Army personnel rescue stranded children and other pilgrims to a safe place in flood-hit Govind Ghat in Chamoli, Uttarakhand on Tuesday. (PTI)

DEHRADUN/SHIMLA: The famous Kedarnath shrine was virtually submerged in mud and slush where 50 people died in the unprecedented flash floods that claimed over 130 lives in Uttarkhand and Himachal Pradesh and left over 70,000 pilgrims for Himalayan shrines stranded. The shrine, one of the four holy dhams, in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand bore the brunt of torrential rains. About 500 people, including several [Full Article...]

New Delhi:The probe into alleged irregularities in coal block allocations between 2006 and 2009 reached the doorstep of the prime minister’s office on Tuesday with the CBI recording the statements of two former officials. Investigators may, at a later stage, also seek clarifications from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s adviser TKA Nair in the case, which has come to be known as Coalgate and has [Full Article...]

New Delhi: Rain fury on Tuesday claimed 11 more lives in the north, taking the toll to 73, even as 71,440 pilgrims bound for the Himalayan shrines remained stranded in monsoon-ravaged Uttarakhand apart from 1700 people stuck in Himachal Pradesh. Though rescue efforts picked up momentum in flash flood and landslide hit areas of Himachal and Uttarakhand with a let up in the rains [Full Article...]

New Delhi: On his first visit to Delhi after being made head of BJP’s election campaign committee, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday met senior BJP leader L K Advani and is understood to have discussed the recent political developments including the split in the NDA. Sources close to Advani, who was unhappy over Modi’s anointment, later told PTI that the two leaders [Full Article...]

Patna: Stray violence marred the Bihar bandh called by the BJP with party workers clashing with JD(U) supporters in the state capital as normal life was affected in several districts on Tuesday. A clash broke out on the Veer Chand Patel Path – location of their state unit offices – as supporters of BJP and JD(U) attacked each other in which workers of both [Full Article...]

New Delhi: A school dropout, Jenpu Rongmei, 29, was as disillusioned and angry as many youngsters in Dimapur, Nagaland, till one day he lost his younger brother to a drug overdose. It completely shattered him, but the simmering anger drove him to a mission to reform many disenchanted youth like his brother. “It is difficult to cope up with the loss of a dear [Full Article...]

New Delhi: In perhaps the last reshuffle and expansion of the Union Council of Ministers, Mallikarjun Kharge was on Monday made the Railways Minister as eight more were inducted with veterans Sis Ram Ola and Oscar Fernandes making a comeback. After yesterday’s reshuffle in the party, senior woman leader from election-bound Rajasthan Girija Vyas and K S Rao from Andhra Pradesh were brought in [Full Article...]