Free Republic

Is There A Distinctive 'Indian English'? BBC Trending By BBC Trending Is there a distinctive "Indian English"? Yes, according to a hashtag that's been trending in the country - #IndianEnglish. "Open the windows and let the atmosphere come in." "Today is my Happy Birthday." These are a couple of examples being shared on the hashtag #IndianEnglish. Since it took off early on Thursday, it's been used around 20,000 times in India. It was started by 22-year-old Ojas Korde, a masters student in public relations from Mumbai. "On Twitter, we take things lightly," he told BBC Trending. Indians often translate directly...

Court grants woman divorce for forcing her to wear sariObjecting to wife wearing kurta and jeans and forcing her to wear sari amounts to cruelty inflicted by husband and can be a ground to seek divorce, a family court here has ruled. The wife pleaded that after marriage in December 2010, her husband did not buy her any clothes and therefore she had purchased kurta and jeans from her salary. However, the husband did not allow her to wear them, saying she should wear only saris. In her order was passed on June 24, Principal Judge of Family Court, Dr...

Youtube video at link.

The danger faced by women going to the toilet outdoors in rural India was made clear last month when two girls were ambushed, gang-raped and hanged from a tree. But defecation outside is normal for most Indian villagers - so how do they manage?

India's newly-built anti submarine warfare (ASW) corvette Kamorta is now ready to join the Indian Navy's Eastern Fleet. The warship is slated to be commissioned into the Indian Navy in July at Vishakhapatnam, where a nuclear submarine - Arihant - is also being built indigenously. Now docked at the fitting-out jetty (FOJ) of Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd. (GRSE) here, Kamorta - a super-sophisticated frontline warship with stealth features - is readying to sail out to play its role as Indian Navy's newest submarine hunter/killer, a defence ministry statement said Tuesday. It will be the first warship armed with...

KOHIMA: India soldiers died by the dozens, by the hundreds and then by the thousands in a battle here 70 years ago. Two bloody weeks of fighting came down to just a few yards across an asphalt tennis court. Night after night, Japanese troops charged across the court's white lines, only to be killed by almost continuous firing from British and Indian machine guns. The Battle of Kohima and Imphal was the bloodiest of World War II in India, and it cost Japan much of its best army in Burma. But the battle has been largely forgotten in India as...

While his government’s focus remains squarely on domestic issues, Mr Modi is also charting a rather ambitious foreign policy course. He has already visited Bhutan and his future destinations over the next few months are likely to include Japan, Brazil, Southeast Asia, Australia and Nepal. Meanwhile, the Chinese foreign minister has saluted the new Modi government for injecting “new vitality into an ancient civilisation”.

Their World Cup love affair began more than three decades ago in Spain. Now 81-year-old Pannalal Chatterjee and his wife Chaitali, 72, are once more heading from cricket-mad India to the ultimate football fiesta."This may be my last one, but I am so happy at getting the chance to watch a tournament in Brazil," Pannalal said during a stopover in Singapore on his way to what will be the couple's ninth World Cup. "It's always been my dream to watch the World Cup in Brazil. It's the Mecca of football," he told AFP by phone. SNIP The couple, who have...

It's early morning and local commuters are queuing up for tickets at the Kirti Nagar railway station in the Indian capital, Delhi. Along the tracks, another crowd is gathering - each person on his own, separated by a modest distance. They are among the 48% of Indians who do not have access to proper sanitation. Coming from a slum close-by, they squat among the few trees and bushes along the railway tracks and defecate in the open. To many, this is a daily morning ritual despite the hazards of contracting diseases such as diarrhoea and hepatitis. It can be even...

Since Lord Macaulay set out to turn India’s native elite into “a class of persons Indian in blood and color, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect” in 1835, English has been the country’s language of government. But according to a leaked memo, Indian officials must now use Hindi in all official posts on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. Ministers have also ordered officials, many of whom do not speak fluent Hindi, to use the language in presentations. The disclosure provoked an angry response from state leaders across the country yesterday, who resent the...

