New Delhi, Two days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah pitched for 'one nation, one language', and asked people to maximize the use of Hindi, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday slammed the move saying having many languages are not India's "weakness". "Oriya, Marathi, Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, English, Gujarati, Bengali, Urdu, Punjabi, Konkani, Malayalam, Telugu, Assamese, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Nepali, Sanskrit, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Santhali, Manipuri... India's many languages are not her weakness," Rahul Gandhi tweeted.

  New Delhi, In a new twist in Ayodhya title dispute, the legal team of the Sunni Waqf Board and the representative of Nirmohi Akhara have rubbished the claims of any mediation amidst the day-to-day hearing conducted by the Supreme Court on the matter. The apex court had appointed, on March 8, a 3-member mediation panel headed by former Supreme Court Judge F.M.I. Kalifulla and consisting of spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and senior advocate Sriram Panchu to explore negotiations in the vexed Ayodhya dispute. The committee was disbanded after it submitted a report that it had failed to develop a consensus among parties to reach an amicable solution.

  Mumbai, Following the largest ever-disruption of crude production in Saudi Arabia amid drone attacks on its key facilities, prices of petrol and diesel in India may shoot up by Rs 5 to 6 a litre in next fortnight, experts said on Monday. A recent report by Kotak said that in light of the sharp rise in international crude oil prices, Indian oil marketing companies (OMCs) may increase the retail price of diesel and gasoline by Rs 5 to 6 per litre in the following fortnight.

Karachi, The police have registered three cases against more than 200 people in connection with the anti-Hindu riots in Pakistan Sindh province's Ghotki town. Officials told The Express Tribune that the cases had been filed in which a total of 218 people were nominated. Hundreds of angry protesters took to the streets in Ghotki on Sunday after Notan Lal, a member of the Hindu community and principal of the Sindh Public School, was accused of passing "blasphemous remarks" by a student.

Chandigarh, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh here on Monday asked Akali leader Harsimrat Badal to desist from exploiting the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev for petty political gains by spreading falsehoods. Dubbing her attempts to malign his government, the Chief Minister said the Union Minister was trying to reduce the sacred occasion into a disgraceful saga of fibs and fabrications.

Chennai,Taking a dig at Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the Hindi language issue, Tamil actor-politician Kamal Haasan on Monday said no "Shah, Sultan or Saamraat" should renege on the promise of unity in diversity that was made when India became a republic. Two days after major political parties in Tamil Nadu reacted strongly to Shah's comments in connection with the celebration of Hindi Diwas, MNM party founder Kamal Haasan joined the tribe through a video message and a tweet.

Chandigarh, The Punjab Government will soon have a special IT Cadre for effective implementation of its ambitious e-Governance initiatives as part of the 'Digital Punjab' mission. The decision to create such a cadre was taken on Monday by the Council of Ministers at a meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. The selection criteria as well as the management of the cadre for various categories of posts would be finalised by a committee constituted by the Chief Minister.