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In a tragic incident in the drought-hit Maharashtra, a 12-year-old girl from Beed died of sunstroke during repeated trips to a hand pump to fetch water for her family. The Class V student had been replenishing drinking water at home and was helping with the household chores as school was closed that day.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's wax statue was unveiled on Wednesday at Madame Tussauds. But looking at it closely, minute differences between the PM and the statue could be spotted. Sporting a slightly leaner figure, the statue had a lighter skin tone and also had more hair on his scalp.
In a move that has resulted in a great deal of outrage and mockery on social media, the Chandigarh administration on Wednesday decided to ban short skirts in discotheques because apparently it is a breeding ground for 'anti-national' elements. The administration has come up with a policy called the "Controlling of Places of Public Amusement, 2016", where they state that "scantily dressed women" or any "indecency" could bring the shutters down at discos.
Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book as amassed a whopping ₹113.70 crores in 12 days of its release in India, surpassing the lifetime collections of Fast and Furious 7, which at ₹108 crores held the record so far.
Main News
After the Indian Army and the Air Force, the Navy has now also granted permanent commission to seven woman officers who were inducted as short-service commission (SSC) officers in the education and naval constructor cadre. While the Navy will allow woman officers to join as pilots of maritime patrol aircraft like P-8Is, IL-38s and Dorniers from next year onwards, the force is yet to finalise a policy for allowing woman officers on board sea-faring warships.
Union minister and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi on Wednesday sought the arrest of the person responsible for the death of police horse Shaktiman and demanded the animal should no more be part of police forces. She also added that Shaktiman was an 'officer on duty' when he died.
In a major step to create an impression of itself as a professional set-up, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced that Rahul Johri will be its first-ever chief executive officer. After spending two decades in the media industry, Johri will assume his new role on June 1.
The J&K Police strongly refuted the allegations of the mother of a Handwara minor girl that her daughter had been in illegal custody. A police report submitted to a J&K High Court said the girl was not molested by an Army man as alleged by some quarters. Instead she was molested by two local boys on 12 April, it claimed.
Off The Front Page
To make sure that the Indian ministries are complying with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's instruction about using khadi products in government offices, BJP chief Amit Shah has written to all the ministries asking them to identify the use of khadi in their offices. In the past as well, the government had announced encouraging use of khadi for railway, aviation and tourism sectors. While the changes on ground are yet to be seen, Shah's new initiative could act as a catalyst for the handloom product.
Bollywood actor Aamir Khan has denied reports saying that he had adopted two drought-affected villages in Maharashtra. While he is working with the Paani Foundation, he clarified that he had not adopted any villages.
In what could be termed as a new low among politicians slinging mud at each other, Trinamool Congress' Rezzakh Mollah said some really untoward things about actor-turned-politician Rupa Ganguly. Mollah was reported saying, "I know the length of the cigarettes she smokes. She really is Draupadi.”
Scientists at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, India's premier rocket lab have manufactured the world's lightest material called silica aerogel or 'blue air.' According to reports, the material has excellent thermal resistance and if used as a filer in soldiers' uniforms it can probably keep them toasty warm and help save many lives at the Siachin glacier.
Opinion
India-US defence cooperation has grown enormously in the past decade — but it should be seen exclusive of India’s outreach to other countries, says Narayan Lakshman in his column in The Hindu. "No analyst in Washington would have missed the significance of the sequential timing of Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's visit this week to China, to which nation 'India attaches highest priority', in his words; nor indeed statements made by Indian officials that in the proposed signing of LEMOA 'there is no dilution of India’s position and no military alliance' implied," says Lakshman.
It is unfortunate that courts have become arbiters of what constitutes true religion, writes Ronojoy Sen in The Indian Express. "In the Sabarimala case, the court will have to decide whether the ban on women entering the temple is a bona fide religious custom, and if it passes the essential practices test. Indeed, the Kerala Hindu Places of Public Worship (Authorisation of Entry) Rules, 1965, permits the prohibition of women from accessing places of worship where 'custom' or 'usage' requires it," he says.
The Panama Papers exposé highlighted what could happen at the other end of the financial spectrum, says an editorial in Deccan Chronicle. "The Bengaluru riots regarding the notification by the government about the withdrawal of employees' provident fund were an extreme representation of the frustration creeping in on wage earners and the middle class at being unfairly targeted as easy prey... The underlying ill feelings against the government for discriminating in making strict rules for the working class while letting the rich have their way was brought out by the attempt to regulate the EPF," it says.
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