Mumbai: As a white man, Corban Addison acknowledges he took a risk entering the brothels of Mumbai pretending to be customer but he was determined to make his novel about sex trafficking as authentic as possible. Your overall assessment of the trafficking problem in the city? Unfortunately, sex trafficking is thriving in Bombay. Experts estimate that there could be as many as 500,000 women in prostitution in Bombay. Of those,...
01:45 PM, Mar 14, 2012
New Delhi: India will soon send "factual documentation" of its policy framework pertaining to child rights and welfare to Norwegian authorities, which had asked for them following the NRI children custody row. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has already compiled its response to the query of Norwegian authorities about laws and policies dealing with children's rights and their welfare in the country, official sources said. Ahead of the hearing case...
08:40 PM, Mar 11, 2012
New Delhi: Magsaysay award-winner 'Waterman' Rajendra Singh and two others on Saturday quit the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh-chaired National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), protesting the government's "negligence" of the river. Besides Singh, two other NGRBA members Ravi Chopra and RH Siddiqi also submitted their resignation letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressing solidarity with noted environmentalist GD Agrawal who is on "fast-unto-death" to press for cleaning up the Ganges....
09:04 PM, Mar 10, 2012
New Delhi: Indian and foreign airlines have slammed the Delhi Airport operator's demand for an eight-fold hike in tariff, saying it would make the charges in New Delhi even costlier than those levied at Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai and Hong Kong put together. While the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has justified its proposal of a 774 per cent hike saying the aeronautical tariff would actually increase by 100-150 per cent,...
12:27 PM, Mar 04, 2012
Barcelona: India is looking at holding spectrum auctions for the fourth generation (4G) mobile services by the end of this year, besides finalising plans to sell off radio waves for the 2G services, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal has said. "By the end of the year, we are actually going to auction 4G (spectrum). That is what our intent is. We have enough spectrum now to share with everybody," he said...
12:16 PM, Feb 29, 2012
New Delhi: Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) on Tuesday justified seeking an eight-time hike in airport charges, saying it would not affect the airlines much and would help the Airports Authority of India (AAI) gain more revenue. "If the proposed hike of 774 per cent by DIAL is approved by Airports Economic Regulatory Authority, then the aeronautical charges would increase only by 100-150 per cent for various airlines," DIAL CFO...
05:06 PM, Feb 28, 2012
New Delhi: Upset over the coverage of the attack on an Israeli diplomat's car, Delhi Police have complained to News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) asking it to restrain TV channels from telecasting "unverified and unconfirmed" information. Though no specific news item was mentioned, police claimed that time and again reporters of electronic media have been requested not to broadcast any unverified or unconfirmed report in cases related to terror-related incidents....
10:48 AM, Feb 26, 2012
New Delhi: Exiled Bangladeshi author and feminist Taslima Nasreen has courted controversies by her repeated criticism of Islam and religion in general. Radical Muslims have criticized her for saying Islam and other religions oppress women. She describes herself as a secular humanist and criticises religion as an oppressive force. On Twitter, Nasreen has been a champion of causes that affect women and often her scathing posts have upset celebrities opposed...
07:09 PM, Feb 22, 2012
Washington/New York: Federal authorities have cracked down on a California-based company that used the services of call centers in India to make fake, very often threatening, debt collector calls to consumers in the US. At a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a US district court ordered stopping making of such calls. Consumers received millions of collection calls from India, and that since January 2010 the operation took...
10:40 AM, Feb 22, 2012
Mumbai: The Unique Identification Authority (UIDAI) has begun two-pilot projects that would allow public sector oil marketers to make LPG transfers as well as getting mobile connectivity easier and transparent for consumers, its chairman Nandan Nilekani said on Thursday. "We are running a pilot programme in Mysore using the Aadhar platform for giving LPG connections. One could get an LPG connection through the use of an Aadhar number. Similarly, in...
07:39 PM, Feb 16, 2012
New Delhi: Kochi Metro is going to be a reality soon. The crucial meeting of the Public Investment Board (PIB), which is expected to give the final nod to the state's 'dream project', will be held this month itself. After the PIB approval, the project will be put up for Cabinet nod. There were rumours that the PIB meeting will be delayed in the run-up to the Budget. "The PIB...
03:51 PM, Feb 04, 2012
Mumbai: State-run Air India owes the Airports Authority of India (AAI) 12 billion rupees while debt-laden private carrier Kingfisher Airlines owes 2.35 billion rupees, AAI Chairman VP Agrawal said. "The sector is under a lot of stress, and we can't take a unilateral decision on one airline. Grounding flights (of Kingfisher) will impact revenues and reduce connectivity further," he said. AAI is responsible for managing the civil aviation infrastructure in...
07:18 PM, Jan 31, 2012
Nandan Nilekani said there the data collected by UIDAI is secure as this system only gives one number per person. ...
08:31 AM, Jan 28, 2012
New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee is likely to meet on Friday to take the final decision on the proposal to give statutory powers to Nandan Nilekani-led UIDAI to issue national identity cards to the entire population instead of the mandated 200 million. The collection of biometric data for the UIDs has also sparked a row - with both the Home Ministry and the UIDAI authorised to collect data. However, Planning...
06:10 AM, Jan 27, 2012
Kannur: The mortal remains of eminent Malayalam writer and critic Sukumar Azhikode, who dominated Kerala's cultural scene as a literary critic for over five decades, were consigned to flames at Payyambalam beach with full state honours in Kannur on Wednesday. Union ministers, state ministers, government officials and a large number of the public were present at the funeral to pay their last respect to the departed soul. Earlier, members of...
04:25 PM, Jan 25, 2012
New Delhi: The Centre and Delhi government are both expected to file replies on the adulterated milk incidents in the Delhi High Court. The court had taken cognisance of reports that revealed that nearly 70 per cent of milk samples in the country are found to be contaminated with water, detergent and even urea. The first mass survey of quality of milk supplied to consumers across the country by the...
08:46 AM, Jan 25, 2012
New Delhi: The government is likely to take the final decision on Wednesday on the proposal to give statutory powers to Nandan Nilekani-led UIDAI to issue national identity cards to the entire population instead of the mandated 200 million. "A Cabinet Committee will take a view on the Unique Identification Authority of India's (UIDAI) proposal for expanding its mandate to enroll the entire population," a source said. The Planning Commission...
08:41 PM, Jan 24, 2012
Thrissur (Kerala): Veteran Malayalam writer and orator Sukumar Azhikode has on Tuesday breathed his last but his razor-sharp tongue and hard-hitting speeches interlaced with characteristic humour will remain in the memories of many who have heard him at least once. Since his retirement as pro-vice chancellor of Calicut University in 1986, he became a most busy public speaker, even remarking once that he had decided to be based in Thrissur...
04:37 PM, Jan 24, 2012
Thrissur (Kerala): Malayalam writer Sukumar Azhikode died at a private hospital here on Tuesday morning, family sources said. He was 85. After being detected with bone cancer, Azhikode was admitted to hospital on Dec 7 last year and his condition deteriorated in the past few days. The end came at 6.33 a.m. Family sources said his body would be taken to his home here and then moved to the Sahitya...
12:01 PM, Jan 24, 2012
Chennai: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday sought to refute the existence of any differences between his ministry and the Unique Identification Authority of India on the issue of Adhaar and smart card's issued by his ministry. "There is no clash between Adhaar and the smart card issued by the home ministry," he said at a function held to distribute the Resident Identity Card (biometric smart card) in Pattipulam...
01:49 AM, Jan 24, 2012
