Is Reliance Jio getting unfairly blocked by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea?

Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man and the chairman of Reliance Jio has given a rare interview in India’s largest newspaper accusing his telecom rivals of trying to use their incumbent power to violate the law. He said even Reliance Jio employees are having some trouble porting from rival operators to Jio’s 4G network. Ambani’s comments come […]

ACC, Ambuja to challenge Competition Commission order

ACC Ltd and Ambuja Cements said they will challenge the fine imposed by the Competition Commission of India yesterday, and that a similar order passed by the CCI four years ago had been set aside by the Competition Appellate Tribunal in December last year. “We await receipt of a certified copy of the CCI Order. The […]

India extends ‘permanent residency’ to foreigners

The Indian Cabinet today approved extending ‘permanent residency’ to foreign investors. So far, one had to be a citizen to be a permanent resident in the country. Others faced hassles such as regular attendance at foreigners registration offices and visa extensions if they were to continue to remain in the country. The present tenure of […]

INTERCONNECT: How Incumbents are taking one last stand against Reliance Jio

As any trial user of Reliance Jio’s new 4G network knows, calling phones on rival networks is currently a hit and miss affair with a high chance of being greeted with the ‘all routes are currently busy’ message. It’s the oldest trick in the book that incumbents have traditionally used to thwart new entrants — […]

Left Front tries to tap anti-American sentiment with fat tax in Kerala

Kerala finance minister Thomas Isaac defended the new tax imposed on Western food items in Kerala even as it became clear that move could be open to a challenge on the lines on which Maharashtra’s beef ban was overturned. The communists of Kerala — not the biggest fans of American culture — imposed the ban […]

Kerala’s Nirbhaya case forces rethink on reliance on Bangladeshi migrants

The latest horror story to come out of Kerala has forced residents in this largely peaceful state to rethink their reliance on migrants — mostly from Bangladesh — for carrying out labour-intensive projects. Over the last five days, gruesome details have emerged about how a law student was raped, tortured and killed in the afternoon […]

Admins of Kerala Facebook group face death threats over anti-religious posts

The administration panel of Kerala’s biggest anti-superstition and rationalist Facebook groups has come under death threats for prompting believers to desert the Islamic faith. The blog, named Mujahir 2015, is written in Malayalam, the language spoken in Kerala. “Those who insult the Prophet must be killed,” the blog said. “To carry out (such an act), […]

Bharti Airtel calls TRAI’s bluff over net neutrality with intranet query

As expected, telecom companies have rightly sought to exploit a loophole left open by the regulator and the government when they issued the famous ‘net neutrality’ guidelines earlier in the year. The TRAI and the government had, in February, banned any discriminatory charging for digital content flowing over their networks, and said that all bits should […]

Christian man who married Hindu girl summoned by Tribunal

A Christian man who married a Hindu woman ten years ago has now received a notice from a ‘Special Administrative Tribunal’ of the Catholic Church seeking an explanation. The letter dated six days ago “requests” the man to appear before the ‘tribunal’ to discuss how he ended up getting married and living in a fashion […]

MUSLIM PROTESTS: Kerala newspaper apologizes for comment on Prophet Mohammed

Mathrubhumi, Kerala’s second largest newspaper and one of the top ten in the country, was forced to issue an unconditional apology after religious and political organizations held widespread protests outside its offices for publishing ‘blasphemous’ content about Prophet Mohammed. The newspaper had, on Wednesday, printed audience feedback sourced from social media on another of its […]

After Shatrugnan, Lalu Prasad Yadav comes in support of Kanhaiya Kumar

Lalu Prasad Yadav, the leader of Rashtriya Janata Dal and partner in Bihar government, accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of cooking up the issue of Leftist students raising anti-national slogans in the JNU to divert attention from the suicide of Dalit student Rohit Vemula. Talking to the media, Prasad said Kanhaiya Kumar, who also hails […]

Times Now criticizes nationalist lawyers, Twitter fans not amused

Times Now has surprised many fans on Twitter after the channel today adopted a tough stand against patriotic lawyers who attacked Jawaharlal Nehru University students union president Kanhaiya Kumar and the media that they feel support “anti-nationals”. Today, on the second day of trial, Kumar was attacked for the second time by self-described nationalist lawyers, […]

Supreme Court sends delegation to Patiala House for inspection

The Supreme Court has appointed a five-member lawyer delegation to visit Patiala House today and submit a report on the happenings inside the court complex on the same day. The move comes after the guidelines issued by the apex court failed to stop violent lawyers who again attacked Kanhaiya Kumar, the president of the students […]

Delhi High court dismisses plea for NIA inquiry into JNU incident

The Delhi High Court today dismissed a petition seeking an order for an inquiry by the National Investigation Agency into student protests in Jawaharlal Nehru University. The High Court dismissed the plea after noting that the Delhi Police’s inquiry cannot be faulted so soon and it cannot be assumed that the Delhi Police is incompetent […]