'There's also a possibility of the cyclonic system changing its course, thus avoiding a landfall in Odisha'
Let us see the problem for what it actually is: Illegal Immigration plain and simple, confined to the northeast with a definite communal slant that poses a national security risk and one that needs to be dealt with firmly and promptly by stringent identification (and deportation), says Vivek Gumaste.
Polling for three parliamentary seats and 29 assembly constituencies were held on October 30, an exercise being seen as a barometer of the political mood in the country ahead of assembly elections in politically critical Uttar Pradesh as well as other states.
As the industrial era wanes, the network era looms, notes Ajit Balakrishnan.
Assam police have arrested a local TV channel reporter for allegedly having links with the banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Sangbijit faction) group. Jaikhnong Brahma, a Kokrajhar-based reporter for Guwahati-based satellite TV channel, News Live was arrested on Tuesday evening from his residence.
According to officials, Punjab, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Assam and Telangana wanted the lockdown to be continued, some of them wanted the powers to decide the zoning of districts -- green, orange and red -- as per the COVID-19 situation.
The Trinamool Congress sought complete withdrawal of the NRC, alleging that Indian citizens have also been left out of the final draft.
The defence minister said "last year in Galwan Valley, our soldiers displayed exemplary courage and valour in line of duty. I salute all brave soldiers who laid down their lives fighting for the nation."
At least seven insurgents belonging to Naga rebel group, Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang, including one woman cadre, were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces that took place at Pangsha in Tuensang district of Nagaland close to Indo-Myanmar border.
'The CAA should be kept in abeyance, without making it a prestige issue.'
'Laying down a clear policy on the future of illegal migrants will dispel anxieties and help in implementing the CAA, NPR and also the NCR,' suggests former Union home secretary Dr Madhav Godbole.
Empowerment of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) with extra territorial jurisdiction and declaration of Maulana Masood Azhar, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Dawood Ibrahim as terrorists after legislative amendment were counted among its achievements by the MHA, headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
With the BJP continuing to be the constant combatant, centrifugal pressures will rise. Fractured relations between the Centre and the states as between BJP and non-BJP ruled states is a sizeable risk owing ahead, warns Shekhar Gupta.
Official celebrations in most states were restricted to unfurling of the national flag and chief ministers and governors addressing the people, with fewer guests in attendance.
The situation along the Indo-Bangla border in Assam's Cachar district remained tense but under control.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that the Centre would soon take pragmatic steps to effectively manage the country's borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh to check the movement of militants and arms.
The Padma Vibhushan for this year has been awarded to a total of seven prominent personalities, while 16 have been given the Padma Bhushan, 118 have been given the Padma Shri on the 71st Republic Day this year, they said.
'The people of India have not only challenged the ruling dispensation with the constitution, they have also opened the eyes of the leadership that sits in the Opposition.'
It is largely due to his vision and efforts that we have almost quadrupled our per capita milk availability in the last 40 years, points out Shailesh Dobhal.
BJP CMs promote a lawless culture, one where groups backed by the State are encouraged to attack fellow citizens, where being trigger-happy is the official police policy, notes Jyoti Punwani.
Journalists' Forum Assam has appealed to the people of northeast India to defy the militants' diktat and celebrate the forthcoming 63rd Republic Day (of India) in a befitting manner. Reacting to the boycott call by more than ten separatist armed groups, the journalist organisation urged the people to remember the sacrifice of the martyrs of India's Freedom Movement.
Massive crowds thronged liquor stores, more vehicles plied on roads and cab-hailing platforms resumed services as India entered the third phase of the lockdown on Monday with further easing of curbs except in containment zones in the shadow of the highest rate of recovery yet from coronavirus.
The event brings to fruition the Bharatiya Janata Party's 'mandir' movement that defined its politics for three decades and took it to the heights of power.
What the Congress will have to understand is that it is not enough to have a 40-something vice-president in New Delhi, but young faces with fresh ideas in the states,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Trouble is brewing in Arunachal Pradesh where Maoists are instigating the locals to join anti-dam movements in eastern part.
A magnificent display of India's cultural diversity through colourful parades across the length and breadth of the country marked the 71st Republic Day celebrations on Sunday which passed off peacefully, barring in Upper Assam, which was rocked by four explosions within a span of 10 minutes.
The inter-faith ceremony, where there was a traditional Hindu-style 'hawan' and chants of Sikh 'kirtan', saw participants also reading out the Preamble of the Constitution and taking oath to preserve its "socialist, secular" values.
'After the NRC in Assam, things have changed for Muslims in India.'
Even as the United Progressive Alliance government in the Centre is finding it hard to find an amicable solution to the raging Telangana statehood movement in the South, the Bodo tribe community in Northeast has revived its long-standing demand for a separate state to be carved out of the state of Assam. K Anurag reports.
The pacts signed after Modi-Hasina talks provided for deeper cooperation between the two countries in areas of water resources, youth affairs, culture, education and coastal surveillance.
The 48-year-old trooper prepares ration packets, using his savings, for the poor in his village.
The case of Gujaratis also the eye-opener for all Indians, who are agitating for the Lokpal bill.
The movement for a separate state of Telangana in the south is having its repercussion in northeast India too. Now, the Bodoland People's Front, a tribal political group comprising former insurgents, has stated that a separate state for the Bodo tribe in Assam would be a must if the Centre grants a Telengana state.
The Left has ideologically become irrelevant globally, says the finance minister.
Issues ranging from fencing of the Indo-Bangla border to desilting of Hooghly river and spread of fluorosis among people in Telangana were among several issues raised in the Lok Sabha during Zero Hour on Wednesday.
Sonowal, who steered the BJP to victory in the elections, has put the issue of infiltration and attempts to check them as his government's priority.
Authorities across states have identified more than 6,000 people who attended the Nizamuddin Tablighi Jamaat congregation, the biggest COVID-19 hotspot in India.
A rise in the number of daily COVID-19 cases and mortality has been observed in Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand, indicating the pandemic is moving eastwards, the Union health ministry said.
Security forces operating under unified command have launched opeation in Tirap and Changlang districts of eastern Arunachal Pradesh which border with Myanmar to check cross border movements of terrorists from Assam and Nagaland to their bases inside Myanmar.
As we get used to a long haul of isolation to curb the spread of COVID-19, the police's new avatar in many places is a far cry from that of the high-handed enforcer of law and order.
