Category: India

Sangh’s new game plan for Ayodhya

Editor

Will the ‘Hindu’ rulers use their newfound status to display a spirit of generosity in working towards an agreement or demand nothing less than total submission from the other side? From the time of Adityanath’s first visit to Ayodhya as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, the question doing the rounds in the state was why he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are singing such different tunes on the Ram temple controversy. Adityanath’s recent Diwali extravaganza, tom-tommed as a ‘return to treta yuga’,  has triggered a fresh round of speculation – unlike in 2014,…

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BJP breaks its silence, backs Padmavati stir

Editor

After a period of careful silence, senior BJP leaders have begun backing the protests against ‘ Padmavati ‘, seeing in it a fit with the party’s view that Hindu icons and traditions have been subject to selective distortion at the hands of politically coloured culture czars. Highways minister Nitin Gadkari seemed on the same page as the Karni Sena and representatives of the Rajput community who are seeing red over the film’s purported “distortion” of the legend of Padmavati, who according to lore, committed ‘jauhar’ to escape dishonour. While several…

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Govt to start mapping your address digitally

Editor

The government wants to map your address — residential or professional — digitally, something done by Aadhaar for an individual’s identification . The department of posts – which is under the ministry of communications — has ordered a pilot project that will accord a six-character alphanumeric digital address for every property for three postal pin code locations. The idea is to provide e-locations (like on Google Maps) for the addresses therein and then provide possibilities to link them to other information, such as property title and ownership, property tax records,…

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GST has hurt textile industry in election bound Gujarat: Traders

Editor

Thousands of textile traders in the bustling markets of Surat are disgruntled as the Goods and Services Tax has reduced their profit margins An unusual hush has fallen over the bustling textile markets of Surat. Previously, travellers would find it impossible to negotiate the maze of streets crowded with mini trucks and labourers with bundles heaped on their heads. Now, the textile hub in the heart of Gujarat’s richest city is lackluster even as markets slowly open after a Diwali break. “We used to produce four crore metres of synthetic…

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NGT to decide Odd-Even fate today, raps govt on move

Editor

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) rapped the Delhi government on Friday for going ahead with odd-even traffic restrictions at a time the air quality appeared to be improving, and said it could ‘stay’ the scheme during a special hearing on Saturday if the government failed to prove that the restrictions were effective. Questioned the rationale behind the Delhi government’s move, the NGT pointed to data from the central and Delhi pollution control boards which showed that both PM 10 and PM 2.5 levels were higher after odd-even was implemented in…

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One year post demonetisation, These 11 charts show it affected Indian economy

Editor

Did demonetisation convince cash-dependant India to switch to digital transactions and mobile wallets? How did it impact the banking sector? On the one year anniversary of prime minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation announcement, experts and politicians on all sides have been debating whether they risky policy was a success or a failure. The decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes was part of the government’s overarching agenda to crack down on black money and move towards a cashless economy. Did demonetisation convince cash-dependant India to switch to digital…

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Ryan school’s class 11 student killed junior to postpone exam: CBI

Editor

The day after school bus conductor Ashok Kumar was arrested by Gurgaon police for the murder of 7-year-old Ryan International School student Pradhyumn Thakur, TOI had asked in a headline, “Have cops got the right man? Pradhyumn’s father doesn’t think so.” Barun Thakur may have been right. The probe into the most sensational murder case in recent times turned on its head on Wednesday when the CBI identified a 16-year-old Class 11 student of the same school — the Ryan campus in Gurgaon’s Bhondsi — as the prime suspect. The…

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A year after demonetisation was announced, digital transactions drop

Editor

After demonetisation, the spike in digital payments was caused by artificial constraints, and does not seem to have had a lasting impact on Indian citizens. Soon after demonetisation was announced in November last year, it was projected as part of a broader push towards a cashless economy. Several ministers and government officials claimed that this would nudge Indians to rely on non-cash or digital transactions. In the weeks and months following demonetisation, digital payments (including mobile wallets and mobile banking, credit/debit card transactions, and UPI) saw a sharp spike even…

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I repeat what I said in Parliament, demonetisation was organised loot and legalised plunder: Manmohan Singh

Editor

Terming November 8 a “black day” for the economy and democracy, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today repeated what he said in Parliament last year: that demonetisation was “organised loot and legalised plunder”. Calling November 8, 2016 a “black day” for our economy as well as democracy, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today repeated his famous statement he made in Parliament last year: that demonetisation was “organised loot and legalised plunder”. Addressing traders in poll-bound Gujarat’s Ahmedabad city on the eve of the first anniversary of demonetisation, the 85-year-old Congress…

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From Aadhaar to Love Jihad and Article 35A a Big day in Supreme Court

Editor

From Article 35 A to Love Jihad. The Supreme Court will hear a host of important cases today. A bench led by Justice AK Sikri will also hear the West Bengal government’s petition against the Centre’s move to make Aadhaar, a 12-digit unique identification number for citizens, mandatory to get social welfare benefits. A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra will take up petitions seeking repeal of Article 35(A), a law that guarantees special privileges to the restive state of Jammu and Kashmir. The main petition in the case…

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