Three persons, including Ramdev's brother Rambharat, were sent to 14 days' judicial custody even as seven more persons were arrested today in connection with the clash between security guards of yoga guru's Patanjali Herbal and Food Park and local union of transporters which left one dead. 

Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said here today that the Centre has no plan to ban beef across the country, amidst a row over Maharashtra government's decision to ban beef.

Indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant would be ready by 2018, Navy chief Admiral R K Dhowan said on Thursday.

David Patraeus (Chairman, KKR Global Institute) met Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. 

George Pataki, the Republican who won the governorship three times in heavily Democratic New York, will run for US president in 2016. Read

Terror attacks and deaths took a much-welcome backseat in Afghanistan today when this picture of former president Hamid Karzi hanging out with a panda started trending on Twitter.

Karzai's second term ended in September last year. The source of the picture remains unclear, but it is quite likely that it may have been taken during Karzai's trip to China when he was president.

Beijing Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra on Thursday qualified for the Rio Olympics 2016 through one of the Olympic quotas, reports Zee News. Bindra shot 627.5 to qualify in the 10m air rifle event at the 1972 Olympic Shooting Range in Hochbrucke on Thursday. He is the fourth Indian shooter to qualify for Rio Games after he clinched one of the three quotas available.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to accompany Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Bangladesh visit. Modi will take the border settlement and water sharing deals to Bangladesh next month as part of his drive to erode Chinese influence in South Asia, although Dhaka is likely to remain dependent on Beijing for military equipment.


Modi will undertake a two-day state visit to Bangladesh from June 6 to further bolster bilateral ties. Modi's maiden visit to Bangladesh comes on an invite by his counterpart Sheikh Hasina following his election last year, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The visit is expected to further strengthen the excellent relationship between the two countries," it said.

The statement said the two premiers would hold talks to review the "entire gamut of bilateral relations" while Modi will also make a courtesy call on President Abdul Hamid.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi who is back in New Delhi after a two-day visit to Kerala addressed the ongoing convention of the National Students Union of India (NSUI).


The target, of course, was PM Narendra Modi. Thankfully, though this time he did not bring up the suit-boot ki sarkar jibe that he has been parroting ad nauseam.


Rahul began his speech talking about the PM's foreign tours. PM visited China, US and even Mongolia, but did not meet farmers. Modi-ji bhashan me kehte hain gareebon ki madat karni hai. France ka daura ho gaya, USA, Japan, Mongolia tak chale gaye... Magar bhaiya, Modi-ji kisaan ke ghar nahin gaye.


Buoyed by the applause, Rahul continues....

"Parliament main jab hamari sarkar thi mujhe yaad hai Advani-ji chup baithte thay, aur BJP main sab log ek awaaz main bolte thay. Kisano ya education ki baat karni hai, ek vyakti jaanta hai, kapdko ki baat karni hai toh woh bhi ek hi vykati jaanta hai. (Takes a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi... Rahul says only one person knows everything from farmers' issues to clothes). There we go again. 


The PM says education is empowerment on the one hand, but on the other hand, cuts the education budget.


"RSS ki shakha ko dekho, usme line lagti hai, seedhi line hoti hai. Usme kissi ne 'chuu' kar diya, ussi ke upar laathi barsaate hain. Discipline is an excuse for them, an excuse to kill individuality.


"The complexity of India and it's ideologies are filled in this room, this is the strength of the Congress party. The DNA of the Congress party is to listen to everyone. BJP wants to run India like an RSS wing. Education is seeing the influence of the RSS."


He concludes his speech with Dr Manmohan Singh's meeting with the PM last evening. "Kal Manmohan-ji ne kaha economy down ja rahi hai, uske baad PM ne ek ghante ki paathshaala li hamare PM-ji (Manmohan Singh) se." 

Beef stake lovers, breathe easy.

The BJP today ruled out a country-wide ban on beef, saying it is for the states to take a decision on it keeping in mind the "sentiments of the people".


"Wherever there is BJP government, we will consider sentiments of the people before imposing ban on beef. We have not said that we will be banning beef across the country," BJP president Amit Shah said.


BJP governments in Maharashtra and Haryana have banned beef. To a query on extending ban on cow slaughter in Goa, Shah said, "Goa government will take a decision only after discussing the issue with people."


