conduct an aerial survey of the flood-ravaged areas of Jammu and Kashmir. Modi was received by Governor N.N. Vohra and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. Accompanied by army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag, Modi will conduct the aerial survey of the flood-affected…

  • Special Report: The plight of Bahais

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    Anando Bhakto looks in to the plight of Bahais. Persecuted in Iran, Baha’is worse off in Iraq  While the rising tide of arrests of Baha’is in Iran and destruction of their cemetery in Shiraz continues to grab headlines, the community – best known in India for their magnificent lotus-shaped marble temple here that is visited…

  • THE SAGA OF THE 6 STAR SHAVING CREAM

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    Daily Dose by Bikram Vohra Let me hear it from all you folks who are globetrotters and keep putting your profiles on Facebook showing yourselves in airport lounges and reclining in first class cabins. Clearly, you stay in swank 6 star hotels. So tell me, their rooms have these amenities, right? and they are all…

  • ‘Event cinema’ in India

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    Here’s a chance to experience global entertainment format, live performances and special acts at a cinema hall. Indian multiplex chain PVR Cinemas has launched PVR Live, an international concept of event cinema in the country. As part of its efforts to give a new cinematic experience, select PVR theatres across 17 cities will showcase live…

  • DIGITAL INDIA – One billion out of Net!

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    Treat lack of Internet connection as opportunity’  Though one billion people in India do not have regular access to the internet, that should not be perceived as a challenge — rather it should be treated as an opportunity, R.S. Sharma, secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology said. “Close to four billion people in the…

  • Karan pays tributes to Dad

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    Dad put relationships over films: KJo  On his father Yash Johar’s 85th birth anniversary, filmmaker Karan Johar reminisced how he used to always give precedence to relationships over movies. He says it’s a “tall order” to follow. “Dad’s birthday today…his stand was always to put relationships over films…a tall order to follow…I still try…miss him…

  • Marxists challenge Modi credentials

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    Communal clashes on the rise under Modi government: CPI-M Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat Saturday hit out at the Narendra Modi government at the centre saying the BJP’s victory has emboldened ‘Hindutva forces’ resulting in an upsurge in communal violence in the country. “The BJP’s victory has emboldened the Hindutva forces.…

  • Agra bans idol immersion in Yamuna

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    Agra authorities prevented devotees from immersing Ganesh idols in the polluted Yamuna river, bringing cheer to environmentalists. The Agra Municipal Corporation set up three artificial tanks, along the river, for people to immerse the idols. “For the past 10 days, the administration has been working on plans and urging people to use the ‘Visarjan kunds’ (immersion…

  • Special Report: Tagore & Depression

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    A new book reveals Tagore’s battle with depression  Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore’s long battle with depression and loneliness can inspire people suffering from depressive illnesses to speak out and engage their near and dear ones to aid them in tackling the issue, a leading psychiatrist said. A prolific author and composer, Tagore witnessed deaths…

  • Ashok Tandon on Modi’s 100 days

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    Ashok Tandon says Modi govt is delivering tough messages and good policy directions  The jury is still out whether Narendra Modi has ushered in “achhe din” (good days) in the first hundred days of his government. But one thing about which there are hardly two opinions among political analysts of all hues is that after…

  • WHY THE BROWN IS THE NEW BLACK?

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    Daily Dose by Bikram Vohra Back in 2006, Joe Biden, then a Senate candidate ran into trouble for a remark that “you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.” Gaffe-prone Biden got away by explaining that it wasn’t a racial slur but “was meant as a…

  • India in tsunami mock drill

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      India, along with 23 other countries on the Indian Ocean rim, will participate in mock tsunami drill Sep 9 and 10 to test Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWS). This drill, organized under the auspices of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, is expected to increase preparedness, evaluate response capabilities in each country and…

  • Multiple voices in Congress

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    The Congress High Command, which is a pseudonym for party president Sonia Gandhi, must have realized by now that securing a clean chit for the mother-and-son duo in a report on the poll debacle by a servile loyalist will not put an end to constant carping by party members.Hence, perhaps, the decision by the admirers…

  • Kejriwal demands fresh election

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      AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal met President Pranab Mukherjee Saturday and submitted a memorandum requesting him to announce fresh elections in the national capital. The Delhi assembly has been in suspended animation since Feb 2014 after Kejriwal quit as chief minister. “Media reports suggest that the Lt. Governor of Delhi has recently sent a report…

