Opposition leaders on Saturday stepped up pressure on Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for stringent action against Bharatiya Janata Party's Ramesh Bidhuri over his derogatory remarks against Bahujan Samaj Party MP Danish Ali in the House.
The electoral bonds scheme for funding political parties should not become a tool for "legitimisation of quid pro quo" between power centres and people who are benefactors of that power, the Supreme Court said on Thursday as it underscored the need for reducing the cash component in the electoral process.
He also cautioned that while India's tryst with democracy is a story which needs to be told time and again, 'complacency enables authoritarian tendencies to gain ground'.
Living up to the party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's promise to give 40 per cent of the tickets to women candidates, the Congress fielded 148 of them, of which only one -- Congress Legislature leader Aradhana Mishra Mona -- secured victory.
India is attempting to soft-land a rover on the moon and will attempt, at some point next year hopefully, sending humans into orbit. All of this makes an exciting time for space around the world, notes Aakar Patel.
The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday said the problem with electoral bonds scheme is that it provides for "selective anonymity" and "selective confidentiality" as the details are available with the State Bank of India (SBI) and can also be accessed by the law enforcement agencies.
The resolution is likely to be passed on the very first day of the session, government sources said. The opposition BJP has said the government's move to bring the resolution will be strongly opposed.
A Delhi court expressed 'immense disgust' while coming down heavily on a lawyer for alleging that the 2020 riots here were the handiwork of a political party and criminal cases were fastened upon the members of the Muslim community alone, calling his statements highly irresponsible and patently false.
Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Tuesday joined the protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and National Register of Citizens in Shaheen Bagh and attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government saying that they fought elections on the promise of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas', but they did 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vinash'.
The NRC is being prepared to identify illegal migrants in Assam.
The 35-year-old spokesperson of the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC underwent a heart surgery recently and was on a private visit to Jaipur, sources said.
Slogans like 'Jiyo aur jeene do (live and let live)', '#No CAA, #No NRC', 'Mera desh, mera samvidhan (My country, my Constitution)' were painted on the road.
A bench of justices Abhay S Oka and Prashant Kumar Mishra, which heard the matter in a special hearing, urged the Chief Justice of India to assign the matter to a larger bench.
Seema, a Shaheen Bagh local, said instead of asking the protesters to end their sit-in, the governments in Delhi and at the Centre should have sent them face masks and hand santisers. Kaneez Fatima, who claims to be a regular at the site since Day 1, said if the government was so concerned about safety and well being, it should withdraw the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, adding that 'we will call off the protest immediately'.
The North East is a sizeable success story for the Modi government politically and for the BJP electorally. It will be an unpleasant surprise if they choose to blow it, bowing to their basic, polarising instinct at any point, points out Shekhar Gupta.
The rules under the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which was enacted over a year ago, are under preparation, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
A bench of Justices MR Shah and Hima Kohli directed the Centre to submit a fresh chart with the number of migrant and unorganised sector workers registered on eShram portal.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday security in the ocean needs to be strengthened as most of the narcotic drugs are shipped in Pakistan and go via Iran to Sri Lanka and Africa.
At 4.35 pm, a tweet from the verified Twitter handle of the Aarogya Setu mobile application said the CoWIN portal is working and that there was a minor glitch at 4 pm, which was fixed.
Bhagwat also expressed concern over Bitcoin and OTT platforms and asked the government to take efforts to regulate these things.
'It is difficult to see how we will be able to get out of the hole that we have dug ourselves into and are digging deeper into,' notes Aakar Patel.
Roy accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of telling a "lie" at his Ramlila Ground rally in New Delhi on Sunday that his government never said anything about the NRC process and that there are no detention camps in the country.
Criticising the saffron party for "undermining democratic values" in the country, the chief minister said, "Democracy exists in Bengal but it is under threat in several other parts of the country."
Addressing a rally in Paschim Medinipur, the Trinamool Congress supremo claimed that BJP leaders "arrive here in choppers and planes from outside with bagful of cash to lure voters and loot votes" just ahead of elections.
A Delhi court on Thursday denied bail to former JNU student Umar Khalid in a case of larger conspiracy in connection with Delhi riots during February 2020.
The JD-U leader said that the change in stance was prompted by country-wide agitations. He also said that the govt would with for a favourable SC verdict on CAA.
'We will do a holistic review of the entire act and the policy at the state level and I need to be convinced that not a single Jharkhandi is uprooted from his or her home due to this law'
'After the NRC in Assam, things have changed for Muslims in India.'
Maharashtra recorded the highest number of cases in the country under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in 2021 at 3,67,218, while Mumbai was placed second among major metropolitan cities in registration of criminal offences, according to a National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report.
India's 71st Republic day celebrations in the United States on Sunday were marred by protests and marches, albeit peaceful ones, against recent changes in the citizenship law by large number of Indian Americans in various cities of the country.
Trinamool Congress members stormed the Well of the House raising slogans, with Naidu asking them to go back to their seats, saying he has allowed Shah to conclude his speech.
The woman, identified as Amulya Leona, asked people to shout with her 'Pakistan Zindabad' thrice after the organisers of the event under the banner of 'Save Constitution' invited her to address the gathering soon after Owaisi came on the stage.
'It is very easy to invoke Bhagat Singh but difficult to emulate him... There was a gentleman who was eventually hanged .... He stayed there..., he did not run away. You are saying you weren't even there'
Gehlot said the CAA is against the Constitution and divides people in the name of religion.
Out of 3.3 crore applicants, over 19 lakh people were excluded from the final NRC published on Saturday.
As the House took up the debate on Motion of Thanks on the President's Address, the Bharatiya Janata Party launched a frontal attack on opposition parties specially the Congress for their stance against the CAA, saying they were trying to divide the nation.
'I do not think that we are showing Hindu humanity and humaneness in the process of the National Register of Citizens.'
'Maybe the State wants to be watching people all the time. But when they are watching, others too may be watching!' 'The State is becoming more and more secretive while throwing people to the wolves.'
Pointing towards Shah, who was present in the Upper House, Sibal asked why FIRs were not registered against those who delivered hate speeches that "incited" communal violence in Delhi.
Despite repeated appeals from the police and the varsity authorities, the protesters refused to end their agitation. Police said the protesters did not have permission to march towards Parliament.