He also downplayed Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi's remark that "those who want to eat beef can go to Pakistan", saying it was his "personal" view. "That was his personal comment. I have no comment to make. I can't make personal comment. I am the party President," Shah said to queries on the issue.

Veteran Bollywood actor Dharmendra has been admitted to South Mumbai's Breach Candy hospital, on what is believed to be a routine check-up. The actor is stable now. In April 2014, Dharmendra fell ill and was advised complete bed rest by doctors, when he was shooting for a Punjabi film called 'Double Trouble'. 

In a tour of Rae Bareli, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today accused the Centre of showing apathetic attitude towards her constituency, days after Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Modi government was pursuing "politics of vendetta" against them.


Gandhi, who reached here this morning for a day-long visit, discussed with officials the progress of various development works in the area.


She did not make any comment but Uttar Pradesh's Cabinet Minister Manoj Kumar Pandey, who attended the meeting, said a resolution was passed at the meet. He said the resolution was proposed by him and read out by Sonia Gandhi.

PM Modi's response to the deadlock on the Land Bill: Gaon, Garib, Kisan: if the suggestions are favourable to these downtrodden groups and are in the interests of the nation, we will accept those suggestions.


In a wide-ranging interview to PTI, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday expressed confidence that reforms measures like the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and land acquisition Bill will be passed in "a matter of time".  Full text of PM's interview on Rediff.com shortly.


To a question on whether he would have done things differently in the last one year, Modi says:  I had two options. One option was to do things methodically to mobilise the government machinery, correct the many defects and ills which had crept into the system, so as to provide long term benefits to the country in the form of clean, efficient and fair governance. The other option was to use the mandate to announce new populist schemes and bombard the media with announcements to keep the people fooled. The latter course is easier and people are used to it. However, I did not choose this and instead chose the more difficult path of correcting the defective government machinery in a quiet and methodical way. If I had chosen the populist course, it would have been a breach of the trust placed in me by the people."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will perform yoga at a public event next month, as part of his international drive to increase participation in this ancient Indian tradition.


Modi will demonstrate exercises as well as breathing control at an event in New Delhi, on June 21, at Rajpath. The United Nations declared as June 21 as International Day of Yoga.


Modi had used his first speech at the UN General Assembly in September to call for such a day to be recognised. Yoga lets people "discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature", Modi said at the time.


Modi is an enthusiastic practitioner of yoga and performs Yoga exercises every day and credits them with giving him energy so he only needs a few hours sleep each night.


In November, Modi appointed India's first minister to promote yoga and traditional medicines as he embarked on a mission to increase awareness about home-grown health treatments.


Modi also introduced a plan to allow government officials to practice yoga at work. - Reuters

Pic courtesy: ‏@NaMo4PM

The Dalai Lama has urged fellow Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to do more to help Myanmar's persecuted Muslim Rohingya minority amid a worsening migration crisis.


Despite thousands of Rohingya fleeing on harrowing boat journeys to Southeast Asia to escape poverty and discriminatory treatment by the country's Buddhist majority, opposition leader Suu Kyi is yet to comment. Observers have attributed this to fears about alienating voters ahead of elections slated for November.


Read: The 'nowhere people' of Myanmar

Navy chief Admiral RK Dhowan raised hopes of armed forces veterans on the 'one rank one pension' issue.

Dhowan said that the government and the defence minister were fully aware of the matter, but the final decision rested with the government. "One has to be patient,"  one has to be patient, the admiral said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made repeated assurances at many places, and while addressing the troops at the highest battlefield of the world, Siachen, on the eve of Diwali last year, he stated that the order of implementation of OROP had been issued. 


Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar also repeatedly assured veterans that the NDA government would  implement OROP before the government completes a year in office.


Now, that a year in office is over, ex-servicemen had expected the PM to announce the implementation of OROP on Monday during his rally in Mathura.


But Modi has remained mum. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday paid their tributes to independence movement activist Veer Savarkar on his 132nd birth anniversary.


Pic: The Savarkar Cell in Cellular Jail, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where he was jailed from 1911 to 1921.

