Asian Lite News Archive

Category: INDIAN NEWS

  • 27 drown during Ganga Dussehra

    —

    in , ,

    At least 27 people were killed in separate incidents while taking dip in rivers on the occasion of Ganga Dussehra in Uttar Pradesh, police said Monday. The annual festival, which is celebrated as the day when the Ganga river is believed to have to descended on the earth, saw lakhs of devotees take dip Sunday…

  • Five bodies found in Himachal river tragedy

    —

    in , ,

    Five bodies of students were found in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district while the fate of 19 others who were washed away in Beas river that saw a flash-flood after the release of water from a hydropower project is still not known, an official said. The toll in Sunday’s accident has risen to five, Additional Deputy…

  • ROME – A world quite like ours

    —

    in , , , ,

    Vikas Datta says the ancient Rome is almost like ours Picture a metropolis where citizens live in multi-storey buildings, throng streets teeming with people from all over the world, eagerly follow and gossip over the foibles of the rich and famous, are keenly involved in governance which however is a preserve of a professional breed of…

  • Naidu begins second innings

    —

    in , ,

    Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday took oath as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan administered the oath to Naidu near Guntur town in the presence of tens of thousands of people. Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, union ministers Ananth Kumar and M. Venkaiah Naidu, the…

  • Sikhs protest in London

    —

    in , , ,

    Thousands of Sikhs march through central London in protest over the storming of India’s Golden Temple 30 years ago. The protesters are seeking the assault of June 1984 be recognised as a genocide, BBC reported. Sikhs say thousands were murdered when Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sent the army into Sikhism’s holiest shrine to flush…

  • Portal link to verify NGOs

    —

    in , , ,

    Shilpa Raina writes on a new online solution for sensible gifting to the needy in India The most pertinent question that crosses the mind of a donor is “will my donation be used for the right purpose” while the most daunting task a NGO faces is “to find ways to utilise unwanted gifts”. Bridging this chasm…

  • India & China hold first major talks

    —

    in , , ,

    Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in the national capital on Sunday morning and is holding talks with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. This is the first contact between the two governments after the Indian general elections. Wang Yi will also meet President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday. The details of Chinese…

  • NEWS N PICS – Metro in Mumbai

    —

    in ,

    Maharashtra’s first Metro Rail was inaugurated with Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan showing a green flag to the maiden Mumbai Metro service amid cheers by a large crowd of onlookers here Sunday morning. The inauguration of the first rail corridor linking east-west Mumbai suburbs between Versova and Ghatkopar proceeded smoothly despite a bitter controversy over passenger fares. In…

  • WILL SOMEONE STOP THIS NONSENSE

    —

    in , ,

    DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra This is Babulal Gaur the Home Minister of the Indian state of MP: “Sometimes rape is wrong and sometimes it is right.” Who elected this man to any post? The sheer stupidity of the remark is difficult to grasp. When is a rape okay by any yardstick? Oh, when the…

  • Plight of a holy river

    —

    in , ,

    Brij Khandelwal visits Mathura/Vrindavan/Agra to file a report on the holy river Yamuna. He says in Krishna’s land, ‘holy’ Yamuna is a sickly drain. Every day, thousands of devout Vaishnavs from all over the world return disappointed and frustrated from the ghats in Braj mandal, the land of Sri Krishna-Radha, when they see the miserable…

  • Guerrilla attacks in Kashmir

    —

    in , ,

    At least four people, including three policemen, were injured in two guerrilla attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, police said Saturday. Two policemen and a civilian were injured when militants attacked a passing police vehicle in Bongam locality of Shopian town Saturday afternoon, a senior police officer said here. The injured were taken to a hospital, while…

  • Kejriwal in damage control mode

    —

    in ,

    AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday described Yogendra Yadav, who had said that the party has “fallen prey to personality cult”, as a “valued colleague”. The remark came after the discord between top party leaders came out in the open following the leak of the letters exchanged between Manish Sisodia and Yadav. “Yogendra Yadav has…

