India

NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi will begin his annual ritual of ‘nakkoda’ fasting that he has been observing every navratri for the past 35 years — nine days of drinking only water and strict adherence to yoga, meditation and puja at dusk — a day before he leaves for a five-day visit to the US [...]

Nearly 200 Indian villagers have shaved their heads to mourn the death of a monkey from their local temple.The macaque drowned when it fell into a pond after being chased by dogs. Afraid that its death may bring them bad luck, the villagers held a funeral procession and cremated the animal according to Hindu rituals. [...]

Flood-hit families with mud houses near the Tawi fear they will be denied compensation   Displacement continues to haunt octogenarian Beero Devi who, along with her family, has now taken shelter in a make-shift camp set up by the Army for flood-affected families of the “Tawi island” at Government High School, Sura Chak. It is [...]

The claim made by a US company on the usefulness of  lotus  and cowhage (a herb) for treatment of obesity and hunger at the European Patent Office (EPO) has been foiled by India, largely because of submission of prior art evidence from ancient Hindu texts that refutes the claim of novelty. The US based company [...]

Amidst a heated debate in the House of Commons, Britain on Thursday said it agreed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent statement that any meaningful dialogue between India and Pakistan ‘necessarily requires an environment that is free from terrorism and violence’.   The three-hour debate in Westminster Hall on the ‘political and humanitarian situation in [...]

Authorities in India are investigating how Hanuman, the monkey god, has been issued a biometric identity card.The card photo features the character from the Hindu epic Ramayana wearing gold and pearl jewellery and a crown.It emerged when a postman attempted to deliver the card, but could not find a Hanuman at the address. When he [...]

On Friday Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott handed over to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi two antique statues of Hindu deities which were allegedly stolen from temples in Tamil Nadu before being bought by art galleries in Australia. During his meeting with Modi, Abbott returned the idols, one of which is a Nataraja –the dancing [...]

Four men of a family who were arrested on Wednesday in Madhya Pradesh’s Shivpuri for converting to Islam have done a U-turn. On Thursday, hours after being released by the police, they embraced Hinduism at a local temple in presence of Bajrang Dal activists. Religious conversions are allowed in the state only if they are [...]

The Supreme Court asked the Centre on Wednesday  for a PowerPoint presentation within three weeks on a stage-wise strategy to clean up the Ganga, saying the government’s “bureaucratic plan” may take 200 years to accomplish the task. “Please try that the next generation is able to see the river in its original form. We don’t [...]

NEW DELHI: Crediting common people for the close relations between India and Japan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday advocated greater people-to-people contact for expansion of ties. Addressing the Indian diaspora in Japan, PM Modi said to honour Gandhi Indians should work towards “Swachh Bharat” (clean India) by 2019. PM Narendra Modi further stated that [...]