Meter-gauge rail track is now history in northeast India

Meter-gauge rail track is now history in northeast India

Saturday morning was a momentous day in the history of the 57-year-old Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) as the last train on the solitary meter-gauge track left in the entire northeastern region departed from Agartala station. Except some railway employees led by Agartala station manager Paramananda Das and some curious locals, there was no VIP or […]

‘Feku tha, hai’: Rahul Gandhi on Modi’s poll promises

‘Feku tha, hai’: Rahul Gandhi on Modi’s poll promises

Taking pot shots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his poll promises, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday called him a Feku. Addressing his first election rally in Bihar’s West Champaran district, Gandhi targeted Modi over his various promises made during the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign but which remain unfulfilled till date. “He […]

Delhi woman kidnapped in Meru cab, gang-raped

Delhi woman kidnapped in Meru cab, gang-raped

A woman was kidnapped here in a Meru cab by three people, one of whom was known to her, and then driven to a shop where she was gang-raped, police said on Saturday. The 37-year-old woman was driven around west Delhi early Friday and later taken to a shop where two more men waited. She […]

Naga NGO wants action against Assam Rifles for attack on civilians

Naga NGO wants action against Assam Rifles for attack on civilians

Even as the Central government imposed a five-year ban on National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang), a well-known social non-governmental organisation has written to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the home ministry seeking a high-level enquiry into alleged killing of women and children by the security forces. The government has said that “strong action” […]

Avoid cow slaughter in larger interest, Ulema tells Muslims (Lead, correcting para two)

Avoid cow slaughter in larger interest, Ulema tells Muslims (Lead, correcting para two)

By Mohammed Shafeeq With the ban on beef in some states and the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha triggering a fierce debate on cow slaughter across the country, a group of Islamic scholars in southern India has appealed to Muslims to avoid sacrificing cows, bulls and bullocks in the community’s larger interest. The scholars have advised Muslims to […]

Meat ban: SC declines to interfere with HC order

Meat ban: SC declines to interfere with HC order

The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to interfere with the Bombay High Court which had stayed the order of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai prohibiting the sale of meat during the Jain festival of Paryurshan. An apex court bench of Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice Kurian Joseph, while refusing to entertain the plea by […]

Indian-origin author on Man Booker fiction shortlist

Indian-origin author on Man Booker fiction shortlist

Indian-origin author Sunjeev Sahota is among the half a dozen authors short-listed for the prestigious 2015 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. Sahota, who was adjudged the Granta Best Young British Novelist 2013, competes with fellow Briton Tom McCarthy, Jamaican Marlon James, US-based Anne Tyler and Hanya Yanagihara and Nigerian Chigozie Obioma for his second book […]

Assam, north Bengal small tea units protest auction sale order

Assam, north Bengal small tea units protest auction sale order

Small tea manufacturers, who do not own plantations but buy green leaves, process them and sell them to blenders, are irked by a recent commerce ministry order directing them to hold auctions for 70 percent of their produce. Technically called bought leaf factories, which position themselves between the garden owners and the packagers and blenders, […]