. NEW DELHI: Parliament has voted down the government’s proposal to expand the Lok Sabha from 543 to 850 seats, implement 33% reservation for women, and redraw constituencies accordingly, but the defeat has not closed the issue. If anything, it has exposed how a once-technical constitutional mechanism has become one of the most consequential unresolved…
BENGALURU: A small, dissolving tube developed in a Bengaluru lab is moving a step closer to hospital use, offering a way to avoid repeat procedures after major abdominal surgeries.The device, called the “Asthana Stent”, is the result of a collaboration between liver transplant surgeon Sonal Asthana of Aster CMI Hospital and researchers led by Kaushik…
Kudankulam nuclear power plant NEW DELHI: India has moved closer to opening its nuclear power sector to foreign investment, with the Atomic Energy Commission approving a new foreign direct investment (FDI) framework, an official indicated.Speaking at a workshop in Delhi recently, Seema S Jain, member (finance) from the Department of Atomic Energy, said the policy…
New Delhi: NDA’s women MPs protest after the Constitution Amendment Bill to implement reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the number of seats of the Lok Sabha was defeated. (PTI Photo/Shahbaz Khan) NEW DELHI: Women comprise around 14% of the 18th Lok Sabha, with 74 female MPs elected in the 2024 general…
NEW DELHI: “Iranian Navy, Iranian Navy. I will alter to starboard and go back, I will alter to starboard and go back, don’t fire…Sepa Navy, Sepa Navy, motor tanker Sanmar Herald. Sepa Navy, you gave me clearance, you gave me clearance to go. My name is second on your list, you gave me clearance to…
Dinesh Trivedi (PTI image) NEW DELHI: India has proposed the name of West Bengal BJP functionary Dinesh Trivedi as the next high commissioner to Bangladesh. According to official sources, Dhaka’s approval is awaited for what would be a rare political appointment in the neighbourhood. Trivedi (75) has served multiple terms as MP in both Lok…
PAHALGAM: A year after the terrorist attack that shook Kashmir’s scenic hill town, tourist arrivals to Pahalgam, have fallen sharply, dimming the vibrancy of what was once among the region’s busiest holiday destinations.Before the attack, the town routinely hosted between 3,000 and 5,000 visitors a day. Today, the numbers tell a different story. Official figures,…
PAHALGAM: A motorable road from Pahalgam town runs through the mountains to a place known locally as CM’s Hut. From there, a roughly 6km trek leads to Baisaran valley, the site of last year’s massacre, when 26 tourists were killed and 17 wounded in a terrorist attack.At the junction near CM’s Hut, the journey stops….
Babban Khan enacting the play In August 1965, when India and Pakistan were engaged in a desperate war on the northern borders, a 22-year-old penniless young man wrote a play in a little over three hours under the street-lights of the old city of Hyderabad. By the time its final curtain came down more than…
NEW DELHI: An industry committee has recommended a nationwide shift to smart prepaid metering for domestic piped natural gas (PNG), calling it a “critical and forward-looking reform” for the sector.In a report submitted recently to Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), the committee said the shift is essential to address long-standing challenges such as…