  • Al Qaeda’s gift to Hindu right wing

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    How dangerous are Ayman al Zawahiri’s exhortations to Muslims on the sub continent? There is an expression in Hindi, “Soney pey suhaga”, suhaga being the powder which makes gold shine. In a volatile social situation, where communal polarization is an electoral requirement until key state elections are out of the way, the Zawahiri slogan may have…

  • Jammu flood toll rises

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      The toll in the Jammu flood, triggered by incessant downpour for the last five days, has risen to 120 following the death of 14 people in a landslide. The Met Office Saturday said the “worst is over”. Fourteen people died Friday in Thanamandi area of Rajouri district when a landslide buried them, officials said.…

  • ‘ISI targeting India, Pak PM’

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     Suggesting that Pakistani army and its spy agency ISI were targeting India and their own Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a dangerous game, a former CIA analyst has advocated greater US-India intelligence cooperation.Release of a new Al Qaeda videotape of its leader, Ayman Zawahiri, announcing the creation of an Al Qaeda franchise in India had…

  • Ex-CIA analyst warns of ISI plans

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    Suggesting that Pakistani army and its spy agency ISI were targeting India and their own Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a dangerous game, a former CIA analyst has advocated greater US-India intelligence cooperation. Release of a new Al Qaeda videotape of its leader, Ayman Zawahiri, announcing the creation of an Al Qaeda franchise in India…

  • Special Report: Street theatre in Kashmir

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    Sheikh Qayoom explorig the chances of the survival of street theatre  in Kashmir Traditional Kashmiri street theatre, which once occupied centre stage as the most powerful medium of mass communication in Kashmiri society, seems to be dying a silent death. In ‘Bandh Pather’ artistes dressed in colourful attire move from village to village highlighting social, economic and…

  • Asian Lite Bookshelf

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    Let’s rewrite the history of our universe, look at terrorism financing, read a modern classic and find your true calling. These varied themes make it to Asian Lite ‘s  bookshelf this week. Take a look. 1. Book: One Hundred Days: Her Quest, My Cure; Author: Shweta Modgil; Publisher: Tara; Pages: 150 Can one afford to just…

  • World mayors’ meet in Hyderabad

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    Mayors from 60 countries expected for Hyderabad conference Mayors and experts in urban management from 60 countries will attend the Metropolis conference scheduled in Hyderabad next month. Around 2,000 delegates including commissioners, town planning Officers and experts in municipal administration will attend the four-day conference, beginning Oct 7. It has been called by Metropolis, the…

  • REVIEW: Modi’s Pied Piper act in Japan

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    Biswajit Choudhury says Modi seen as Pied Piper for Japanese investments in India India Inc sees a big leap in Japan’s business interest in India, with the commitment of $35 billion in infrastructure a case in point, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned home Wednesday after a five-day visit to this East Asian nation. This…

  • Special Report: Indian Online Advert Market

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    K Anantha Raman says online advertising market to touch Rs.3,575 crore by March 2015  With the rise in advertisement spending by the e-commerce, telecom, fast moving consumer goods and consumer durables sectors in India, the online advertising market is projected to touch Rs.3,575 crore by March 2015, a report said . The report ‘Digital Advertising…

  • GOA: Lessons to learn from Bali

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    Francisco de Braganca says Goa should look east, emulate Bali’s success  Goa should look east and learn from the transformation of Indonesia’s Bali province from a backward region with poor infrastructure in 2001 to a beautiful, thriving beach tourism paradise. As things stand now, Bali, as a tourism destination, is far ahead of Goa. We…

  • Microsoft’s innovation hub

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    Microsoft to set up innovation hubs in India With a plan to catalyze the country’s technology startup ecosystem, GenNext Ventures, the venture investment management arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Friday signed a three-year partnership with Microsoft India, through Microsoft Ventures in India, to set up GenNext Innovation Hubs, an official statement said here. The…

  • Indian speaker in Geneva

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    Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said men and women should participate equally for inclusive growth’ Men and women should participate equally in the development process as it contributes to inclusive growth, sustainable development and long-term prosperity, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said at an event in Geneva. Participating in the Ninth Annual Meeting of Women Speakers…

  • Holland to lead European Hindus

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    For the first time in the History of the umbrella for Hindus of Europe, the presidency has slipped from the hands of the British. Mr Radj Bondoe, president Emeritus of the Hindu Raad Nederlands has been voted in as President, This makes him the third president of the organisation. The first two were both British. The…