While politicians will play games, the people of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana would like the economy to regain momentum. For this, both Chief Ministers should be less obsessed with building their capitals and focus on development, writes Dr Sanjaya Baru. Read


Dr Baru was former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's former media advisor, and was in the eye of the storm for his criticism of Dr Singh in his book, The Accidental Prime Minister.  Read his interview to Rediff.com

Congress leader P Chidambaram today described as "puzzling" Modi government's decision to extend e-visa facility to China, which is still giving stapled visas to people from Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh.


"It is a puzzling decision. You have offered e-visa to China," Chidambaram told PTI.   Ignoring concerns of the intelligence agencies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced during his China visit that India will grant e-visas to Chinese tourists, making it the 77th country to get such a facility.


Disagreeing with Modi's decision, the former Finance Minister sought to know the justification for such a decision.


"China continues to issue stapled visa for people from Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. How do you reconcile to these two things? China not willing to give visa to Indian citizens from Arunachal and Jammu and Kashmir. What is the justification of giving e-visa to China?" he asked.


Modi made the announcement while addressing students and faculty at the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing on May 15.

Former Home Minister P Chidambaram today hailed the Tripura government's decision to withdraw the AFSPA from the state, saying it is a victory for sanity and humanity.


"My plea to repeal AFSPA heard in Tripura. AFSPA withdrawn. Victory for sanity and humanity," he tweeted.


Chidambaram had strongly advocated, as Union Home Minister, for repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958.


"Some things do not have a place in a civilised country. One of them is AFSPA," he had said recently.


The Tripura government yesterday decide to lift AFSPA from the state, where the controversial law was in effect for the last 18 years to curb insurgency.


Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said the state government had reviewed the situation of the disturbed areas of the state after every six months and also discussed the issue with the state police and other security forces working in the state.


"They suggested that there is no requirement of the Act now as the insurgency problem has largely been contained. We would soon issue gazette notification in this regard," Sarkar said.


The Act was imposed in the state on February 16, 1997 following spurt of violence by the ultras.

Three men who hijacked a plane of Pakistani airlines in 1998 and tried to take it to India were among eight persons who were hanged today in different jails across Pakistan.


The convicts, Shahsawar, Sabir were sent to gallows in Hyderabad jail while Shabbir was executed in Karachi Central Jail.


A court in Hyderabad (Pakistan) sentenced them to death on August 20, 1998 and their appeals were later turned by the higher courts. Pakistan International Airline (PIA) Fokker plane was hijacked by the three men shortly after it took off from Turbat in Balochistan for Karachi.


There were 30 passengers on board and the hijackers wanted to take it to India, but pilot Captain Uzair Khan duped them by landing at the Hyderabad airport, as the hijackers were told that they had landed in India.


Later, the security forces stormed the plane and overpowered the hijackers. Meanwhile, another death row prisoner was hanged in Karachi Central Jail. He was guilty of killing a minor boy in 2003.

The AAP government today moved the Delhi High Court challenging the Centre's recent notification giving the Lieutenant Governor absolute powers in appointing bureaucrats in the national capital.


The petition was mentioned before a bench of justices B D Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva, saying, "The Delhi government has decided to move against the Ministry of Home Affair's (MHA's) May 21 notification."


"As per the notification, the LG would have jurisdiction over matters connected with services, public orders, police and land, and...services of bureaucrats...allowing him discretionary powers to seek the opinion of the CM," it said.


The petition was mentioned by Delhi government standing counsel Raman Duggal a day after the Centre moved the Supreme Court challenging an order of the Delhi HC which termed as "suspect" MHA's recent notification barring the city government's Anti-corruption Branch (ACB) from acting against its officers in criminal offences.


The HC had also held that the LG cannot act in his discretion.


Duggal also said that he has challenged all notifications issued by the Centre in the past. The bench has listed the matter for hearing tomorrow. The Delhi government, led by the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, has also challenged the appointment of Shakuntala Gamlin as acting chief secretary by the LG.

Asians, specially Sikhs, have often become targets of racism in the West. A young Sikh boy in the UK, however, made stood up to a bully, and the video has now gone viral.


The incident happened outside a school in the UK, when a Sikh boy standing on the pavement was asked to move aside by a white boy.

Despite doing so, the bully began arguing with him, even as the Sikh boy backs up. But suddenly the bully socks the Sikh boy, which is when he loses his cool and beats up the bully. The audio in the clip is inaudible (except for a few expletives), but what is apparent is that the Sikh boy taught the bully a lesson he will not forget in a hurry.  Watch

The Maharashtra governments home, and the law and judiciary departments do not have any records pertaining to the Salman Khan accident case of September 28, 2002, an activist said here on Wednesday.


