It is just as well that the BBC has decided to expand its shortwave radio service in Kashmir to beat the communications blackout. This is not the first time the BBC has played this role - and for good reason. Because the supine, mainstream media in L.K. Advanis words crawls when it is asked to bend.

NEW DELHI:  When the names of Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Mukul Wasnik and Jyotiraditya Scindia were proposed at the sub-group discussions, very few hands came up in agreement. Worried at the prospect of a split in the party ranks, the Congress fell back on Sonia Gandhi to lead the party.

It is the most regretful, that the SGPC (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee), PGPC ( Pakistan GUrdwara Parbandhak Committee) and DSGMC ( Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee) has completely omitted the noble persona of Rai Bular Bhatti in the entire narrative of commemorative observance of the 550th Birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.

NEW DELHI: Even as the new BJP government explores all options to bring an end to the brutal cage match taking place in Kashmir, with the setting up of a Delimitation Commission as one of the prongs available on the table to correct the regional disparity, it is actively taking a view on the contentious Article 35A which prevents mobility and greater integration with the Union of India.

NEW DELHI: He is the Man Who Knows Too Much, Dr Karan Singh or Tiger as his father Maharaja Hari Singh used to call him fondly, formerly Regent of J&K (from June 20, 1949, he acted as Regent), then Sadr e Riyasat (from November 17, 1952 to March 30, 1965, Karan Singh was the elected head of state of Jammu and Kashmir). On 30 March 1965, Karan Singh, who became the first Governor of Jammu and Kashmir (till May 15, 1967) and the last residual link between feudal and monarchial Kashmir and its evolution to a democratic set-up, wants the government to tread cautiously on constitutional issues related to J& K.

NEW DELHI: The saga surrounding the resignation of 16 MLAs of the ruling Congress and JD(S) in Karnataka has zeroed down to the question of whether they can face disqualification.

SHIMLA: The breathtaking locales of the State have always attracted renowned film makers but still the State is full of popular, scenic, cultural, heritage and spiritual sites which are yet to be explored. Many artists/creative persons of the State have made their mark in various departments of film making both at national and international level.

CHANDIGARH: The thumping victory of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) state president Bhagwant Mann from Sangrur Lok Sabha seat has revived the hopes of third political alternative in Punjab. The split in the AAP and defection by its MLAs had frustrated the people who wanted to see a government with good governance.

As Jet Airways temporarily suspended its operations after its debt resolution plans hit a roadblock and lenders refused to disburse emergency funds, the airline joined a litany of Indian businesses that have gone belly up in the recent past or are on the brink of collapse.

The current national mood -- the sense of nationalism -- stirred by events in Kashmir in the recent past, has driven the success of films with patriotic themes.

The wounds of 1947 partition, during which approximately one million lives were lost and twenty million were made to abandon their homes and hearths and migrate penniless to newer lands, that the 1947-48 Kashmir War started. During those days more than 50% of the Indian Army consisted of Punjab soldiers from among the Dogras of Pathankot and Kangra, the Jatts of Gurgaon, Rohtak and Hissar and the Sikhs of all districts of Punjab. They were deployed in Kashmir.

NEW DELHI: As China's Two Sessions - the country's biggest political meetings of the year - kicked off on Sunday, state-run news agency Xinhua chose "Xin Xiaomeng" to make a one-minute video presentation, debuting the agency's first female Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered news anchor and triggering renewed concerns among journalists.

CHANDIGARH: The people of Punjab particularly the Sikh community has set an example for others in India to follow-highlighting the humanity and secularism while giving protection and extending helping hand to students from Kashmir who were hounded from BJP ruled Uttrakhand and Haryana states after the Pulwama terror attack.

SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh is turning into a haven for drug addicts due to easy availability of charas, a form of cannabis, in remote villages.

CHANDIGARH: Facing flak from the Sikh community due to blot of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib, the Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) finds an opportunity in an appeal made by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh not to hold any political conference at religious festivals of Sikhs. Earlier

MUMBAI: An actor-writer-comedian and Quranic scholar, the multi-talented Kader Khan, who died early on Tuesday (IST) in Toronto aged 81, has left behind a vast oeuvre of work from a career spanning over four decades and will be remembered as much for his contribution to Hindu filmdom as for deciphering Islam for the laity across the religious spectrum.

NEW DELHI: The results in the Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan came as a major shock for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has won all the major states barring Delhi, Bihar, Punjab and Karnataka in elections held after the sweeping 2014 Lok Sabha victory.

NEW DELHI: In a severe jolt to the BJP in the Hindi heartland in the "semi finals" ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress on Tuesday knocked the saffron party out of power in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and was slightly ahead in Madhya Pradesh where the two parties were engaged in a see-saw battle throughout the day.

CHANDIGARH: The decision by Badal family to atone their 'sins' and perform 'religious service' (sewa) in Sri Harmandir Sahib Amritsar has brought the role of Sikh clergy under scanner for ignoring the 'sins' of Badal family and allowing them to bypass the authority of Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs.

