Shailaja Teacher, arguably the most famous Covid warrior in India, versus former student leader Shafi Parambil who defeated 'Metro Man' E Sreedharan in the last assembly election. Shyam G Menon reports from the Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency, which some feel is the most politically important contest in Kerala this election.
The Bombay high court on Thursday asked the Union government to reconsider its stand that door-to-door Covid-19 vaccination was not feasible, saying it must consider the plight of old people and the disabled.
You don't prep for 2028 but for 2040, or even 2044. Sustained sporting excellence is based on mass support, grassroots development, and funding - and it is this trifecta India needs to work on, systematically, asserts Prem Panicker.
The Bombay high court on Friday said the Union government should look at the door-to-door vaccination programme carried out 'successfully' by Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir, and take a 'sound decision' on its present policy that states door-to-door vaccination was not possible.
'Government intervention in agricultural trade is a problem for farmers.'
'Imagine what the BJP's urges would be if India's electorate awarded it truly brute majorities like the 400 plus seats the prime minister called for in the 2024 general elections?' asks Shyam G Menon.
In a letter to the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, the Congress general secretary said that the situation is getting serious and the battle against the pandemic cannot be fought just by publicity and managing news.
'Since there is no photo-op, or quick fix solutions, politicians do not want to address climate change. It is very unfashionable.'
In an apparent jibe at the opposition BJP in Maharashtra, Pawar said some people were getting anxious after losing power.
In the upcoming round of privatisation, unviable airports are likely to be clubbed with six main airports and a prospective bidder may be restricted to bid for two airports.
Raj Thackeray and the MNS protested against tolls in Maharashtra to demonstrate that it still has political clout, says Neeta Kolhatkar.
Sisodia said nothing was found against him during searches, and he would continue cooperating in the investigation.
'We have close to 30 per cent share of the Indian public cloud market'
'A hundred days later, it is a moot point whether the lockdown has been partially or totally effective, or, as sceptics indicate, plain ineffective.' 'Did it actually deflect infections and the loss of lives, or was it merely a hasty decision rammed down the populace's throats that choked the economy and caused the searing tragedy of dispossessed migrant workers?' ask Radha Roy Biswas and Manoj Mohanka.
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.
Officials hint the visit could finally see a formal defence industrial road map being adopted by both nations.
There will be a lot to repair and rejuvenate -- if that opportunity even presents itself, warns Rathin Roy.
The Centre and the Gujarat government on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that they may file a plea seeking a review of its March 27 order asking them to be ready with original files on the grant of remission to the convicts in the Bilkis Bano case.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday assured her counterpart from Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, that her party would support him in his fight against the central ordinance to control appointments and transfer of bureaucrats.
Prithviraj Chavan helping out Delhi's government tide over high onion prices has not gone down well in his home state of Maharashtra, says Neeta Kolhatkar.
Tharoor argued that the proposed bill represents a "grave chapter in the history of the Indian republic, seeking to ratify an ordinance that in many ways is an assault on our democratic heritage and the spirit of federalism."
Apparently resorting to a pacifier after the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena agitation on toll collection, the state government on Thursday assured party chief Raj Thackeray that it would draft a new policy on the issue before the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections comes into force.
Wayanad will continue to support Rahul but not to the same extent as in 2019, when his margin of victory had been enormous. Articulate, to the point and speaking in fluent Malayalam, CPI's Annie Raja, had the people who gathered to see her, listening in rapt attention, notes Shyam G Menon.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday raided the home of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and 30 other locations in connection with alleged corruption in the implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy.
'These days, you could give the money to your maid or the person who comes to collect your garbage or your watchman; they are struggling to make ends meet.' 'You could help a friend whose business is at risk due to the lockdown and the struggling economy.' 'Even if you lend money to someone in this crisis, it will be more useful to the economy than parking your money in some government fund,' says Praful Nikam.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation told the Bombay High Court on Monday that it does not apprehend a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the city as the vaccination drive is going on smoothly, with over 42 lakh people fully vaccinated and over 82 lakh people having received the first dose.
'They are not tom-tomming what a great thing the Supreme Court decision is.' 'If they say it was a great thing, the public will react because people suffered and are still suffering.'
The Supreme Court on Tuesday remarked the Gujarat government's reply to pleas challenging the remission granted to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case is very bulky wherein a series of judgments have been quoted but factual statements are missing.
The five-state assembly elections are seen as a now-or-never, no-holds battle for the Congress, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
"Hospitals under the central government, state governments and UT administration, including private hospitals managing COVID patients, shall ensure that requirement of a positive test for COVID-19 virus is not mandatory for admission to a COVID health facility.
In his counter-affidavit, Radhey Shyam, who was recently released by the Gujarat government on remission, said that none of the petitioners are related to the case and are either political activists or "third party stranger".
The petition filed by advocates Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari on Friday stated that such persons may not be able to visit vaccination centres or may or may find it difficult to do so.
India's economic image is not affected due to Adani Group's recent decision to pull out Rs 20,000 crore FPO (follow-on public offers) amid allegations of financial wrongdoings, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday.
Debates on changing the name of India to Bharat continue to spark a crisis of identity without answering moot questions that stare us in the face. Ramesh Menon asks a few of those questions that do not have easy answers.
'We will see a kind of disaster which the country has not seen in the last 100 years.'
With elections elsewhere in India showing that multi-pronged contests usually work to the BJP's favour, the party can gain if it hangs on stubbornly. In the meantime, any additional support helps. That is why the archbishop's comment attracted political traction in Kerala, observes Shyam G Menon.
The Union minister has been at the centre of a row after he garlanded the lynching convicts at his residence in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand after they came out of prison on bail last week.
In Kerala, the use of black ranges from such convenience to strictures by community and religion to fashion and personal choice. One would have to be really insecure or too fond of the well settled life to see black solely as a badge of protest, points out Shyam G Menon.
'We cannot forget that Pakistan is a criminal State, it is a rogue State and yet we want oil pipelines to go through their State, we want to have people-to-people contact, want to increase trade with them.' 'When Modi was prime minister-elect, he said there can be no dialogue in the face of bombs and bullets. After becoming prime minister, he is saying talks will continue. Was he then misleading the public then or is he misleading the public now?' 'Nobody goes around abusing China. The fact is China is a great power. I do not think India is a great power. People spit on our face and we still go grovelling before them.'
Vice President Dhankar's and Law Minister Rijuju's recent interventions have the danger of destabilising the Constitutional equilibrium, cautions N Sathiya Moorthy.
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