The Union Cabinet passed an ordinance on Wednesday to make instant triple talaq an offence. The Islamic practice that allows men to divorce their wives immediately by uttering the word “talaq” thrice, had been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court last year. The bill was cleared by the Lok Sabha in December last year but has been stuck in the Rajya Sabha where the NDA does not have a majority. (HT Correspondent )read more

Zakia Soman of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Aandolan has told Hindustan Times that the triple talaq ordinance is a political decision in view of the 2019 elections. Hitting out at the Congress and other opposition parties, Soman says that they should have collaborated with the government to pass the law in Parliament. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday passed an ordinance to make instant triple talaq an offence. Addressing a press conference, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad called the practice ‘barbaric and inhumane’ and accused the Congress of not cooperating in the passage of the Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Marriage Bill. The bill had been cleared by the Lok Sabha in December last year but has been stuck in the Rajya Sabha where the NDA does not have a majority. (HT Correspondent )read more

The BJP, which won 22 of the 40 seats in the state, will have to give up a few seats to accommodate the JD(U). And it is never easy to concede seats where a party already has sitting MPs. The JD(U), which used to be the senior partner when it last fought... read more

With the opposition clearly unwilling to back down on the Rafale fighter deal, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday hit out at the Congress that has alleged the NDA government changed the contract to favour an industrialist at the cost of state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, or HAL. (HT Correspondent)read more

The Defence Minister has also held the previous UPA government responsible for HAL being overlooked for the jet deal. Sitharaman said both HAL and Dassault could not agree on production terms. “It is not for us but the UPA to answer as to why the agreement... read more

The remark came two months after Nitish Kumar met BJP chief Amit Shah, who put to rest rumours of a rift in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) camp in Bihar. read more

I may suffer if I lose my ministerial post, Union minister Ramdas Athawale said when asked if rising fuel prices had affected him. read more

The fuel price rise has become a politically thorny issue for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ahead of assembly polls in Rajasthan, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh later this year and national polls in 2019. read more

A day after the BJP state unit announced padayatras from October 2 till January 30 to commemorate Gandhi Jayanti and publicise government schemes, the Uttarakhand Congress declared a similar exercise from the same date till November 19, the birth anniversary... read more

Naidu, who was arrested eight years ago on the charges of leading a violent protest, intimidation and obstruction of public servants from discharging their duties, received the non-bailable warrant on Thursday night from the Maharastra police read more

Party general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said that the politburo meeting of CPI (ML) Liberation held last week had ratified the findings of the Bihar and Jharkhand state committees’ recommendations. read more

Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modi said, “There was a grand alliance against Indira Gandhi in 1971, but it did not succeed. I believe ’71 will be repeated in 2019.” read more

In a note to Chairman of Estimates Committee, Raghuram Rajan said a variety of governance problems such as the suspect allocation of coal mines coupled with the fear of investigation slowed down government decision making in Delhi, both in the UPA and... read more

Pune festival which is a confluence of music, dance, drama, art, singing, instruments, sports and culture,will be held from September 13 to September 23 read more

The cut in VAT prices will cost the Andhra Pradesh exchequer around Rs 1,120 crore a year, chief minister Chandrababu Naidu told the state assembly on Monday. read more