The confrontation on a bus in Rohtak on November 28, between two sisters, three men and a belt, continues to reverberate, with doubts being raised whether the women were victims of ‘eve teasing’ or are actually bullies with a penchant for confronting men. Haryana is a largely patriarchal society, and the controversy comes amid growing concern in India about sexual violence against women.   read more

‘Her Majesty’ and ‘East India Company’ are still mentioned in some obsolete laws in India’s statute books, 67 years after independence from British colonial rule. The NDA government has come up with a simple solution: a clean-up of obscure laws that no longer serve any purpose. The Law Ministry is leading the drive, by digging out 287 outdated laws that will be repealed in the next session of parliament in November.   read more

This may have been the result of a prank, but the issuance of an Aadhar card in the name of Lord Hanuman has left more than a few red faces at the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the government agency responsible for issuing an unique identity to each resident of India.   read more

Inspired by the famous "ice bucket" challenge, thousands of Indians are taking it up with an Indian twist. Instead of throwing ice-cold water on themselves, they are donating rice to people in need. The challenge, already going viral on social media, involves donating a bucket of rice and sharing a photo online to raise awareness.   read more

All India Radio (AIR) fired 100 radio jockeys in Kolkata last week simply because it felt they were too 'old' – over 35 years of age. AIR has now been forced to back down because these ‘old’ RJs protested, but not before the absurdity of what passes as management at the state-owned broadcaster was made abundantly clear.   read more

The final line of defence in Parliament against the monkey menace in New Delhi is a bunch of men impersonating a different monkey species to scare them away. Forty men have reportedly been hired to make screeching noises similar to those of black-faced langur monkeys, to frighten red-faced macaque monkeys away from government buildings.   read more

The Delhi Police has come up with a novel way of convincing habitual traffic offenders to mend their ways – showing up at their doorstep with a traffic violation notice…and a rose. The notice will inform the offenders whether their licenses would be suspended or cancelled, while the rose is presumably meant to soften the blow.   read more

The village in Uttar Pradesh which saw a gold rush last October on the basis of a sadhu’s dream of 1,000 tons of buried gold will now be turned into a tourist attraction in its own right. The state administration plans to spend Rs. 2.76 crore ($460,000) on developing Daundia Khera in Unnao district.   read more

A house committee of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly has recommended that the state administration ban mobile phones in schools and colleges, blaming smartphones for the rise in rapes and other crimes against women. Congress MLA Shakuntala Shetty, who headed the panel, demanded that mobiles be kept away from students till the age of 18.   read more

India’s national team ranks a lowly 154th in the FIFA world rankings – behind Afghanistan and North Korea. But that hasn’t stopped passionate fans of the ‘beautiful game’ from following the ongoing FIFA World Cup with interest. This edition is doubly important, since Indians happen to be huge fans of the Brazilian team.   read more