Imagine that a taxpayer-funded college bans its students from wearing shorts on campus and a student approaches the court seeking to overturn the ban. If this happens in India, the first question the courts may ask the student is: Why do you want to wear shorts, is it part of your religious belief? If the […]
Even as the fight between sections of news channels restarts over the resumption of BARC television ratings, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has shot off a directive to cable and DTH operators to ensure that TV channels are listed only once, and only under one ‘genre’, on their set-top-boxes. The directive comes in the […]
Kerala Police has started cracking down on the phenomenon of ‘couple swapping’ or ‘partner swapping’ — which has gained the status of an alternate lifestyle in the West — after a complaint from a married woman. Police said they have have arrested six people from the districts of Kottayam and nearby areas, without giving details. […]
The court of Chief Justice of Delhi High Court will today hear appeals filed by Future Retail and its promoters against a decision by a single judge bench yesterday that refused to issue directions to a Singapore arbitration panel. Yesterday, a Delhi High Court bench comprising Justice Amit Bansal had refused to accept arguments by […]
An order by the district police chief of Wayanad, a hill district of Kerala known for its sports enthusiasts and academies, has riled sports lovers across the state. The order issued by District Police Chief Aravind Sukumar two days ago has made it illegal to operate flood-lit football turfs — scores of which have sprung […]
Adding another dimension to the legal battle over the impending extraordinary general meeting called by Dish TV’s largest shareholder YES Bank, the DTH operator said a local office of Uttar Pradesh Police has asked the company to ensure that YES Bank does not deal in or liquidate its Dish TV shares, pending an investigation by […]
Brickwork Ratings, a credit rating agency that gives advice on the ability of companies to service their debt, has hailed the slew of measures announced by the government yesterday to give relief to the telecom sector, but added they’re not enough to save the industry. FLIP FLOP The most import measure announced yesterday was a […]
How would you feel if you had a sandalwood tree worth Rs 1 cr right on your front yard — happy, delirious, blessed? For Soman, a native of Marayoor in Idukki district of Kerala, the precious sandalwood trees in his compound have been the bane of his life. This is because, like for most Idukiites, […]
Government of India on Wednesday said lack of economic and social data about intermediate castes will not impact their inclusion in OBC reservations for government services and higher education. Nityanand Rai, Minister of State for Home Affairs, was replying to a question by MP TR Baalu on why the government is not collecting socio-economic data […]
The union government of India has formed an expert committee to make suggestions for creating a law permitting the death of persons under special circumstances on compassionate grounds. The practice, called euthanasia or mercy killing, is illegal in most countries. The Law Commission of India had, in 2006, drawn up a law that would have […]
Delhi Police today said it only wanted to ask Twitter for any information the company had about the so-called manipulation of a ‘toolkit’ that was allegedly prepared by the main opposition party, Indian National Congress. It also accused Twitter of refusing to hand over “material evidence” about manipulation of the photographs contained in some BJP […]
Government of India has indicated that it found nothing illegal in channels from other DTH platforms being available for viewing by audiences of Prasar Bharati’s DD Free Dish service. There have been allegations by a section of the broadcasting industry that the availability of channels from other DTH platforms to users of DD Free Dish […]
A Supreme Court bench of Ashok Bhushan and Subhash Reddy has asked to see the new regulations brought out by the central government on content apps. In an appeal for anticipatory bail for Amazon Prime creative head Aparna Purohit in a case of outraging Hindu sentiments, the bench asked the government what it plans to […]
The new rules for messaging apps announced as part of today’s digital/online media regulatory framework will make it impossible for WhatsApp to continue to operate in India in its present form. One of the key demands placed by the government in front of WhatsApp has always been that it should attach an origin-ID to all […]
Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on Friday indicated that the minimum support price announced by the government has nothing to do with the price at which farmers sell their produce to private companies under India’s new agricultural laws. Minister Narendra Singh Tomar made this clarification in response to a question raised by Congress MP […]
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has withdrawn the controversial Sec 118A of the Kerala Police Act, also known as the anti Fake News law, pending fine-tuning and further consultations. “Whoever makes, expresses, publishes or disseminates through any kind of mode of communication, any matter or subject for threatening, abusing, humiliating or defaming a person or […]
India’s communication ministry today said that there was no possibility of an operator being asked to pay the dues of another operator simply because it has entered into a spectrum sharing agreement with the other. This was clarified by Minister of State Sanjay Dhotre in reply to a question by MP K Subbarayan on whether […]
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said it is abandoning its voluntary restraint in the implementation of new TV channel pricing rules announced on January 1 as channel broadcasters are taking advantage of the same to push through price increases. TRAI has so far not taken any action against those who did not implement its […]
In keeping with the recently announced move to decriminalize smaller offences — especially those of a technical or financial nature — Government of India today proposed to remove jail terms for violating Cable TV Networks Regulation Act. At present, the violation of the cable TV Act can result in jail terms of up to two […]
A Supreme Court bench of Justices UU Lalit and Indu Malhotra has left the decision of whether or not to to audit and create an inventory of the famed Padmanabha Swamy temple treasure to the administrative committee. The Kerala High Court had directed the state government to open the underground vaults of the temple, make […]
