NEW DELHI: The GST Council on Saturday decided against levying the indirect tax on 134 handmade indigenous musical instruments . So the snake charmers’ pipes (called pungi or been), the one -stringed ektara to the more familiar sarod, sitar and tabla and harmonium will attract less tax, but guitars, saxophones, pianos or even humble mouth […]
Railways started a campaign that they are subsidizing my tickets and they are getting only 53% of total cost incurred on my travel. Is it true? What are the calculations? I think all the expenses on account of ticketless travel, concessions given to Journalists, MP/MLAs, Padma Awardees, Shram Awardees, Gallantry awards etc should not be […]
Senior journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead at her house in Rajarajeshwari Nagar on September 5, was laid to rest at the T.R. Mill Grounds in Chamarajpet in Bangalore. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has ordered a Special Investigation Team to be formed to conduct a probe into the killing. Meanwhile, the police are […]
The government agencies are quietly tinkering with the education system in an effort to erode constitutional protections and freedoms to minority institutions, observers say. Heads of more than 40 minority schools in New Delhi met last week (September 2) to underline the need to remain alert to attempts to erode constitutional freedoms and protections provided […]
Madurai: A law student’s PIL has prompted the Mardas High Court to sit up. The Madras High Court has issued notice to the Union law secretary and the secretary of the social justice and empowerment ministry on a PIL, urging for a section of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act), providing for a “mandatory death […]
One of the most controversial trials in Pakistani history has ended. The former military dictator Pervez Musharraf was declared a fugitive and his property ordered confiscated after he failed to turn up in court his role in the assassination 10 years ago of Ms Benazir Bhutto. Two high-ranking police officials were sentenced on Thursday to […]
Ranchi: Last week, some 80 officials of the Khunti administration, including SP Ashwini Kumar Sinha, held ‘hostage’ for 12 hours by tribal villagers, who dug trenches and put up barricades to trap them, and then aired a host of land rights concerns at a village barely 16 km from the district headquarters and 60 km […]
These days Bihar politics is the hot topic for discussion everywhere. Since the day CM NItish Kumar untied the knot of Grand Alliance with the Congress and RJD and joined hands with the BJP, TejashwiYadav ex-Deputy CM and son of RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has been in the limelight. It seems the die-hard fans […]
New Delhi: Aadhaar will now be mandatory for those appearing for open school exams to ensure there are no proxy candidates appearing on others’ behalf. Following approval from the HRD Ministry, the National Institute of Open Learning (NIOS) has decided to make Aadhaar mandatory for candidates appearing for the next examination, a senior NIOS official […]
August 25 is observed as Kandhamal Day , and Archbishop John Barwa leads the campaign that asks, even after nine long years, why haven’t the victims of the worst violence against Christians in India received justice? Kandhamal in Orissa (Odisha) witnessed the biggest communal violence in 2008. Over 395 churches and worship places which belonged […]
New Delhi: The right to privacy cannot be denied to members of the LGBT community merely because they have unconventional sexual orientation and form a miniscule fraction of the over 1.32 billion Indian population, the Supreme Court observed today. The 9-judge bench, which held that the right to privacy is a fundamental right, made this […]
The United Nations body monitoring implementation of the global convention on prohibiting racial discrimination has called on high-level politicians and public officials of the United States to ‘unequivocally and unconditionally’ reject and condemn racist hate speech and crimes in Charlottesville and throughout the country. “We are alarmed by the racist demonstrations, with overtly racist slogans, […]
