New Delhi: Polling for the 2026 Assembly elections in Puducherry began at 7 am on Wednesday and the polling booth of VOC Public School was unusually eye-catching as a robot named ‘Nila’ welcomed the voters who came to cast their votes.Robots dressed up in costumes held flower trays to welcome voters to vote.Around 9.5 lakh … Read more
New Delhi: Informal Group of Ministers (iGoM) led by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh All departments were directed on Wednesday to continue focusing on preparedness, coordination and resilience building to be ready for any eventuality arising from the conflict in West Asia.In a post on X, Rajnath said the government is ensuring continuous supply of LPG, … Read more
MUMBAI: A tentative truce in the West Asian war overnight prompted global investors to hit the buy button on Wednesday, leading to sharp gains in global markets including India. Starting in Japan, moving on to Hong Kong, China, Pakistan, UK, Germany and later in the evening to the US, all markets were in high spirits … Read more
CHENNAI: Ahead of the April 23 elections to the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly, the Election Commission of India on Wednesday replaced state chief secretary N Muruganandam with senior bureaucrat M Sai Kumar and DGP (Armed Police, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption) S Davidson Devasirvatham with 1995-batch IPS officer Sandeep Mittal, a decision that drew an angry reaction … Read more
NEW DELHI: The Center on Wednesday launched a veiled attack on a Tamil Nadu law that wrests control over the appointment of “archakas” in temples, saying the Supreme Court had wrongly classified the appointment of “archakas” as a “secular act” in the past when it was purely a religious decision.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta strongly advocated … Read more
Representative Image (PTI) Hyderabad: Several residents of Old Hyderabad on Tuesday approached a station-level officer (BLO) of the Election Commission to help them identify their names in the 2002 electoral roll as part of the SIR pre-mapping exercise. To their shock, they were approached not by someone who knew the rule book but by a … Read more
KOLKATA: The Bharatiya Janata Party has not fielded a single Muslim candidate in the Bengal elections, even in seats where minority members were nominated in the previous state polls, despite having around two lakh Muslim members in the state. Eight Muslim candidates were fielded in the 2021 elections and three Muslim candidates were fielded in … Read more
New Delhi: The government on Wednesday approved the draft amendment bill to the Women’s Reservation Act, paving the way for Parliament to take up legislation to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies from 2029.The draft bill approved by the Cabinet will be tabled in the special session of … Read more
NEW DELHI: Acknowledging the rampant misuse of public interest litigation for ulterior motives or pursuing one’s own interests, India’s Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would dismiss the petition if it was filed by a group of lawyers currently challenging the Sabarimala custom of banning entry of menstruating women.This remark was made by a bench … Read more
After six weeks of brutal war in West Asia, a temporary ceasefire brokered by Pakistan was welcomed by India in an official statement, in which the Indian government also expressed hope that the ceasefire will bring lasting peace in the region. The Indian government stressed that the conflict has caused great suffering to the people … Read more