The point made by sociologist M N Srinivas, that it represented a Sanskritic act that was linked to caste, is never raised in Indian debates and the disapproval of drink is almost universal, notes Aakar Patel.
The unrest in the Sandeshkhali region of West Bengal ballooned into a major political row on Thursday as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the saffron camp of fomenting trouble in the area, while the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National Commission for Women (NCW) accused her party Trinamool Congress and the state government of being complicit in crimes against women in the area.
'The BJP is trying to change this mantra.'
Gandhi claimed that Dalits, tribals, and Other Backward Classes were made bonded labourers and their participation was lacking in big companies, hospitals, schools, colleges and courts.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress remain the most dominant political forces in Chhattisgarh, though the state has several regional outfits that have pockets of influence, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is making a determined bid to challenge its well entrenched rivals and make a mark in polls to the 90-member House.
Under India's laws bigamy is disallowed and those in breach of the law don't submit affidavits testifying to this status.
The Savitribai Phule Graduate Scholarship will cover course fee to study at Somerville College, University of Oxford and a grant for living costs.
Vote bank politics cannot be above protecting the sanctity of girls and women, he said virtually launching the campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha election at Chaibasa, about 150 km from in Chaibasa.
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
"India risks becoming one of the world's main generators of instability, atrocities and violence because of the massive scale and gravity of the violations and abuses targeting mainly religious and other minorities such as Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and others. It is not just individual or local, it is systematic and a reflection of religious nationalism," he said.
Here is a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of the ruling Congress in Chhattisgarh.
A group of locals set fire to Kaliaganj police station in West Bengal's Uttar Dinajpur district on Tuesday to protest against the death of a teenage girl whose body was found in a canal last week.
Earlier, Modi was given a standing ovation at the meeting following the party's stupendous win in three assembly polls.
Shah said the ULFA, the oldest insurgent group of Assam, agreed to abjure violence, disband the organisation and join the democratic process.
'It is an existential crisis. We cannot recover lost ground through social media. We need to forge alliances and reshape our ideological contours.'
Here is a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of the ruling Congress in Chhattisgarh.
'Does anyone understand India?' 'Does anyone have a larger perspective for India as a whole?' 'Today we have rulers who do not understand the ruled.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power in Rajasthan on Sunday, winning 115 seats out of the 199 where assembly elections were held last week.
'I bow to the great freedom fighters born in Andhra Pradesh. We have not forgotten our freedom fighters, we will not forget and we will move forward by taking inspiration from them,' the prime minister said
On Friday, November 11, the second day of her Odisha tour, the President visited her alma mater, the Government Girls High School and the Kuntala Kumari Sabat Adivasi Hostel where she used to stay during her school days.
Three of the fence-sitters rule fairly large states Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha that together send 63 members to Lok Sabha -- where the Congress or other opposition parties have been pushed to the margins.
Reaching out to politically crucial Kurmi caste population of the Purulia district, Shah promised jobs for their every family and education in their language.
'The BJP's problem is what rabbit can it pull out of the conjurer's hat?'
'We had 110 Adivasis who were languishing in jail for nearly five years because it was claimed they were responsible for some blasts.' 'When the time to give the proof came, they had no proof to show.' 'Then the people are let free, totally exonerated, but their lives are totally shattered.' 'Not only their lives, but the lives of their families.'
Vishnu Deo Sai, a prominent tribal face of the Bharatiya Janata Party, will be the next chief minister of Chhattisgarh where the saffron party returned to power after a gap of five years following the recently-concluded assembly polls.
Thousands of tribals from Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha reached the hills earlier in the day, carrying traditional weapons and beating drums.
The protest started at 6 am on Tuesday with the blockade of the old National Highway 6, which connects Kolkata to Mumbai, at Khemasuli in Kharagpur Local police station area by Kudmi Samaj West Bengal, they said.
'You can attack and conspire to weaken us, but you cannot destroy the Congress permanently.'
'Rajasthan Gujjars have not been able to benefit from the OBC quota. How do we interpret this extraordinary spectacle of backwardness?'
Globalisation and capitalisation cannot be avoided but they should be planned and executed in such a way that natural habitat of these tribal people is not devastated.
He said he was wondering where our institutions are going wrong, that students are forced to take their life.
'People understand Hitlershahi, tanashahi and now Modishahi.'
The ruling Congress is seeking to retain power in Chhattisgarh by banking on the welfare schemes of the Bhupesh Baghel government, while the Bharatiya Janata Party is hoping to corner it on the issues of alleged corruption, religious conversions and unfulfilled poll promises.
Sharing his experience of the yatra so far, the Congress leader said he felt sad while talking to farmers, youth, and tribals.
The opposition alliance that will take on the ruling National Democratic Alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be called Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and an 11-member committee will be set up for coordination, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge announced after a meeting of the parties in Bengaluru.
She lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, holding them responsible for the lack of jobs and migration from the state.
Better living conditions must be an integral part of all political campaigns. But this will only happen if the public pressures the political class to understand the irreversibility of climate change and make the environment a crucial part of their manifestos.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday claimed that people in his office, several party and other opposition leaders have been sent a warning by Apple of state-sponsored attackers targeting their phone, and alleged that as soon as the Adani issue is touched, probe agencies and snooping are deployed.
The National Commission for Women has summoned Udit Raj over his "sycophancy" remark against the president.