  • NEWS N PICS – Clashes at Golden Temple

    —

    in , , ,

    An uneasy calm prevailed at the Golden Temple complex here on the 30th anniversary of Operation Bluestar Friday following a clash between radical Sikh activists and SGPC task force volunteers in which 10 people were injured. Swords and sticks were freely used as scores of men from both sides chased one another outside the Akal Takht…

  • Uneasy calm at Golden Temple

    —

    in ,

    An uneasy calm prevailed at the Golden Temple complex here on the 30th anniversary of Operation Bluestar Friday following a clash between radical Sikh activists and SGPC task force volunteers in which 10 people were injured. Swords and sticks were freely used as scores of men from both sides chased one another outside the Akal…

  • Monsoon hits Kerala

    —

    in ,

    The only good news Friday was that the monsoon hit the coastal belt in Kerala.Regional Met director J.P. Gupta, said in Lucknow that the monsoon, after hitting the Kerala coast earlier in the day, was “on schedule” and in all likelihood will reach the eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh June 15. Heat wave conditions intensified…

  • Submarine INS Sindhurakshak salvaged

    —

    in ,

    Almost 10 months after submarine INS Sindhurakshak sank after an accident killing 18 sailors, it has been fished out of the water, official sources said here Friday. The Russian-built Kilo-Class submarine was lifted out of its watery grave a couple of days ago using specialized equipment, hoisted on a barge and later towed for anchoring…

  • Nagaland is rich in gold

    —

    in , ,

    “There’s gold in them thar hills” was a promotional campaign that ran in Georgia in the US for almost a century from the 1830s and this could well apply to the Naga Hills straddling India and Myanmar, which are a promising place to prospect for the yellow metal, according to a geologist , reports K.S. Jayaraman…

  • AI direct flight to Italy

    —

    in , , ,

    National passenger carrier Air India started its maiden operations to Italy with direct flights on its fleet of newly-acquired Boeing 787 Dreamliner. According to the airline, its operations will include flights from Delhi to Rome and Milan on a triangular route with Dreamliner aircraft. The Delhi-Rome-Milan-Delhi flight will operate four days a week, while the…

  • AAP’s national executive meet

    —

    in

    The three-day national executive meet of the AAP began here on  Friday amid infighting in the party over its debacle in the Lok Sabha polls. Some 40 members, including party chief Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Yogendra Yadav were present at the meet which took place at Prashant Bhushan’s residence in Jangpura in south Delhi.…

  • Modi’s diplomatic calender full

    —

    in ,

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a busy foreign policy calendar with several foreign visits lined up over the next few months, beginning with Bhutan this month and to Japan in July. However, the neighbourhood would remain a foreign policy priority of the new government. External affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin, outlining the foreign visits…

  • WHO KILLED MOHSIN SHAIKH? WHY?

    —

    in , ,

    Bikram Vohra questions the killing of an innocent youth in Pune over a social media prank Who gave these people the permission to be the conscience of the nation? Just because some idiot morphed pictures of Hindu right group RSS leader Bal Thackeray on the Net you cannot turn into cold blooded killers and justify your…

  • Breakdown at AAP?

    —

    in ,

    AAP leader Manish Sisodia Friday said the letter he wrote to party colleague Yogendra Yadav the day before was part of discussion, and underplayed the AAP infighting, saying these things happen in a party. “It was part of discussion. These things happen in a party and everything will be sorted,” Sisodia said after the letter he wrote…

  • Deadline set for Bangalore garbage mess

    —

    in

    Waking up to the growing menace of garbage piling up across Bangalore for want of landfills, the Karnataka government has set a four-month deadline to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to clear the mess. “We have directed the civic body to clear the garbage mess in the next four months by allowing promoters to…

  • Groups clash inside Golden Temple

    —

    in , ,

    At least seven people, including a child, were injured in a clash between task force volunteers of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and radical Sikh activists Friday on the 30th anniversary of the army’s Operation Bluestar at the Sikh shrine complex here. Swords and sticks were openly used as scores of men from both…