A Right To Information query by Mansoor Darvesh has revealed that the files were burnt in the June 21, 2012 devastating fire that engulfed Mantralaya, the state government headquarters in south Mumbai.


I had filed the RTI query to the two departments seeking information on the total number of counsels, lawyers, solicitors, legal advisors, public prosecutors, etc. engaged and appointed by the state government to fight the case, Darvesh said.


He even asked for the total expenses incurred by the state on the case, from the start in 2002 till the judgement by the Mumbai sessions court on May 6 this year.


However, the government responded with partial information stating that the documents related to the case was lost in the 2012 fire and therefore, it cannot be made available.


All that the state government has knowledge about is the appointment of the last (current) Special Public Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat since September 2014 by paying a fee of Rs.6,000 per hearing, he said.


Interestingly, the state officials had promised to reconstruct all the destroyed files, but till date it has not managed to do so. Salman Khans accident case is one such example. The government is unaware how much expenditure it has incurred during the course of the case, Darvesh said.


On the early morning of September 28, 2002, Salman had rammed his Toyota Land Cruiser onto a footpath in Bandra where people were sleeping, killing one and injuring four others.


On May 6 this year, he was convicted for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and other charges and sentenced to five years imprisonment.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram today rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi's veiled charge that Sonia Gandhi was an "unconstitutional authority" and instead accused the BJP and the government of "running to" RSS with a "pernicious" hidden agenda. He attacked Modi saying he runs an "over-centralised" government and it will not go too far if it continues like this.


In a dig at him, he said Modi has transformed from Chief Minister of Gujarat to Chief Minister of India. Chidambaram, who held Finance and Home portfolios during the tenures of UPA government, dismissed criticism that Congress was adopting obstructionism in Parliament and said as Opposition its duty was to raise issues.


"They have not been able to point to a single instance, where Mrs. Sonia Gandhi took any government decision. She was the President of the party. As President of the party she is entitled to give the party's view.


"Why do BJP leaders run to Jhandewalan and Nagpur? (RSS headquarters). You constantly hear four ministers meet at Jhandewalan, four ministers went to Nagpur," he told PTI in an interview.


He was asked about the Prime Minister's suggestion that Sonia Gandhi was an "unconstitutional" authority exercising "real" power over the PMO during the UPA rule. Explaining Sonia Gandhi's role during the UPA government, Chidambaram said that a party is entitled to give its view.


"Every decision of the UPA was taken either in the cabinet or cabinet committee. You can criticise the merit of the decision. But, how can one deny that the decision was taken by the cabinet or cabinet committee concerned?" he said.


Reacting to BJP chief Amit Shah's statement that the party-led government lacked the mandate to address its core issues, the Congress leader said, "This Government and party in power are hiding their true colours. "From time to time, statements like the one made by Amit Shah bring out their true colours. Their pernicious agenda is still there. They keep it hidden for a while, but sometimes it surfaces."

The core decision-making of this government suffers from a potentially fatal flaw -- this is not an NDA or a BJP government. Former AAP core member Yogendra Yadav's report card on the Modi government. Read

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram today backed Karnataka Special Public Prosecutor B V Acharya's advise to file an appeal against the acquittal of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case.


"I believe that Public Prosecutor Acharya and the Advocate General of Karnataka have given strong written opinions that the judgement deserves to be appealed against. I have great respect for Mr. Acharya. I think he is right," he said.

India has sounded out Germany for a direct government-to-government deal to buy six submarines, bypassing a competitive bidding process in what could be New Delhi's costliest military acquisitions programme. Read

Also read: When Modi met Manmohan and the full story was not told initially.

The death toll due to intense heat wave sweeping across many parts of the country continued to mount and reached 1,412 on Wednesday, with only Andhra Pradesh and Telangana accounting for 1,360 deaths.  As per the latest figures, the toll due to heat wave in Andhra Pradesh stood at 1,020 while it was 340 in Telangana. Read more

Appraising Rediff.com about the meeting, a source close to Dr Singh said Modi sought Dr Singh's advice on the economy and foreign policy. Dr Singh told Modi that he concurs with the RBI's concerns about the Indian economy. Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com reports on the prime minister's meeting with his predecessor that sent New Delhi's political circles into a tizzy. Read

AAP MLA Mahendra Goel on Wednesday expressed regret after he tore the MHA notification in the Delhi Assembly.


