The government on Tuesday introduced a constitutional amendment bill reserving 33 per cent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, reviving a proposal pending for years and blending history, politics and societal imperatives on the first day in the new Parliament building.
A new entrant, whether a popular actor or not, has not been able to sweep the polls, as their fans had hoped for. Given a proven pattern, it should hold true for Vijay as well. Or, something drastically has to happen between now and 2026, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Thursday claimed that contrary to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's "false propaganda" that the population of Muslim community was increasing in the country, the number of the minority community members vis-a-vis Hindus was fast declining, and added that he could prove it.
The Met department blamed the malfunctioning of sensors kept at the Automated Weather Station for the gaffe.
The Opposition's demand to count castes in the just started census forced two adjournments in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
'A large number of people from Sindh province will now opt to migrate to India as they would be granted citizenship through an easy process.'
Gandhi also said the idea of 'One Nation, One Election' was aimed at distracting from real issues of the people.
Campaigning ended on Wednesday evening for 102 Lok Sabha seats across 21 states and Union territories which will go to polls in the first phase on April 19 with top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) making a last-gasp effort to woo voters.
The Vishwaguru who addressed the maximum rallies and boasted of being blessed with divine energy, who promised guarantees in his own name, turned out finally not invincible, points out Jyoti Punwani.
Let us do our bit for abolishing caste from our midst!
The Union Home Ministry has decided to conduct a fresh census on the Rohingya Muslims following reports that terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba has taken up the cause of the community, which is fleeing the current wave of ethnic cleansing by the ruling Buddhist majority in Myanmar especially in the Arakan region.
The original suggestion was to call it 'Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance', but the word 'democratic' was replaced with 'developmental' after Kumar and Yechury raised some objections saying it sounded too similar to the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), sources said.
India remains a young nation, but it will not get younger in future. India has not managed to noticeably improve education. Nor has it managed to create employment opportunities, observes Devangshu Datta.
Sikhs have more in the way of domestic clout and electoral representation in Canada than they do in India. No politician in Ottawa can ignore the concerns of a community with this level of representation, notes Devangshu Datta.
It will be in Modi's interest to reinvent his party, read the writing on the wall that voters wrote, and move ahead. He has little choice now. The country is watching, asserts Ramesh Menon.
Nearly one in six people living in England and Wales last year were born outside the country and Indians constituted the largest chunk at 1.5 per cent of residents, according to latest statistics based on the country's 2021 census data.
Among the bigwigs are Union ministers Amit Shah (Gandhinagar), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and SP Singh Baghel (Agra).
'The longevity of the government is a doubt for me because when the going gets tough, there could a be a point in time where there might be pressure, from within the party or from the allies.'
The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to overturn the Patna high court's interim order suspending the Bihar government's caste survey.
The big surprise is that Narendra Modi, the greatest conjurer in our national politics, has not yet presented a theme to this election, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Happily, it does not require the world to hold a mirror up for us. We can look at ourselves and understand easily if we choose to be honest about where we find ourselves three quarters of a century after Independence, asserts Aakar Patel.
The government on Friday refrained from releasing the caste-based data in its first Socio Economic and Caste Census released in eight decades and maintained that it was concerned with economic data which will help in effective implementation of its programmes.
'Bringing in Dr Mohan Yadav as the Yadav-OBC face from Ujjain as chief minister, and a scheduled tribe leader Jagdish Devda from Mandsaur district, and a Brahmin face Rajendra Shukla from Rewa, the BJP is making an attempt to put in place a new caste equation in the state keeping an eye on the general elections next year.'
The Lok Sabha contest in Thiruvananthapuram is shaping up to be a significant battle involving key candidates like Shashi Tharoor, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and Panniyan Ravindran. This three-cornered fight highlights the political dynamics in Kerala's capital city, with each candidate bringing their own vision and promises for the region's development, notes Rajeev Srinivasan.
Supreme Court judge Sanjay Karol on Wednesday recused himself from hearing a plea filed by the Bihar government challenging a Patna high court order granting a stay on the caste survey it was conducting.
Justice Khanna said all the intervention applications filed on the issue will also be taken on April 16 when the final hearing will take place.
In his poll rallies, Modi framed Pitroda's comments in his wider onslaught against the Congress, asserting that they have exposed its hidden agenda and that the party has become so removed from the country's social and family values that it wants to legally rob people of their assets and lifelong savings they want to bequeath to their children.
In an appeal filed before the top court against the May 4 order of the high court, the state government said the stay will adversely affect the entire exercise.
Once more women assume leadership roles and join the nation-building process, he said, adding they will become a guarantee of the country's bright future.
Rahul Gandhi's focus will be on his Nyay Yatra, rather than the INDIA bloc's election campaign, leading to speculation among allies that the Congress leader is already looking at the Opposition's fight beyond May 2024.
The passage of the women's reservation bill has ignited hope among stakeholders about attaining gender equality in India's political landscape, especially at the policy-making level, even as some raised concerns over its effectiveness given the uncertainty in the deadline for its implementation.
'We will be happy if Nitishji becomes convenor of INDIA.'
With a 50 per cent increase in the last four years, Madhya Pradesh has the maximum number (785) of tigers in the country, followed by Karnataka (563), Uttarakhand (560), and Maharashtra (444), according to the data.
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.
While the responses of the candidates were predictable, depending on which side they belonged to, an interesting point slipped through when Rahul Shewale cited the Dharavi Redevelopment Project as a scheme that would add to Mumbai's importance. No big infrastructural project in Mumbai, he said, could be successful without the Centre's nod.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday suggested that if the Congress comes to power, it would redistribute wealth of people to Muslims and cited former PM Manmohan Singh's remark that the minority community had the first claim on the country's resources.
'...for success like the BJP.' 'The BJP's work for the next election begins the day one election ends.'
It is in power on its own only in three states -- Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Telangana -- with a big question mark on whether it can even stake claim to be head of the INDIA bloc.
"On #InternationalTigerDay, greetings to wildlife lovers, especially those who are passionate about tiger conservation. Home to over 70 per cent of the tiger population globally, we reiterate our commitment to ensuring safe habitats for our tigers and nurturing tiger-friendly eco-systems," said PM Modi.
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