With its age-old fascination for education, southern states have done better than the North. Start-ups, IT hubs, and industry majors setting up shop have changed the face of the South. Nearly 79% of global offices set up by international conglomerates in India are in the South. Almost 46% of tech unicorns are from the South. The GDP per person in the South is 4.2 times higher than the North. None of these indicators can be ignored by any central government, whatever the political compulsions, notes Ramesh Menon.
'The TMC can't go on forever taking advantage of the people's fright of the BJP.'
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked a special court in Ghaziabad, which has summoned journalist Rana Ayyub in a money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), to adjourn the proceedings scheduled for January 27 to a date after January 31.
A special team from Tirupur Cyber Crime continued their surveillance and traced the accused Prashantkumar a native of Bihar, settled at Henegare village of Latehar district in Jharkhand, for posting the videos as if North Indian migrant workers were attacked.
The court asked the Centre to file a related affidavit by March 1.
A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court, seeking an independent probe by a special investigation team (SIT) into a recent hooch tragedy in Bihar, in which at least 30 people have lost their lives.
The defamation case in the MP/MLA court in Patna was lodged by Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajya Sabha MP and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
A division bench comprising Justices Ashutosh Kumar and Jitendra Kumar disposed of the death reference moved by the state government on the order of a special National Investigation Agency court, and ruled that the four convicts shall serve "30 years in prison".
After confiscating the assets of six corrupt government officials in Bihar, the state government has sought the court's permission to confiscate the assets of 40 corrupt officials.
The order for Mohan's release follows the cabinet nod for amending the prison rules under which, previously, those involved in serious cases like the killing of a government servant could not be released even after the elapse of 14 years.
While the coalition will not be unstable because of pressures, the effort from partners will be to constantly remind the central government and the BJP how much it is dependent on them.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday announced that the state government has decided to confiscate the property of all the corrupt officials in the state. The government will not hesitate to seize properties amassed by corrupt officials, said Kumar, as the anti-corruption legislation drawn up by the state cabinet has finally been approved by the Centre. "The bill proposes to empower the state to confiscate the property of the corrupt," said the Bihar CM.
Bihar's high-profile politicians with alleged criminal backgrounds, widely known as bahubalis, will face the music. The government will set up special courts soon to conduct speedy trial of cases in which bahubalis are accused.
Capital markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday said it will auction 27 properties of Rose Valley group of companies on November 25 at a reserve price of Rs 63.26 crore in a bid to recover money raised by the firm from the public through illicit schemes. The properties to go under the hammer include flats, buildings, land parcels and hotels located in West Bengal and Bihar, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a notice. The e-auction will be conducted on November 25 between 11 am to 1 pm.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United said it was the right time to withdraw the general consent to the CBI.
A 29-year-old woman from Bihar, suspected to have links with the alleged recruitment of youths from Kerala to Islamic State, is being questioned in Kerala's Kasaragod by the state police after being taken into custody from New Delhi.
A special CBI court in Godhra on Saturday granted the probe agency four-day custody of Jay Jalaram School's principal Purushottam Sharma, teacher Tushar Bhatt, and middlemen Vibhor Anand and Arif Vohra, all of whom are alleged to be involved in irregularities in the May 5 NEET-UG exam in Godhra.
Addressing a press conference in Patna, All India Congress Committee general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala said the party would like the Central Bureau of Investigation to complete its inquiry in three months and favoured setting up of a special court to facilitate expeditious trial.
Special CBI judge Prajesh Kumar, who had last week ordered the former Bihar chief minister to appear in person, fixed November 30 as the next date of hearing.
The Bihar government on Thursday decided to suspend Indian Administrative Service officer and former Patna District Magistrate Gautam Goswami who surrendered before a special court in Patna in connection with the multi-crore flood relief scam.
The elections will begin on April 19 followed by subsequent phases on April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.
Singh had gone underground after resigning from the board two weeks ago ever since his name figured in the Class 12 toppers' scam.
In a crowded courtroom, the judge declared that Alam should be hanged to death for the killing of the girl, also from Bihar.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, replying to queries from journalists in Patna, said the decision to send the team was taken after deliberations that took place over a couple of days.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad was fined Rs 6,000 by a court in Jharkhand's Palamu district on Wednesday for violating the model code of conduct during the 2009 assembly elections in the state.
Asserting that her government has zero tolerance to incidents of rape, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said an amendment to existing laws will be passed in the state assembly next week to ensure capital punishment to convicted rapists.
Ahead of the assembly polls in Rajasthan, the Congress government on Saturday night issued an order for the conduct of a caste survey in the state.
To govern effectively, to legislate successfully, Modi must reach out to the Opposition. As long as he does not and he is showing no signs that he accepts the reality, the drift his fans are anguishing over will remain, cautions Aakar Patel.
Crucial reforms in Muslim personal law, especially laws related to inheritance and adoption, need to be initiated forthwith; historically speaking, without the State's backing, hardly has any reform taken place or allowed to prevail, asserts Mohammad Sajjad.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday announced his intent to raise quotas for Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the state, saying a legislation to the effect is likely to be brought in the ongoing assembly session.
The fact that rodents were making merry in the dungeons came to light following media reports that they had overrun the 'Malkhana' (store) of the police stations.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on the six persons sentenced to 20-year imprisonment, out of the eight crew members who were on board the merchant vessel 'Henry'.
A substantial number of castes and groups are already placed in the reserved category, getting about 52 per cent of reservations altogether. It would be completely inequitable to place the Maratha community in the Other Backward Class (OBC) category, it said.
State RJD president Jagadanand Singh on Saturday announced its candidates for two seats, having done the same for 21 others a week ago, and declared that it was leaving one for the Left parties.
'Don't be surprised if the Census forms come with a caste box.' 'I will be surprised if it doesn't. It will be a point conceded to Rahul Gandhi and his allies,' asserts Shekhar Gupta. The BJP machine could take all 3 in its stride, but this election has changed that, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Now, every state election -- first up, Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand later this year, then Delhi in January and Bihar in September next year -- will be seen by his followers for evidence of his recovery, and by rivals of sharpening decline, points out Shekhar Gupta.
The stakes are significant for the BJP in this round as the party had in 2019 won an overwhelming majority of these seats, including all in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, that will go to polls on May 7.
What about Uttar Pradesh Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Gujarat and Bihar? Mamata asked.
Call it the Aam Aadmi Party effect, as Bihar has decided to dismiss 91 corrupt public servants (officers) from service within one month with more on their way out in the coming months.
Ironically, rival Tamil Nadu governments expend the most on social welfare schemes, especially targeting women and youth and children, but that money comes only by selling more liquor. There is always the specious plea, which has been peddled very many times in the past, that without licensed liquor, drinkers would go after hooch and there could be more hooch tragedies and hooch deaths. No one is convinced, but no one can dispute it either, comments N Sathiya Moorthy.
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