The glimmering Taj Mahal, said to be at its aesthetic best in moonlight, could now be thrown open after sunset for all tourists. So far, night access to the globally renowned monument was allowed at a premium only for five nights in a month. Union Tourism and Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel told IANS in an interview that the Taj Mahal will remain open even beyond its 10.00 a.m to 6.00 p.m. public access time. “We have been receiving a lot of requests to keep the monument open during the night hours. We are dedicated to make this a reality,”…
Author: Our Correspondent
Canada has seen a total of 1.8 million hectares of land burned by forest fires so far this year, CTV reported. A total of 254 forest fires were being fought and 75 others monitored in Canada as of Wednesday afternoon. More than half of those fires were in British Columbia province, said the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported. Alberta province has seen more wildfires and lost more land to fire this year than any other province or territory. The largest of its 955 fires is the Chuckegg Creek blaze, which led to about 10,000…
Security is being further beefed up in Ayodhya following intelligence inputs of a possible terror attack. According to sources, the office of the Director-General of Police (DGP) has asked the Additional Director Generals (ADG) of Bareilly, Kanpur and Prayagraj zones to identify 100 constables each who are ‘competent, incorrupt and have a clean image’. The DGP office has also asked the ADGs to ensure that the selected police personnel are not residents of Ayodhya. These constables will be deployed in Ayodhya, around prominent temples for the next one year. The security is being enhanced in view of the daily hearings…
Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel’s son Faisal Patel was questioned for seven hours by the Enforcement Directorate here on Thursday in the alleged case of multi-crore bank fraud and money-laundering by Gujarat-based Sterling Biotech. A senior ED official told IANS, “Faisal was asked about his relations with the Sandesara brothers (Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara and Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara), the owners and promoters of the Vadodara-based pharmaceutical firm.” The official said the agency confronted Faisal with the statement of Sunil Yadav, im which he had alleged that the son of the COngress leader took his friends to a farm house to party…
Celebrated masterchef Vicky Ratnani on Thursday said he is discovering India through food. “I am discovering my country from food,” Ratnani told the media here. About his foray into the food industry, he said as a child, he learnt cooking from his family, his mom and his friends, all great cooks. Currently, the celebrated chief, who is born and raised in Mumbai, is doing the ‘Mother India project’. “My mom is a vegetarian. Also we Sindhis have a lot of vegetarian food on their plate. I am documenting all her recipes minutely and this is a Mother India project,” Ratnani…
With fake videos emanating from Pakistan purporting to show human rights violations and violence in Kashmir in an effort to fan popular discontent in the region, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that internet services in the state are unlikely to be restored anytime soon. In view of Pakistan’s “intensified and insidious efforts via social media to foment popular anger” against the Indian government and administration, the MHA has decided to keep suspended internet services for now, sources said. Some of these fake video messages have gone viral. In the Northeast too, Pakistan has been trying to instigate Naga insurgents…
Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said that Pakistan should focus on human rights violation meted out to the citizens of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK). “There was never any doubt or apprehension in the country that Kashmir is an integral part of India. The truth is that Pakistan is in illegal occupation of PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan. Pakistan should focus on human rights violation of PoK citizens,” tweeted Singh, who is in Ladakh as chief guest at the Kisan Vigyan Mela organised by the Leh-based Defence Institute of Higher Altitude Research. “Pakistan does not have any locus standi on Kashmir. On the other…
India on Thursday dismissed a letter by Pakistani Minister Shireen Mazari to the UN on the Kashmir issue, saying it is not worth the paper on which it is written. “Frankly, I do not want to lend any credence to the letter by reacting to it. Let me put it simply that the letter is not even worth the paper it is written upon,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. Mazari has written a detailed letter to 18 UN Special Rapporteurs alleging massive human rights violations by India in Jammu and Kashmir, after it revoked its special status, which…
A minister in the Uttar Pradesh government has claimed that the Ram temple will be built at all costs during the rule of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, even as the Ramjanambhoomi-Babri Masjid case is being heard daily in the Supreme Court. Chairman of Uttar Pradesh labour department and Minister of State (MoS) Sunil Bharala has claimed that Chief Minister Adityanath will take swift action leading to building of the temple in Ayodhya. “Yogi Adityanath is like a king and has enormous power to build Ram temple”, Bharala said. He said what Yogi Adityanath has done for the state is “beyond…
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged the nation to look at health goals more seriously, invoked their passion for “fitter India” and asked people not to take the elevator to success as he launched the Fit India movement. Coming just days after Team India recorded a historic win against West Indies in the Caribbean, and ace shuttler P.V. Sindhu became the first Indian to clinch gold at the World Championships, apart from three golds at the Para-Badminton World Championships, Modi wanted the entire nation to make India a ‘fit’ nation. Launching the nation-wide movement at the Indira Gandhi Stadium…