  • India, Australia to sign nuclear pact

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      Australia and India are to sign a nuclear agreement Friday allowing the latter to purchase uranium for civilian nuclear use, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said here. “Prime Minister Modi and I will today sign a nuclear cooperation agreement that will finally allow Australian uranium to India,” he said while addressing a meeting of…

  • Modi spells out nation building

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    Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday said that nation building should become a national movement and every individual should be associated with it.Addressing students here on Teachers’ Day, Modi said if every individual associates himself with the task of nation building, “we can go very far”. He said people who had achieved something in life and…

  • Wardrobe & Health Risks

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    Naveen Ram looks in to the link between stylish wardrobes and health issues Do not follow fashion trends blindly. Consider the long and short-term health risks associated with the latest fashion trends, says leading Orthopaedic Surgeon, Simon Moyes. As a specialist sports injury orthopaedic surgeon, Moyes is no stranger to the aches and pains of professional athletes that…

  • INTERVIEW: Parineeti Chopra

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    Not doing anything startlingly glamorous: Parineeti told  Subhash K. Jha  Bollywood’s favourite girl-next-door Parineeti Chopra says she will wear a bikini only when she is in the right shape, but not right now. Yash Raj Films is known for presenting their heroines in the most glamorous avatar on the screen. However, the 25-year-old, who has done…

  • Currency Corner by Vatsal

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    Vatsal Srivastava in his weekly column Currency Corner says ECB has gone all out to fight Europe’s economic woes  It’s official – the zero-interest rate policy (ZIRP) era is here to stay. After the US Federal Reserve, Bank of England and the Bank of Japan, ECB president Mario Draghi made it clear that it too would undertake…

  • A PLATEFUL OF NONSENSE?

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    Daily Dose by Bikram Vohra How it all began was the other night we were invited to this swank restaurant (sometimes it does happen) where the stewards have fake accents and are better dressed than you are and the menus are the size of hoardings and you could covert them into tents for a family…

  • Indian girls among the most abused: Unicef

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    Indian mothers and step-mothers are those mostly likely to subject their daughters to “physical violence,” according to a Unicef report that raises the issues of corporal punishment and discipline. Among Indian girls 15 to 19 years of age, 41 percent experienced physical violence at the hands of their mothers or step-mothers, while only 18 percent…

  • Floods ravages Kashmir

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      Hundreds of people abandoned their homes and fled to safety as the flood situation worsened in the Kashmir Valley Friday. The flood situation became serious with unprecedented heavy downpour continuing in the region for the fourth day Friday. The administration here is finding it difficult to reach the inundated areas. Reports from all the…

  • ‘the sarod project’

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    Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and his sons, Ayaan and Amaan, will undertake a concert tour of the US through October. The concert and Khan’s teaching stint at Stanford is part of what he calls ‘the sarod project’, an attempt to make more Americans aware of the sarod, a musical instrument, which has so…

  • US concerned over Al Qaeda

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     The US has expressed concern over the reported creation of a new Al Qaeda wing in the Indian subcontinent but said it did not regard it as an indication of any new capabilities by the terror group. The US had not been “able to verify those reports yet,” State Department spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters…

  • Rahul ridicules Modi’s Drum Spirit

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    Congress leader said Modi is playing drums in Japan, people battling problems here Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Thursday took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he was playing the drums in Japan while people in India were battling power cuts, price rise and lack of roads and water supply. “The prime minister…

  • London to host Eco Film Fest

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    The first ever Environmental Film Festival to be hosted in London For the first time in Britain, an environmental film festival is being organised on 12th and 13th September screening films connected to the Environment and impact of Climate Change on communities, biodiversity and culture. The Films include The Last Dance, Turtles in a Soup, The Silenced Witness,…

  • Aussie’s seek land of opportunities

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      Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who began his India visit from Mumbai where he arrived early Thursday with a 30-strong business delegation, said his country wants to make most of the “abundance of opportunities for business” in India. Addressing businessmen at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Abbott said that India has amazed the world…

  • Sadananda Gowda’s son in trouble

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      A court Thursday issued an arrest warrant against Karthik Gowda, son of Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, in a rape and cheating case filed against him by a Kannada actress after he got engaged to another woman. “As Karthik failed to appear before our investigation team despite repeated summons since Aug 29 for questioning…

  • Rahul hits out at Modi

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    Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Thursday took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he was playing the drums in Japan while people in the country were battling power cuts, price rise and lack of roads and water supply. “The prime minister is playing the drums in Japan while there is no electricity here.…