Despite the objections raised by Reserve Bank of India and Election Commission, India's politics has been funded anonymously and it is time to end this, asserts Aakar Patel.
The biggest challenge will be to convert his regime into a coalition of minds. But given the fact that he is instinctively an authoritarian leader and supporter of the hard Hindutva line, the survival of his government will depend on his ability to balance between his heart and mind, between instinct and pragmatism, asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
The party also promised reservation to minorities on basis of their population after the caste census.
In a poor village of daily wage earners in Siwan, Bihar, people speak about their hard lives and why they vote.
'The BJP has started a war-like situation against farmers and the Jat community.'
'It's dull because this time the election is spread over such a long period.'
Simultaneous activation of both Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal low-pressure systems has led to the state receiving an excess 65 per cent rainfall.
As many as 231 Indians, including 208 Gujarat residents, who were evacuated from strife-torn African nation Sudan under the Centre's 'Operation Kaveri', landed at Ahmedabad airport on Tuesday, said a state government official.
Electricity will be restored in affected areas by June 20, he said, talking to reporters in Bhuj, the headquarters of the Kutch district which bore the brunt of the cyclone.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said people living in the coastal belt would be shifted to safer places.
Though the "eye of the storm" is away from land, the cyclone's outer periphery would leave its impact on the coast.
The rains have so far been four per cent below normal.
According to state government sources in Gujarat, cotton sowing was only 9,339 hectares or 0.37% of the normal three-year average sowing in the first week of this month
>Rohini Acharya, Lalu Yadav's daughter who donated her kidney to her father in December 2022, is on her introductory campaign trail in the constituency that has been represented by her father four times.
Gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad on Wednesday claimed that he was being harassed in the Sabarmati Central Jail in Gujarat.
The constable fired from his automatic weapon, killing an RPF Assistant Sub Inspector and three other passengers of the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express shortly after 5 am, the official said.
The Uttar Pradesh police had on March 26 also taken Ahmad from the Sabarmati jail in Gujarat's Ahmedabad city to Prayagraj in UP to produce him in a court.
'The BJP's problem is what rabbit can it pull out of the conjurer's hat?'
Operations of several top companies, located in central and south Gujarat, continued to be affected on Friday with torrential rains lashing several parts of Gujarat for close to a week.
The Union government on Tuesday gave formal clearance to upgrade 2,803 km of roads in Gujarat at a cost of Rs 992 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.
The Centre on Monday extended the ban on terrorist group Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) for five years for its involvement in fomenting terrorism and disturbing peace and communal harmony in the country.
Commencing arguments on the plea challenging the remission granted last year to all the 11 convicts, advocate Shobha Gupta, appearing for Bilkis Bano, submitted she was brutally gang-raped while she was pregnant and her first child was smashed with a rock to death.
The Gujarat government, which sought a probe into the role of activist Teesta Setalvad's NGO, is now targeting her main funding source, the US-based NGO, Ford Foundation.
The shock defeat of BJP's chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal has thrown open the leadership race in Himachal Pradesh and brought back Health Minister Nadda into contention.
Sharad Pawar's comments were at variance from ally Shiv Sena-UBT, whose leader Sanjay Raut had said PM Modi should come forward to inform about his academic qualification and that his degree should be displayed at the entrance of the Parliament building.
Asked about the BJP's claim that its performance in southern states will be exemplary, Tharoor said, "The claim of an 'exemplary' performance is yet another product of the BJP's propaganda mill."
'Very severe cyclonic storm Biparjoy at 2330 hrs IST of 9th June over east-central Arabian Sea near lat 16.0N & long 67.4E. Likely to intensify further & move north-northeastwards during the next 24hrs,' the IMD said in a tweet.
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
The EC received complaints from five places that EVMs were connecting to external devices via bluetooth, but after inquiry, it was found that there was 'no substance' in the complaints.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday termed the cancellation of over 25,000 school jobs as 'gross injustice' and alleged that it was a ploy by the Bharatiya Janata Party to stop these job losers from being deployed in poll duty.
This comes days after the party stated it would move the Supreme Court after the Gujarat high court refused to stay Gandhi's conviction in a 2019 defamation case over his 'Modi surname' remarks.
Some leaders believe that the Mamata Banerjee-led party could tone down its shrillness in countering the saffron party whose win has given the BJP state leadership and cadres a strong footing to prepare ground for the next year's panchayat polls.
'Cyclone Nisarga will pass by Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan, Panvel and Navi Mumbai by a safe distance,' says Air Vice Marshal G P Sharma (retd), President, Meteorology and Climate Change, Skymet Weather Services,
The Tejas Express between Ahmedabad and Mumbai Central will run six days a week except on Thursday. The train will halt at Nadiad, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Vapi and Borivali stations in both directions. The train will have AC Chair Car Executive Class and AC Chair Car coaches. Meals will be served to passengers by on-board service staff.
'By the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, they moved back to the BJP almost totally and later their backing helped us win the local body elections.'
If the Anandiben Patel administration was shaken by the Patidar agitation, the Vijay Rupani government would have to deal with the Jignesh Mevani-led Dalit movement.
The decision to impose a 28 per cent tax on the full face value of bets placed on online games will be implemented from October 1 even though there was demand for a review from states like Delhi and Goa, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday. The GST Council -- the highest decision making body of the new indirect tax regime that comprises Union finance minister and representatives of all states -- discussed the language of amendments that will be needed to enabling taxing online gaming, she said after the panel meeting.
The meeting was attended also by Modi baiters Keshubhai Patel, Somabhai Patel, Kanshiram Rana among others.
The state government had opposed his bail plea saying the alleged offence is a "very heinous crime" and there is a prima-facie case against him and the role attributable to him in support of the charge.
Army was called in on Wednesday to help control widespread violence sparked by quota agitation by Patel community in Gujarat which has claimed seven lives even as curfew was clamped in several areas.
