A group of 39 Islamic missionaries have been arrested for door-to-door distribution of religious pamphlets that said, among other things, that people who worship multiple Gods will burn in hell. The volunteers of ‘Mujahid Wisdom Global Islamic Mission’, who were distributing the material in villages near Kochi, were arrested on complaints by local RSS activists. […]
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has started registrations for an open house discussion on its upcoming recommendations on net neutrality. The open house discussion will be held on Wednesday, August 30 at 9:30 AM in New Delhi. The venue has not been finalized yet, and is likely to be fixed after the regulator gets […]
Union ministry of women & child development has expressed its consternation at its minister Maneka Gandhi being painted as insensitive by the media following a rather lively interaction between the minister and citizens. Media headlines today screamed that Gandhi, who has a reputation as a champion of the oppressed, said she had never heard of […]
After Zee Entertainment, it is the turn of Sun TV to slash its channel prices with effect from Sept 1 in anticipation of the implementation of new channel pricing rules by TRAI. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had, three months ago, announced that media companies and cable and DTH companies will no longer be […]
The Kerala High Court has annulled the marriage of a Hindu girl who converted to Islam pointing out that she did not take permission from her parents. According to Sunni Islamic law, it is compulsory for the woman to get the permission of her wali or guardian — usually her parents — to get married. In this […]
Netflix, the world’s biggest provider of video-on-demand services, rebuffed attempts by telecom companies to control viewership of online video and said consumers must be allowed to consume any legal content on the Internet without ‘gate keeping’ or interference by telecom providers. It said its position was that “gate-keepers should not be in a position to […]
The Supreme Court has dismissed the government of India’s stand that it cannot appoint the Lokpal as there was no leader of the opposition. The court’s decision came on a bunch of petitions seeking the appointment of a Lokpal is likely to lead to the first ever appointment of an anti-corruption ombudsman in the country. […]
Vodafone India said it would like to be given the power to manage the size of videos watched by users on its mobile network and lower it automatically “for overall quality welfare”. Participating in the discussions related to Net Neutrality and the powers to be given to telecom operators in traffic management, the company said it did […]
If you thought the fight over net neutrality was over with the sending of 1 mln emails to the TRAI two years ago, think again. The telecom service providers, who lost out that in the first round, are back. This time, however, their demands are more subtle, and focused on getting specific services exempted from […]
Despite setbacks and opposition from both state governments and the judiciary, the central government is not ready to give up the proposal to set up an all India service for recruitment of judges modeled on the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service. The idea was officially endorsed five years ago when a committee […]
Reliance Jio’s withdrawal of its Summer Surprise Offer is unlikely to make any difference to most of its customers, and the company may even come up with a new version of the plan to comply with the ban. “The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has advised Jio to withdraw the 3 months complimentary benefits of Summer […]
The Prime Minister’s office today said the government has not appointed a Lokpal at the center yet as there is no leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha. According to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act passed in 2013, the center is supposed to appoint a Lokpal as an ombudsman for corruption related issues. “The […]
The Reserve Bank of India has told the management of Tirumala Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh that the money deposited in the temple’s hundis cannot be exchanged for new notes. The move was in response to a letter by the temple management asking if it was possible to convert the old notes into valid cash. “We […]
The home ministry has written back to the National Human Rights Commission that non-governmental organizations cannot be allowed to work against India’s strategic or economic interest. In it’s response to the NHRC, the home ministry said it cannot allow organizations that take money from outside India to conduct “activities detrimental to national interest ,including security, strategic, […]
A total of 308 people died in police custody in the three years from 2013 to 2015 — including 75 in Maharashtra — but not a single policeman was convicted in any case related to custody deaths in the country during those years, data from the home ministry showed. On an overall level, Maharashtra led in […]
Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today said the government of India had no plans to force judiciary in the state of Jammu & Kashmir to take their oath of office on the Indian constitution instead of the state constitution. Prasad was responding to a question on why judges of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court take […]
The Supreme Court has today agreed to hear a petition that seeks to ban anyone who has been charge-sheeted in a criminal case from contesting elections in India. BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay, who is among one of the most prolific filers of public interest litigation in India, is among those who had filed such petitions […]
Law and Justice minister said that reservations to Dalits and backward communities was essential to ensuring equality of opportunity in government jobs. Delivering a talk on the concepts of freedom and equality in the Indian constitution, Prasad said it was wrong to think that reservations — based on caste and community — was against the […]
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the petition filed by the Income-Tax Department against Reliance Communications on taxing of the proceeds of Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs), said the telecom operator. The Supreme Court order has quashed contingent tax liability of RCOM for about Rs 4,800 crore. During Financial Year 2006-07, Reliance Communications had issued […]
The dispute over providing interconnection facility is set to end in the next two weeks, with Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone giving in to the demands of new operator Reliance Jio and the regulator. The decision to comply comes in the wake of a recommendation for a fine of Rs 3,050 cr to be […]
