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Nitya Mehra, the director of the upcoming romantic drama Baar Baar Dekho, has denied reports about Central Board of Film Certification asking them to delete a scene showing a bra from the film. The director clarified that the film had got a UA certificate.
Wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt on Wednesday relinquished his claim on his bronze London 2012 Olympics medal being upgraded to silver. Dutt stated on his official Twitter handle that he respected the late Russian wrestler Kudukhov and wanted, if possible, for his family to retain the medal.
The Supreme Court quashed the deal through which almost 1,000 acres of land was acquired by Tata Motors from the former Left Front government of West Bengal to build a small-car factory in Singur in 2006. In its judgment, the court said that the process by which the land was acquired from the government, then led by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and the CPI(M), was "wrong on many counts". It has asked the current dispensation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and the TMC, to undertake a survey to return the land to its original owners within 12 weeks.
US Secretary of State John Kerry experienced some of the challenges that lie in the way of India's economic rise, as monsoon floods in New Delhi became a talking point at his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi, who needs growth to top 8 percent to create jobs for the million young people who join the workforce each month, has invited foreign investors to "Make in India" and emulate China's industrial miracle, but for now private investment remains weak. To boost economic opportunity for all, India has to attract investment capital, and have a market defined by fairness, transparency and a level playing field, Kerry said. He also added that India needed a streamlined bureaucracy for that.
Over 400 RSS volunteers resigned late on Wednesday in protest against the sacking of Goa RSS chief Subhash Velingkar earlier in the day. The mass resignations followed a six-hour meeting, in which local RSS members and office bearers accused senior RSS and BJP leadership, including Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, of conspiring to sack Velingkar.
Raking up a new controversy, actress-turned-politician Ramya questioned the role of BJP and RSS in India's freedom struggle. The BJP politician, who is facing a private complaint on sedition charge for her 'pro-Pakistan' remarks, said that Congress was the reason for India getting its Independence while the BJP and RSS 'sided with the British'.
The Prime Minister's Office has been directed by the CIC to respond to an RTI applicant who sought to know when will ₹15 lakh, as promised by Narendra Modi during 2014 General Elections, be deposited in his account.
Noted poet, novelist and short story writer Kashmiri Lal Zakir passed away on Wednesday, a state government release said. He was 97. Zakir's career, which started with his first ghazal published in Adabi Duniya — a publication from Lahore— in the 1940s, encompasses novels, dramas, short stories and travelogues. He served the Punjab Education Department during British rule.
Tea and snacks like samosa and gulab jamun offered to guests by ministers have cost the Uttar Pradesh state exchequer about ₹8.78 crore between 15 March, 2012 when the Akhilesh Yadav government took oath, and 15 March 2016.
India's limited options against a nuclear Pakistan make the Balochistan card tempting, says an editorial in Mint. "A status quoist power, India's zweck remains limited—to eliminate Pakistan's role from Kashmir. But since military escalation and opening up the Punjab front is no longer considered feasible, the Balochistan option appears tempting," it says.
The context in the Middle East today is vastly different, but Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi need to reclaim the legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru and Gamal Abdel Nasser, writes C Raja Mohan in The Indian Express. "It was only with economic reforms and the reorientation of India's foreign policy since the turn of the 1990s that the Middle East began to acquire a new salience in Delhi. One particular problem since the end of the Cold War has been the fact that India's gaze towards the Middle East has drawn closer towards our own frontiers, especially the Gulf region. This, in turn, contributed to the reduced interest in Egypt," he writes.
An amendment mandating pay parity between permanent and contract workers is one 'labour reform' with universal consensus, but only on paper, says G Sampath in The Hindu. "Many reasons have been adduced for scrapping the minimum wage. The most important one is the doxa of liberalisation, which dictates that the market and not the government should determine prices so as to preserve efficiency and competitiveness. This was the objection raised by industry and heeded by the government," he says.
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