The ban on the sale of loose cigarettes and the mandatory registration of retailers of tobacco products has finally come into effect in the hill state. The Governor issued notification on Himachal Pradesh Prohibition of Sale of Loose Cigarettes and Beedis and Regulation of Retail Business of Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products act, 2016 earlier

The apprehension of an Indo-Pak war emerged after the ‘surgical strikes’ made by Indian Army across the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir, which is being debated at different levels, gave yet another potential issue to the politicos in Punjab to lob verbal shells at each other. The political leaders, unmindful of their international ramifications, exploited

Himachal Pradesh: The premier Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla is in the midst of golden jubilee celebrations. The pass outs from the college have made it big in different fields and are now serving in the best of institutions in the country and abroad. The IGMC has a reason to celebrate also because all

The Shimla Municipal Corporation will charge ‘green fee’ from the vehicles, which are not registered in Himachal, on their entry in Shimla. It is a kind of tax to facilitate clean and green Shimla to the tourists, the city being international tourist place. Shimla would be the second hill destination to introduce this concept after

Punjab Cabinet recently gave its approval to include Saini and Swarnkar/Sunar communities in the list of Backward Classes of the state on recommendations of the Backward Classes Commission.A decision to this effect was taken by the Cabinet in its meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in Chandigarh on Saturday. This

The rift is out in the open in Congress once again as the election year comes closer in Himachal Pradesh. The claims of coordination between Virbhadra government and the Congress party led by Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu have seemingly fallen apart. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who praised Sukhu one day and retraced his stand the very

During the recently concluded Monsoon Session, Punjab Vidhan Sabha witnessed lot of commotion and unruly scenes, which ultimately disgraced the dignity of the House. As it was the ‘last session’ of the current government, the treasury benches wanted it to pass off peacefully without any major controversy which could interrupt the get going of the

The poor implementation of ambitious Rashtriya Uchhatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) in state colleges has become a pain in the neck for teachers and students alike. Contrary to the claims of Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla (which lists RUSA implementation as its top achievement), the haste, with which the new system of higher education was implemented over

Thanks to the swift developments taking place in the state politics, the show has reached at such a dynamic level that one is bound to keep the knowledge brushed up every alternate day.In the leadership of cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, the former Indian Hockey team captain and two Independent MLAs from Ludhiana-Balwinder Singh Bains and

Surprising, but true. In Himachal Pradesh, the monkeys keep the state government on toes. So much so, that the government, which was earlier giving money for catching monkeys (for sterilisation), has now announced an incentive of Rs 300 for killing a monkey in certain areas outside forest. The reason: Under tremendous political pressure, the state

Vidhan Sabha elections in Punjab, scheduled for early next year, will certainly be much more interesting than ever as the state that used to have a kind of bipolar electoral fight, with the two arch rivals-Congress and SAD-BJP alliance-primarily taking one each other, is now moving towards a stage where people will have multiple choices

When humanity and municipality failed in ShimlaShimla has got a bad name again. A four year old boy from the city was kidnapped two years ago and was allegedly murdered for ransom after some days. The child was tortured before he was allegedly done to death.What made it more ghastly was that the parts of

After witnessing the rule of SAD-BJP alliance and Congress for decades, people of Punjab had this time hoped for a fresh waft of air that could cleanse the dirt of the system in Punjab.However, the hope is getting shattered now as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a political entity on which the masses had started

Former Congress minister Vijay Singh Mankotia, who is Vice Chairman of State Tourism Development Board, has spoken it out blatantly. His remarks that ‘drugs tourism’ is picking up in Himachal Pradesh, with reference to McLeodganj and Kullu, along with the allegation of connivance by officials, cannot be taken lightly. Nevertheless, what Mankotia alleged cannot be

Punjab Governor-designate Vijyendrapal Singh Badnore is going to take the oath of office and secrecy on Monday afternoon at the sprawling Punjab Raj Bhavan in Chandigarh. He will also be holding an additional charge of UT Administrator, just as his predecessors used to.The announcement of Badnore’s appointment as Punjab Governor, made four days back, was

The tiny hill state of Himachal is in dire need of third option, an alternate to Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which have ruled the state one by one for past over three and a half decades.But unfortunately, whosoever has tried out an alternate to these two parties, has failed in Himachal. The

At a time when the state is in the election mode with political parties in the process of preparing and releasing their manifestoes and announcing candidates, Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday invalidated the appointment of 18 Chief Parliamentary Secretaries, who were in the position since the Parkash Singh Badal government was repeated in

Promoted internationally as an ‘all weather tourist destination’, the beautiful Queen of hills, Shimla has unfortunately turned out to be ‘all weather city’ even when it comes to water crisis. The hue and cry over ‘water shortage’ is a common phenomenon in the state capital, which prevails for different reasons season after season every year.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday released its first list of candidates for 19 constituencies for the Punjab Assembly elections, scheduled for early 2017. The development that made the AAP to steal the march from the two major political players—the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Congress—charged up the atmosphere across the state with common

A silent conflict is brewing in Himachal Pradesh… And it seems Chief Minister; Virbhadra Singh is not the one to take it lying down on certain things, even as it may concern the Raj Bhawan’s stance. The case in point is of Himachal Pradesh Sports (Registration, Recognition and Regulation of Associations) Bill 2015, which is