The National Investigation Agency has, in separate incidents, arrested two individuals in connection with the Burdwan blast case. The first arrest was that of Suzena Begum, wife of key accused Sahanur Alam and the second person arrested was Zia-ul-Haque, wanted for indoctrinating youth in sectarian ideology.
'The new government will have to contend with slowing economic growth, weak private investment, anaemic exports and vulnerable external imbalances, a stressed financial system, mounting fiscal pressures (including high government debt-to-GDP ratios) and an exceptionally bad employment situation,' says Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser to the Government of India.
'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.
As CAB was tabled in Lok Sabha, West Bengal CM said she will never allow NRC in the state.
Besides criticising CM Arvind Kejriwal on scores of issues, Shah alleged the AAP government made only promises throughout its tenure and now in the last three months, public money was being spent on advertisements for its announcements.
The court also made clear that the second opportunity has been granted to the citizens keeping in mind the "magnitude" of the issue.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's offer of central assistance in arresting the downward slide in West Bengal and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval's ongoing trip to the state and his asking for Mamata's cooperation in handling the situation and in dissolving the anti-national and inter-country network of jihad that has now chosen her state as one of its base, is perhaps Mamata's last best chance to salvage the situation, says Dr Anirban Ganguly.
Students' organisations and political parties are participating in the bandh to protest the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan if they faced religious persecution there.
Trinamool leaders have claimed the NRC process and subsequent verification is vote bank politics. Other critics call it as modified ethnic cleansing. But putting poll rhetoric aside, the issue dates back to a time when many of these leaders had no political relevance.
Indians want change and progress. They should be willing to accept tough decisions, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
A glance back at some of the important ups and down Indian Inc faced in 2018.
After the publication of the final list of NRC, those people whose name will figure in it will be given usual Aadhaar number as applicable to legal residents in the country.
Seeking cooperation from the public to fight the pandemic, the Union health ministry officials said there was no need to panic. They also said not everyone needs to wear masks and that following social distancing is more important to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Modi in his address to the BRICS Leaders Meeting in Hangzhou said "terrorists in South Asia or any where for that matter do not own banks or weapons factories". "Clearly someone funds and arms them and BRICS must intensify joint efforts not just to fight terror but to coordinate actions to isolate those who are supporters and sponsors of terror," he said, without naming Pakistan which is a close ally of China.
The best camera is the one you have in your pocket. Ever since the release of the first iPhone, the iPhone Photography Awards, now in its 11th year, highlights the best of the best. This year's winners were selected from thousands of entries and from photographers in 140 countries. The winning image, taken by Jashish Salam of Bangladesh and titled "Displaced," shows a crowded refugee camp with Rohingya children watching a film about sanitation. Other awards included prizes for photographer of the year and 18 other categories like Nature, Children and Travel. Check out the winning images.
'Even if such a thing happens, it will not prolong for many days like Doklam did.' 'That is because both the leaders do not want it.'
The challenge ahead for central and state governments remains enormous.
State party leaders admit that Hindu consolidation by itself was not good enough to unseat Didi.
South and South-West Asia could witness an economic growth of 5.3 per cent in 2015, which will be a four-year high.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has suggested five thrust areas to improve relations with India. It is likely all these issues, in addition to the points raised by Xi at Fortaleza, will be part of the joint declaration at the end of his visit to India, says Srikanth Kondapalli.
Diplomats agree that amid stormy relations with China and Pakistan, Modi has posted impressive foreign policy successes, notes Aditi Phadnis.
The more one thinks about it, the more difficult it is to see how India will be able to reap the benefits of a demographic dividend, says Aakar Patel.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
'It was the Mughals who first established standard units of measurement and maintained offices of meticulous record keepers and auditors, departing from the more haphazard methods of earlier regimes.' 'By the end of the 16th century, their revenue and judicial administrations exhibited an obsessive preoccupation with order, the efficient management of time, and a spirit of rational self-control -- all of them characteristics of early modernity,' point out Sheldon Pollock and Benjamin Ellman.
Banerjee along with other regional leaders are likely to play an important role in any future government in New Delhi, so it is in India's interest that regional leaders like herself realise the importance of progressive economics and good governance, says Tridivesh Singh Maini.
The Indian contingent of more than 300 navy personnel was assisting in the relief, with divers searching the brackish waters and medical teams seeing patients in makeshift tents set up at shelters.
Affaq Husain and his wife Saira built a Rs 100 crore empire preying on the most vulnerable people in society.
The Enforcement Directorate has managed to sniff out over Rs 9,000 crore as suspected haul from money laundering in a decade, but it has yet to link those against anyone successfully in a court.
'The army has stopped short of exerting the sort of influence it may have done historically.' 'It is comfortable with its relations with the civilian government as the superior partner.'
The Election Commission has a fight on its hand as candidates use ingenious methods to smuggle in money to Voters.
National Geographic has announced the winners of its prestigious Travel Photographer of the Year photo contest for 2017. And the images are just breathtaking.
Global working conditions have worsened in 2014.
'Whichever option India chooses, it should be clear to the government that the China-Pakistan nexus poses a clear and present danger to national security,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
'Muslims and Christians should understand that the cow is sacred to us. It is not good for health. They should eat something else.'
ADB has often expressed its interest in promoting sub-regional integration in South Asia and perhaps could be involved as a facilitator.
The real brilliance of this RSS campaign, therefore, lies in building a dominant power base with, and for, a mostly non-RSS leadership. That is why the rise of the BJP in Assam is their stand-out victory, says Shekhar Gupta.
A policy-related problem that urgently needs to be redressed is the 'miniaturisation' of projects.
'Crafting a coherent, transparent and consistent policy vis-a-vis our neighbours, leave alone the rest of the world, is unlikely to be high on the priority list of the new Indian government, which will be sworn in before June,' says Ramananda Sengupta.
'It was Dr B R Ambedkar's foresight which saved us from some marauding state political leaders who could have indirectly disfranchised large sections of our population as we see some attempts even now,' says V Balachandran.
Following is the full text of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the 73rd Independence Day.
