Year: 2017

25 Years On, India has still to live down the shame of the Babri Masjid’s Demolition

Editor

The CBI is deliberately prolonging the criminal trial while the BJP does its best to use the Ayodhya dispute to once again stoke the flames of hatred. Twenty five years after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, The Wire, through a series of articles and videos captures how the act of destruction changed India forever. India is perhaps the only country in the world where a real crime – committed in broad daylight, with evidence recorded by video cameras and presented in court by prosecutors – counts for less than an imaginary transgression that…

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Heavy Snow, Rain predicted across Kashmir Valley next week

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Leh in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir was the coldest recorded place in the state as the night temperature there remained several degrees below the freezing point even as the Valley braced for possible heavy snow next week. The Meteorological Department has said a western disturbance would affect the state next week and warned of heavy rain and snow. The night temperatures across all stations in the Kashmir Valley, except at Gulmarg and Ladakh region decreased on Thursday night, an official of the MET department said here. He said…

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Radical land reforms were key to Sheikh Abdullah’s towering influence on Kashmir

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Within the Valley, the reforms caused a social transformation that has few parallels. It is relatively well-known that many Kashmiris almost worshipped the ground on which Sheikh Abdullah walked. Seventeen persons were killed in stampedes at his funeral. However, the roots for his iconic popularity are rarely discussed. It is well worth recalling on his 112th birth anniversary that the most vital reason for his popularity was land reforms, which most Kashmiris identify through the slogan, ‘land to the tiller’. The land reforms in Kashmir, which were among the first…

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How a Journalist was Sexually Assaulted the Day Babri Masjid Fell

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When activist and documentary filmmaker Ruchira Gupta saw the first dome of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya come down just after noon on 6 December 1992, she knew she had to go inside the dispute site. At 24, Gupta was reporting for Business India from Ayodhya. Many journalists thought the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal cadre would only perform a ‘symbolic’ kar seva at the disputed site they believed was the ‘Ram Janmabhoomi’. Gupta had to go see for herself what was happening on the ground instead of…

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Hajin observed shutdown against Arson, Vandalism by army

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A complete shutdown was observed on Thursday in Hajin town of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district against the highhandedness of the army on Wednesday. All shops and other business establishments were closed while traffic was off the roads. The shutdown call was given by the Hajin Traders’ Federation. Local residents joined traders and held a protest demonstration, shouting pro-freedom slogans and demanding action against the soldiers who had vandalised shops, houses, vehicles besides setting about 40 haystacks on fire. “We demand stern action against the forces involved in the incident,” said…

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Centre gives nod for three new airports in J&K

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Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha today said three new airports would come up in Jammu and Kashmir soon to increase air traffic. “We are looking at the probability of setting up one airport each in north and south Kashmir,” Sinha said at the ‘Ideas Summit’ organised by the Foundation for Resource Development and Education. The event was attended by hundreds of entrepreneurs and established businesses in the hospitality sector of the Valley. He said the night-landing facility at Srinagar International Airport would also start soon to ensure…

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Wife’s religion does not merge with husband’s after marriage: Supreme Court

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The Supreme Court disagreed on Thursday with the Bombay high court’s ruling that a woman’s religion merges with her husband’s faith after marriage and requested the Valsad Zoroastrian Trust to reconsider its decision to bar a Parsi woman from entering the Tower of Silence to perform the last rites of her parents only because she married outside the community. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan said it appeared to be manifestly arbitrary that a Parsi…

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How power lines could help lead to peace in Kashmir

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In Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to supply electricity to every Indian household, connecting homes in the state of Jammu & Kashmir might be the toughest. Along India’s violence-prone northern border, engineers and construction workers are hauling tons of high-tension wires and steel frames on pack mules across barren deserts and mountain ravines to electrify one of the country’s most inhospitable states. Still, the effort, budgeted to cost 48 billion rupees ($740 million), may turn out to be Modi’s most rewarding. In some villages, winter outages persist for 20 hours a…

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Jay Bhanushali goes shirtless in Kashmir, ‘Chills’ amidst snow clad mountains

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Telly Ville is blessed with a number of good-looking actors. One handsome hunk, who is gifted, when it comes to looks, with the perfect blend of cuteness and hotness, is Jay Bhanushali. The actor recently took a trip to Jammu and Kashmir with his gorgeous wife Mahhi Vij. Amidst all the clicks that the two have been sharing on their social media platforms, one click stands out and once you have taken a look at it, you will know why. Jay posted a hot snap of himself, wherein he is…

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ADJ Srinagar court stays release of ‘Half Widow’

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The court of additional district judge Srinagar has put a stay on the release of the movie ‘Half Widow’ directed former bureaucrat Farooq Renzu’s son Danish Renzu. The court while hearing the case filed by Shafi Ahmad Wani, author of the book titled ‘Half Widow’ has passed the direction as an interim relief to the author who has alleged that the story of the movie has been copied from his book. “Till next hearing non/applicants are directed not to release, telecast, exhibit, view in public or private or otherwise making…

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