Nanak was born into a middle-class Hindu family in 1469 in a small village near Lahore, Pakistan. As a boy, he rejected commonly held spiritual conventions and spent as much time as he could in the company of traveling sadhus, mystics, and spiritual teachers. Although well versed in Sanskrit, Persian, and the sacred texts of both Hinduism and Islam, young Nanak never embraced only one religious tradition.

CHANDIGARH: Would suspension of Sukhpal Singh Khaira former LoP and Kanwar Sandhu MLA from Kharar would impact Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) in Punjab? There seems an element of revolsion building up against the party high command. It is for time to decide what course the politics in AAP would take in future but there are several pitfalls in the way of AAP while looking at the past journey of the party.

The mega Religious Procession on November 22
 The historic Khalsa College Charitable Society has created a history by opening 11 Colleges and Schools in the last 10 years and most of these are professional institutions. The Society is committed to fulfill the dream of its founding fathers to provide scientific knowledge and dissemination of education to every strata of society. It has emerged as one of the most prestigious bodies, managing educational institutions in the region.

CHANDIGARH: Politics in Punjab is in "apology" mode these days. The three major parties in the state -- the ruling Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) -- have been bit in one way or the other by the apology bug.

MUMBAI: Veteran actor Anupam Kher has wrapped up shooting of "The Accidental Prime Minister" that is based on former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and says history will not misjudge the Congress leader.

CHANDIGARH: A revolt is brewing up in Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) and Taksali leaders of party from Malwa and Majha region are lining up to challenge leadership of party president Sukhbir Singh Badal and to strip Bikram Singh Majithia who claims to be 'Jarnail' (leader) of Majha region. The recent developments in the party are really a reason to worry for Parkash Singh Badal who put at stake interests of Punjab and party to promote his son over and abiove the senior leaders.

CHANDIGARH: Baldev Singh Sran who took over as CMD Punjab State power Corporation Limited (PSPCL)  on June 6 this year has shown leadership which has been missing in power sector and the results are astonishing.

CHANDIGARH: When Punjab Local bodies minister Navjot Sibgh Sidhu who visited Pakistan on August 18 last and returned home with a promise from Pakistan army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa to open the Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib corridor for Sikh pilgrims, he little realised he will be hounded by by his bête noire SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badfal and his own boss Capt Amarinder Singh. Sidhu was virtualy mocked for compromising the national security. Even Capt Amarinder Singh had disapproved Sidhu's action of hugging Bajwa.

CHANDIGARH: Sukhbir Singh Badal President of Shiromani Akali Dal, the son of former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal who ruled the state by proxy during last term of his father in office, is facing a credibility crisis and also serious challenge to his authority in the party after traditional Akali leaders questioned the 'political blunders' of scion of Badal family.

CHANDIGARH: Over hundereds of incidents of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of Sikhs, and subsequent incidents of police firing on the protesting Sikhs which led to killing of two youth during last two years of Parkash Singh Badal government in Punjab had flared up the Sikh sentiments. Now with new evidence of involvement of Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal in sacrilege episode has come to the fore, the Badal family is facing the hatred of Sikh comunity world wide.

CHANDIGARH: The Badal family-Parkash Singh Badal and his sn Sukhbir Singh Badal-are caught on wrong foot 0n the issue of series of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in Punjab and police action on protesting Sikhs in Kotkapura and Bargari where two Sikhs were killed in police firing. The Justice Ranjit Singh commission report has nailed Badal family members on their involvement in ghasty incidents.

The  reform in power sector remains a pipe dream and benefits of surplus power generation capacity are negated by power distribution companies facing cash crunch. Now elections are round the corner and every political party is planning to promise  more subsidies to all sections of consumers.

The reform in power sector remains a pipe dream and benefits of surplus power generation capacity are negated by power distribution companies facing cash crunch. Now elections are round the corner and every political party is planning to promise more subsidies to all sections of consumers.

East Punjab is passing through a very bad phase in Punjabi language news. Ever since TV news have been opened to private sector, the standard of news has gone worse in the country in general and Punjab in particular. Objectivity is a big casualty in Punjab. Even the spoken language is not standardized. Some Urdu vocabulary is pronounced incorrectly. Some American names are distorted too.

By Dr Ian Hodgson
The increasing repression of civil society was a major theme that emerged during the recently concluded 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018) in Amsterdam. A range of presentations and discussions confirmed that, in many countries, like Hungary, Russia, Venezuela, and the Philippines, the civil society space for HIV prevention is diminishing with the introduction of new laws and policies that are aimed at minimising access to human rights and jeopardising the health and well-being of key populations.

With ousted Leader of Opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira remaining defiant over holding a meet of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders and workers in Bathinda on Thursday, the Punjab unit of the AAP could well be headed for a split.