Category: NATIONAL NEWS

M J Akbar attended official meetings on Monday and Tuesday as the junior external affairs minister after returning from a trip abroad, the ministry said Thursday, in first comments on the issue.At a press conference, MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, replying to a question, said he was not aware of any specific meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Akbar on the allegations levelled against him. Akbar, a former journalist, stepped down Wednesday in the face of mounting pressure following a spate of allegations of sexual harassment against him by several…

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Women journalists were heckled, their vehicles smashed and young female Ayyappa devotees turned back as hordes of Hindu right activists besieged the road leading to the Sabarimala temple whose gates open for women of menstrual age Wednesday evening for the first time after the Supreme Court’s verdict.The political slugfest over the Kerala government’s decision not to file a review petition against the apex court order also escalated as tempers frayed in areas surrounding the hill shrine that were on edge.Activist Rahul Easwar, a front-ranking leader of the protesters and votary…

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Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has kicked up a row with remarks that no “good” Hindu would favour a Ram temple in Ayodhya by demolishing somebody else’s place of worship, drawing stinging criticism from the BJP which dubbed his party and its chief Rahul Gandhi “anti- Hindu”.Tharoor, the MP from Thiruvananthapuram, made the comments at an event in Chennai on Sunday.”As a Hindu, obviously, I am conscious that a vast majority of my fellow Hindus believe that that was the specific birthplace of Ram.”For this reason, most good Hindus would want…

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Continuing with its campaign against the government over the Rafale deal, the Congress Sunday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was directly involved in it, adding that he had much to hide about it.Questioning Modi’s silence over the deal, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma claimed that only the prime minister was aware that the offset contracts would not be given to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).”It was his (Modi’s) decision. Only he was privy to what he was going to do,” Sharma said, addressing a press conference at the party office…

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi should apologise to people for “constantly troubling” the Delhi government, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Wednesday said following the Income Tax Department raids on premises linked to his minister Kailash Gahlot.The Income Tax Department (ITD) conducted searches this morning on multiple premises linked to Gahlot, the Delhi Transport minister, in connection with an alleged tax evasion case, officials said.”Friendship with Neerav Modi and Mallya and raid on us? Modiji you conducted raids on me Satyendar and Manish what happened to those (raids). Nothing was found. So before…

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Additional forces were deployed in industrial areas in Gujarat for the security of Hindi-speaking migrants after attacks on them sparked their exodus that prompted the state government on Monday to make an appeal for their return. Assuring security to the migrants, the Gujarat government said 431 people were arrested and 56 FIRs registered in connection with the attacks, as Chief Minister Vijay Rupani appealed to people not to engage in violence. Claiming that no untoward incident had taken place during the last 48 hours, Rupani said the situation has been…

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Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan said Thursday that final contours of the proposed `grand alliance’ of opposition in the state will emerge within a month. The next meeting of the Congress and NCP leaders to discuss alliance will be held on October 12, Chavan told PTI from Faizpur in Jalgaon district of the state over phone. “We are keen to take Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of Dr B R Ambedkar, with us and talks are on,” he said, adding that the issue of Ambedkar’s insistence to include the AIMIM in the…

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There is a need to check the support of urban sympathisers to Maoists so that the left-wing extremism can be eliminated in Chhattisgarh, senior cabinet minister Brijmohan Agrawal said Tuesday. The minister of water resources, agriculture and biotechnology, animal husbandry and fisheries said Naxalism has ended from 75 per cent area of the state and 25 per cent region was currently under its “little” influence. “There are some Naxal activities in 25 per cent of the areas that share borders with neighbouring states (Odisha and Andhra Pradesh). We will finish Naxalism…

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India staunchly believes in peace and is committed to taking it forward, but it would not be at the cost of compromising its self-respect and sovereignty, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Sunday as he asserted that the armed forces will give a befitting reply to any attempt to destroy the atmosphere of peace in the country.Recalling the 2016 surgical strikes, he said Indian troops gave a befitting reply to the “audacity of a proxy war” under the “garb of terrorism”In his monthly ‘Mann ki Baat’ radio address, Modi said, “It…

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 Union minister Rajnath Singh Saturday expressed concern over man-made threats to environment, saying challenges are getting deeper with the passing time. While speaking on the opening ceremony of a global summit cum expo on science, spirituality and environment here, the Union home minister said human life is in danger on planet earth.He said humans are creating a danger for their own life. Pollution is increasing and fertility of soil is decreasing. This is getting deeper constantly and this is a matter of concern for all, he said.Highlighting the work done…

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