However, he said that even the opposition wished that the notification is tore. AAP leader Mahendra Goyal tore a copy of Home Ministry notification on powers of the Delhi government inside the Assembly. Meanwhile, BJP MLAs had staged walkout from Delhi Assembly against government's resolution on MHA notification.

Four mild tremors jolted Nepal early today, a month after a devastating earthquake ravaged the country and killed nearly 9,000 people.


A 4.0 magnitude tremor was felt at 5.29 am local time in Kathmandu. According to the National Seismological Centre, another tremor of 4.2 magnitude shook Dolakha district, one of the regions northeast of Kathmandu devastated by the April 25 quake.


Earlier, two tremors of 4.0 magnitude were recorded at 3.07 am and 3. 40 am with epicentre at Gorkha-Dhading, according to the NSC. Over 280 aftershocks having a magnitude of 4 or more have been recorded since the April 25 earthquake.


The 7.9-magnitude quake which struck Nepal on April 25 and another having a magnitude of 7.3 on May 12 have left nearly 9,000 people dead and over 21,000 injured.

Just in: Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung meets Home Minister Rajnath Singh amid turf war with AAP government.


Yesterday, the Delhi Assembly, where CM Arvind Kejriwal's AAP holds 67 seats out of 70, endorsed his bid to challenge the Centre's allocation of power to Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung. The Centre, on the other hand, has moved the turf war to the Supreme Court.


The Supreme Court will take up the Home ministry's plea tomorrow.


Pic: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in the Assembly yesterday.

The Gujjar agitation for five percent reservation in government jobs entered its eighth day today, with hundreds of protesters still blocking railway tracks in Pilupura.

Four mild tremors jolted Nepal early today, a month after a devastating earthquake ravaged the country and killed nearly 9,000 people. A 4.0 magnitude tremor was felt at 5.29 am local time in the Nepalese capital. 

Cracking the whip on errant employees to improve on time performance (OTP), Air India (AI) has suspended 17 air hostesses for allegedly delaying flights. 

India has objected to a Swedish newspaper printing the comments of President Pranab Mukherjee on the Bofors controversy centred on whether politicians took kickbacks in exchange for buying artillery guns made in Switzerland.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's progress at home is an essential prerequisite for him to shoulder global responsibility and strengthen bilateral ties between India and the US, a top former American diplomat has said. 

From NBC News: Live Anthrax samples sent to Defense Department, private industry labs in 9 different states, US officials say; no risk to public, samples 'secured'

A third body was found near the Blanco River in Texas Tuesday, bringing the death toll in that state and in Oklahoma to at least 19 after weekend storms dumped rain on the region and caused devastating floods.

he PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir is working to ensure that pro-Pakistan elements in the state are marginalised, BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav said today even as he maintained that the party "will leave the government" there if it cannot protect India's interests.

The Delhi assembly today decided to send to the President, Lt Governor and MPs copies of the resolution which it passed today against the MHA notification giving absolute powers to the LG.

On Thursday the widow of the late maharaja will crown a new king,  but his nephew is preparing a legal challenge to claim the 8bn estate.

Talks to resolve the stand-off over the issue of job reservation for Gujjars will continue tomorrow with a spokesperson for their delegation saying a breakthrough is likely during the fresh parleys after Rajasthan government today expressed its inability to meet their demands.

The CBSE Class 10 results would be declared tomorrow, putting to rest the anxiety of lakhs of students over the delay in the announcement of the same. The CBSE website said that the results would be declared on May 28. 

Hoping that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit will strengthen bilateral ties, Bangladesh's main opposition Khaleda Zia-led BNP today said it is not anti-India but its stand on issues like border killings and Teesta water sharing reflects the common public opinion.  

Militants attack another telecom franchisee in J-K, 1 injuredST
As temperatures soar, death toll rises to 1,412
Hours after slamming achche din, Manmohan meets Modi at 7 RCR
After scorching heat, Delhiites battle rising UV radiation levels
India wanted Bofors reference dropped from Prez interview: Swedish daily
Centre wants to take country towards dictatorship: Kejriwal