With new leadership in the House, the Obama administration thinks it may have a better chance of securing immigration reform, Valerie Jarrett says at a Monitor breakfast. The White House is holding out hope that immigration reform can still pass this year, bucking the conventional wisdom that the issue is all but dead for now. “We have an opportunity with a new team in place in the House to act,” said Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to President Obama, at a breakfast Friday hosted by The Christian Science Monitor. On Thursday, House Republicans elected a new majority leader, Rep. Kevin...

The White House believes that the election of a new House leadership team has opened up an opportunity to pass immigration reform this summer, presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett said Friday. Jarrett said the change necessitated by Rep. Eric Cantor’s (R-Va.) surprising primary loss gives new life to immigration reform. -snip- But Jarrett said in discussions with business leaders in recent days that “nobody has said to me they thought his defeat was because of immigration reform.” In recent days, Jarrett shared a dinner with News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch and a breakfast with the Business Roundtable to discuss the topic....

President Obama's longtime senior adviser Valerie Jarrett confessed to breaking bread this week with conservative media titan Rupert Murdoch, a new White House frenemy of sorts on immigration reform. The two dined at the posh Blue Duck Tavern on Tuesday night in Washington's Foggy Bottom, and Jarrett described the evening as “very enjoyable.” “Good policy sometimes makes strange bedfellows,” she told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor Friday, adding that she was impressed by Murdoch's passion for passing comprehensive immigration reform. He is an immigrant himself and he understands from a business perspective how important immigration...

News Corp Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch Rupert Murdoch said his "heart sank" after he learned of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's stunning Republican primary loss last week, because he believes Congress needs to tackle the issue of immigration reform this year. Murdoch, the chair of News Corp., has an op-ed in Thursday's Wall Street Journal in which he argued immigration reform "can't wait." After Cantor's loss, immigration reform was almost universally pronounced dead as a possibility this year, as it was perceived to be one of the issues on which Cantor lost favor with his Republican constituents. But Murdoch,...

Rupert Murdoch, the head of NewsCorp (the corporate owner of Fox News), penned an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal today in which he strongly advocates for immigration reform, an issue believed to have cost Eric Cantor his reelection at the hands of the tea party. And, in fact, Murdoch opens his op-ed by saying, “When I learned that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor had lost his Republican primary, my heart sank.”

SPOTTED: Rupert Murdoch, eating dinner with Valerie Jarrett at the Blue Duck Tavern in D.C. Among the topics they discussed: immigration reform.

American workers are struggling to find jobs and illegal immigrants flooding across the border are straining the country's resources, but Rupert Murdoch believes amnesty legislation "can't wait." A day after dining with President Barack Obama's top adviser Valerie Jarrett, Murdoch, the Chairman of the group that owns Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, pushed for amnesty and an unlimited number of high-tech guest-worker visas in a Wednesday op-ed in the Journal. Murdoch said his "heart sank" when he learned that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) was ousted last week in a primary election that was widely viewed as...

An Indian teenager is worshipped as a god because he has a 7ins ‘tail’. Arshid Ali Khan, 13, has become a divine symbol in the state of Punjab. Locals have hailed him a reincarnation of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman - and refer to him as Balaji. However, Arshid has to use a wheelchair and he is considering having the ‘tail’ removed. He said: ‘This tail has been given to me by God. I am worshipped because I pray to god and the wishes of people come true.....

Saab believes co-developing Tejas Mark II would end need for Rafale More than two years after India's ministry of defence (MoD) chose to buy 126 Dassault Rafale fighters for the Indian Air Force (IAF), the world's biggest fighter contract swings in the wind. With no deal in sight after 28 months of haggling with Dassault, two of the losing vendors -Eurofighter and Saab - believe they could yet come out tops. Eurofighter GmbH, whose Typhoon fighter narrowly lost out to the Rafale, still retains a senior executive in New Delhi. This is to allow Eurofighter - the official runner-up -...

PARIS--Japanese defense contractors for the first time displayed their wares at the Eurosatory international exhibition, taking advantage of the Abe government’s move in April to lift the three-decade ban on weapons exports. But Japan still faces a number of diplomatic and technological hurdles before it can become a major arms exporter. About 1,500 defense companies from 58 countries will exhibit their latest weapons and other defense equipment at the Eurosatory in Paris through June 20. The trade show is expected to draw 58,000 military officials and industry participants from 90 countries. Participant companies displayed large items, such as tanks and...