  • Modi-Obama summit to reset ties

    —

    in , ,

    The US is looking forward to the first summit meeting between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reset India-US ties that had gone adrift in the last days of the previous government. In what analysts describe as a significant foreign policy move, Modi is reported to have accepted Obama’s invitation to visit…

  • Sumitra Mahajan is Lok Sabha speaker

    —

    in

      BJP leader Sumitra Mahajan, an eight-time member of parliament, was Friday unanimously elected Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha. The name of Mahajan, MP from Indore, was proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and seconded by BJP patriarch L.K. Advani and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, and many others, cutting across party lines. Earlier,…

  • Hindi to be India’s lingua franca

    —

    in , ,

    Like many other cultural practices that are a legacy of British colonial rule, English remained the lingua franca of the Indian diplomacy since the country’s independence in 1947. All conversations and correspondence by members of the elite Indian Foreign Service were conducted largely in English, even though Hindi is the country’s national language. But that…

  • Emirates ups India service

    —

    in , , , ,

    Emirates, a global connector of people and places will expand its A380 network to 28 destinations, when it launches a daily A380 service to Mumbai International Airport on 21st July. EK 500 and EK 501 between Dubai and Mumbai will be up-scaled to a three-class A380 aircraft, representing with a capacity increase of 2,127 seats…

  • Siddaramaiah calls on Modi

    —

    in

    Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda in the national capital and discussed various issues pertaining to the state, an official said. “Siddaramaiah called on Modi at the latter’s office and congratulated him for becoming the prime minister. He also discussed issues pertaining to…

  • Sahara chief to remain in jail

    —

    in ,

    Sahara group chief Subrata Roy will remain in jail even as the Supreme Court Wednesday lifted the freeze on the group’s moveable and immovable assets so it could raise Rs.10,000 crore for part repayment of investors money collected by two group companies. A bench of Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice A.K. Sikri however said the…

  • Suspect held over Herat abduction

    —

    in , , ,

    Afghan security forces on Wednesday arrested a suspect in connection with the kidnapping of an Indian aid worker, Jesuit priest Father Alexis Prem Kumar, in western Herat province even as his family in Tamil Nadu prayed for his safety and sought “good news”. According to Kaama Press, provincial security chief Samiullah Qatra of Herat said…

  • Munde- Last rites held amid chaos

    —

    in ,

    The mortal remains of union minister Gopinath Munde, killed in a road accident in New Delhi Tuesday, were consigned to the flames at his birthplace here Wednesday even as several politicians, including Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and MNS chief Raj Thackeray who were present faced the ire of the people demanding a CBI probe…

  • Sam Cam lauds Ash & Team

    —

    in , ,

    Samantha Cameron, wife of British Prime Minister David Cameron, and Smile Train Goodwill Ambassador, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, at a reception that took place in Downing Street to highlight the work of international cleft lip and palate charity Smile Train. Samantha Cameron, the wife of British Prime Minister David Cameron, praised the work of international cleft lip…

  • Oman minister meets Modi, Sushma

    —

    in , , , ,

    Oman Foreign Minister Yousuf Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah, the first foreign dignitary to visit India since the Narendra Modi government came to power, met the prime minister Narendra Modi , as also External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, and discussed ways to boost trade and investment between the two countries, reports IANS. Abdullah, special envoy of…

  • A tribute to Gopinath Munde

    —

    in , ,

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays his last respect to Union Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde at BJP headquarters in New Delhi on June 3, 2014. Also seen Union Minister for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs M. Venkaiah Naidu.

  • Indian students leave east Ukraine

    —

    in ,

    The first batch of 500 Indian students has arrived safely in Kiev from Ukraine’s restive eastern region of Lugansk and will be returning to India after the Indian mission facilitated their evacuation. According to external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin, the students from Lugansk region arrived in Kiev “responding to the advisory to leave the…

  • Will fulfill people’s aspirations: Modi

    —

    in ,

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday expressed his gratitude to the citizens of the country for giving a decisive mandate in the Lok Sabha polls. He said his government will make all efforts to fulfill the hopes and aspirations of the people. “I express my gratitude to the citizens of the country for giving a decisive…

