The Centre also justified the abrogation of Article 35A of the Constitution which "enabled the then State to make laws giving special rights and privileges to permanent residents, while imposing restrictions upon others".
The government also ruled out having a re-look at the present reservation system.
The Parliament was rocked by Telangana issue again on Monday, prompting Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar to take the unprecedented step of suspending nine members from Andhra Pradesh for five days, the second time in the same session.
Gandhi attacked the government over its 'maximum governance' slogan, saying this also meant expanding the base of disagreement without inviting retribution, a reference to its crackdown on several non-governmental organisations.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday addressed the first joint sitting of Parliament as mandatorily required under the Constitution after the general elections. The address is the political, economic and foreign policy road map of the Narendra Modi government and covers virtually all crucial areas.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expanded his Cabinet and inducted 21 new ministers. Of these, 4 - Manohar Parrikar, JP Nadda, Suresh Prabhu and Birender Singh were appointed as Cabinet ministers. Other than this, Modi has inducted 17 other ministers of state. Here's a quick look at them:
While the Rajya Sabha had exactly six years ago passed the Women's Reservation Bill, the legislation has since been pending in Lok Sabha.
The present elections were held in states where the BJP has a strong presence and organisation and where it was pitted directly against the Congress. But the party's real challenge lies in states outside the northern belt where it has a negligible presence and has to contend with strong regional players, reports Anita Katyal.
In a television interview, Union minister Jairam Ramesh claimed that a state of UP's size was ungovernable
Delivering his concluding address to the party's National Executive, which saw its president Amit Shah raising concerns over "migration" of Hindus from a communally-sensitive western Uttar Pradesh town, Modi made no reference to the controversial issues and instead asked leaders to use power for the benefit of society.
'The EC is a sacred institution.' 'In the last few years, more than once, we have found the EC bending over backwards to accommodate the government.'
'Modi remains the most popular politician in India; the BJP's organisational and fundraising prowess is considerable; and the Opposition, while newly collaborative, has no leader or clear economic messaging as of yet.'
The recent tragedy confirms the view of humanitarian aid as a political weapon
Sitaram Yechury speaks about the Left's future in politics and their chances in the Bihar polls.
Sitting Congress MP Madhu Yaskhi Goud, who played a crucial role in passing the Telangana bill in Parliament, is up against TRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao's daughter. However, one cannot simply rule out the chances of E Lakshminarayana, the popular BJP leader who is also in the fray. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
Though there is a full-throated clamour in the Congress that party vice-president Rahul Gandhi be formally named as its prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Nehru-Gandhi scion is personally not convinced that his projection will yield electoral dividends.
'We are not marketing (the) Modi name but the work and trust that it projects.'
'Friday's parliamentary confrontation obviously was a precursor, or a trailer, to use a pop culture reference, to the real show awaiting the nation,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Under constant attack for remaining incommunicado during crucial periods, both Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi are now making a special effort to come out of their cocoons and articulate their views on key issues, says Anita Katyal.
'I would say it is not going to be days and weeks. It is going to be months and years, over which we would make an assessment on the decisions taken by the Parliament at this point of time. 'We are in for a long haul is what I would say.' It was a very diverse India, which was coming together, politically, in a very cohesive, democratically-resilient way." Professor Navnita Behera examines the wisdom of the exit of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
Modi's non-reference could also imply that the BJP may be keeping its alliance options open vis--vis the AIADMK. It could also imply that the BJP's national leadership had not given up on the DMK returning to power in the state post-poll, and the Centre having to do business with a new government in Fort St George, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
In the crazily complex cauldron that is India, where caste, community, class and cash are just the primary ingredients, no one has yet come up with a fool-proof method to ascertain how voters make up their minds, on which button to press, in the privacy of their 'confessional' booths, notes Krishna Prasad.
While BJP members moved into aisles shouting slogans and demanding an apology from Azad, Congress members too rushed into the Well raising slogans demanding an apology from the prime minister.
The cases reported on Wednesday include a couple and their two-year-old daughter in Rajasthan who had recently returned from Italy. The patients belong to Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu and had returned from Italy on March 8.
Attacking the note ban move, Yechury said the PM's assertion that it will impact terror funding has not yielded any result.
From lining up allies to having them accept him as the Opposition's prime ministerial candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress president Rahul Gandhi's real challenge has just begun, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Now that an elected chief minister is at the helm, it is high time the Centre initiate discussions to appoint a full-time governor at the earliest, given that the state is set to face some challenging times, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
While believing that the senior leadership does not have what it takes to resurrect the party, members at the same time are often heard repeating, "It's the Gandhi family that holds the party together". Kavita Chowdhury explains
'He depended too much on assurances given by sadhus and sants. He may not be culpable, but he was wholly responsible for December 6, 1992.' 'While Manmohan Singh came to reforms out of conviction, Rao came to reforms out of compulsion. If the compulsion had not been there, I don't know how he would have responded.'
'He has got all the criteria that are good for running an NGO.' 'He is always doing charitable things.' 'To be a political leader you must have cunning to go for the seal.'
Congress gets into the opposition groove but still has miles to go, says Saroj Nagi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on range of issues -- from Rafale deal to Ram temple and triple talaq.
Biometric authentication is based on the unscientific and questionable assumption that there are parts of human body that does not age, wither and decay with the passage of time.
Modi's NDA is good enough to give a psychological boost to the once 'untouchable' BJP and Modi but if the NDA doesn't get a majority on its own, then walking the last mile will be the greatest challenge of this election for Modi, says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
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