  • Munde’s body reach home

    —

    in ,

    The body of senior BJP leader and union minister Gopinath Munde, who was killed in a road accident in New Delhi early Tuesday, was flown in to Latur from Mumbai Wednesday morning. Thousands of mourners, including senior party leaders, activists and commoners received the coffin at Latur airport. Earlier, the body was taken from the…

  • India’s demographic mystery

    —

    in ,

    Amit Kapoor in his column Active Voice narrates on demographic dividends vs demographic burden  India is a country of a billion strong people which is expected to increase to 1.6 billion by 2050. Presently, a little more than 50 percent of the population is above the age of 25 and below the age of retirement.…

  • Munde’s death creates vacuum for Modi

    —

    in ,

    Union minister Gopinath Munde’s sudden death in a road accident here Tuesday has created a political vacuum for BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will now have to find a suitable replacement in crucial social sector ministries including rural development. A genial politician with friends across the political spectrum, the 64-year-old Munde’s being tasked…

  • India backs Palestine unity government

    —

    in , ,

    India Tuesday said it supported the formation of the Palestine unity government and hoped the dialogue with Israel is resumed at the earliest towards a mutually acceptable political solution. In a statement, the external affairs ministry spokesperson said the formation of the unity government is in keeping with India’s stance of supporting the reconciliation efforts…

  • Munde death shocks India

    —

    in ,

    Union Minister for Rural Development Gopinath Munde was killed early Tuesday in a road accident in the national capital when he was on way to the airport to catch a flight to Mumbai. He was 64 and is survived by his wife Pradnya and three daughters, including Maharashtra legislator Pankaja Munde-Palve. The news of his…

  • Neerja Bhanot case surfaces again

    —

    in

    The Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked the central government to take up the issue of discrimination by the US government against Indian victims of 1986 Pan-Am flight 73 hijack case, reports IANS. A division bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, while disposing of a public interest litigation petition filed by the…

  • Indian aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan

    —

    in , ,

    An Indian aid worker was abducted Monday by unknown gunmen in Afghanistan’s western Herat province, a media report said. The Indian was working with an NGO here, Khaama Press cited local government officials as saying. A security official in Zenda Jan district said the incident took place Monday afternoon while the aid worker was visiting…

  • THE TEARS FROM A HANGING TREE

    —

    in ,

    Bikram Vohra says  if Mr Modi’s government was to call me and ask me to shoot the three rapists and their two police cohorts in Katra village in Uttar Pradesh I would cheerfully oblige and then go have a hearty lunch with some burgundy to celebrate my act of valour and vindication I don’t know about…

  • UN condemns UP gang rape & murder

    —

    in , ,

    The United Nations Monday condemned the gang rape and murder of two girls in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district and called for immediate action against the perpetrators and to address violence against women across India. “There should be justice for the families of the two teenaged girls and for all the women and girls from lower…

  • SC stays execution of Yakub Memon

    —

    in , ,

    The Supreme Court Monday issued notice to the centre on a petition by 1993 Mumbai bomb blast accused Yakub Abdul Razak Memon challenging the apex court’s rules guiding its review of a death sentence. The apex court bench of Justice J.S. Kehar and Justice C. Nagappan also suspended the execution of death sentence of Memon.…

  • BJP seeks intervention in UP

    —

    in , ,

    The Uttar Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sought the union home ministry’s intervention in the failing law and order situation in the state, a party leader said Monday. This follows a first-hand probe by the party’s state unit in the recent rape and murder cases in Badaun, Etawah and Azamgarh. State…

  • Telangana CM takes oath

    —

    in , ,

    Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao Monday took oath as the first chief minister of Telangana, a few hours after it took birth as the 29th state of India. Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan administered the oath of office and secrecy to 60-year-old Rao at a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan here. Eleven cabinet ministers…

  • Learn a language to stem ageing

    —

    in , , ,

    Just good news for Indians. A study conducted by the University of Edinburgh shows Learning second language ‘slows brain ageing’  India, a potpourri of different cultures, religions, and beliefs, is home to not just one or two languages but to an uncountable number of different lingual families. There are 22 official languages and about 300 regional…