'There are around 400 Lok Sabha constituencies where Dalits and Muslims combined constitute 30% of the electorate.' 'Also, 90% to 95% of Dalits and Muslims go out and vote.' 'So, if they are come together, they become significant electorally.'
The AFSPA is in force in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur (excluding Imphal Municipal Council Area), Changlang, Longding and Tirap districts of Arunachal Pradesh, and areas falling within the jurisdiction of eight police stations of districts in Arunachal Pradesh bordering Assam.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) supporters stayed put on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway on Friday as the crowd swelled there, notwithstanding the Ghaziabad administration's ultimatum to vacate the UP Gate protest site where security force in large numbers was re-deployed.
The former IAS officer said the main reason for not contesting the polls was to focus more on the mass contact programme.
You must visit these wonderful places across the globe to experience their rich and vibrant culture.
'The narrative of patriotism has been framed around the army and competing worldviews about Pakistan and those who do not fit the army's parameters are ostracised as rebellious, treasonous, and even blasphemous'
Women activists urged the government to withdraw the Bill from consideration in the Rajya Sabha, and review the fundamental flaws pending broad-based community consultations.
'Rahul Gandhi has shown courage to heal the heart of democracy.'
This was the first time in 15 years that a President took a train ride. Kovind has also become the first President not to travel on a presidential saloon car.
'Goa is a tiny state, but in terms of its Business of Politics, several powerful lobbies of India are involved in it, be it the mining lobby, hoteliers' lobby, casino lobby, hawala lobby, drugs lobby etc.'
Civil rights activist Deepa Iyer, former executive director, South Asian Americans Leading Together, a social justice organisation thought after a visit to the minority businesses hit in recent weeks that the tragic story in Ferguson, Missouri, offers Indian Americans an opportunity to stand up and decry police brutality and show sympathy and support for African Americans in the beleaguered city
'How does relief in the form of citizenship to a persecuted Hindu in Bangladesh put the citizenship of an Indian Muslim in danger?', asks Dr Sudhir Bisht.
The Supreme Court found enough grounds to order a CBI probe into 1,528 extra-judicial killings in Manipur between 2000 and 2012.
Hours after the macabre crime, a man wearing the blue robes of the Sikhs' Nihang order appeared before the media, claiming that he had 'punished' the victim for 'desecrating' a holy book.
'The TMC did not bother telling me, a sitting MLA for 20 years, why I was not being given a ticket.'
The Delhi high court on Thursday set aside the look out circular issued against Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai, who was offloaded from a flight to London two months back, saying her fundamental right to travel cannot be curtailed.
'If Haider petitions the court and the government for legitimate rights it is called minority appeasement, but when Hardik orchestrates violence he is lionised, romanticised and given huge media space that ends up both legitimising and oxygenating his movement, no matter how contrary it is to the Rule of Law,' argues Shehzad Poonawalla.
The Taliban's main challenge comes on the financial and economic front and there Pakistan doesn't have the capacity to be of any meaningful help, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Taliban have the ISIS in its crosshairs. The Taliban has shown the skill to assimilate extremist elements if they are reconcilable as well as the ruthlessness to eliminate troublemakers, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
A K Bhattacharya wonders if Kisan Baburao Hazare get his timing wrong, or is Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee trying hard to get his timing right?
The decision was taken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the lockdown across the country will be extended till May 3 to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Ajit Singh represented a bridge between a constituency that represented a more traditional era in politics and a modern, forward-looking, India, remembers Aditi Phadnis.
Aseem Chhabra lists the films that won his heart at the recent Toronto International Film Festival.
'There are large cohorts of students who cannot recognise the alphabet or numbers.' 'We are suggesting schools 'start early and end late'.'
In an interview with rediff.com's Shobha Warrier, consumer rights activist S Pushpavanam talks about the spate of rail accidents in the last few days and what the civil society can do about this.
In an interview with rediff.com's Shobha Warrier, consumer rights activist S Pushpavanam talks about the spate of rail accidents in the last few days and what the civil society can do about this.
Civil rights activist Lakshmi Sridaran argues why South Asians must stand on the right side of history and resist the Trump administration's "systematic attack on the entire spectrum of the US immigration system."
'Please do not threaten us with street violence.' 'Do you have some humanity left in you?'
In these times, the sight of a public gathering of hundreds of people mostly without face masks is alarming. But that is exactly what is happening across the United States, as groups of Americans are taking to the streets in protest of lockdown orders aimed at limiting the spread of Covid-19. Those taking to the streets say that the stringent measures restricting movement and businesses are unnecessarily hurting citizens.
Widespread protests broke out in New York following a grand jury verdict not to indict officers involved in the death of Eric Garner, the unarmed African American man who died after being placed in a choke hold by a white New York police officer last summer.
B D Pande was Punjab's governor during Operation Bluestar. In this excerpt from his memoir, In the Service of Free India: Memoir of a Civil Servant, Pande reveals what really went on behind the scenes during those dark days in India's history.
'Gandhigiri' was on display at 200 locations in the city with civil defence volunteers offering roses to those violating odd-even rules implemented for 15 days.
Pakistani rights groups and members of civil society have demanded that the place in Lahore where freedom fighter Bhagat Singh was hanged should be named after him to commemorate his role in the movement for the independence of the subcontinent.
Homecoming fuses the kinky-swiftness of the original superhero movies with the silly concerns of a 2017's teenager, points out Sreehari Nair.
Varavara Rao reached home in Hyderabad on Thursday morning, while activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, were sent to Mumbai by road.
The BJP chief also sought to know whether the Congress wanted to protect the "illegal Bangldeshis".
In a significant policy statement on the Taliban which is making big gains in its offensive in Afghanistan, China has asked it to make a "clean break" from all terrorist forces, especially the Al Qaida-backed Uyghur Muslim militant group ETIM fighting for the volatile Xinjiang province's independence.
Internally Displaced Persons, who live in government-run camps in Sri Lanka, lack the basic right of freedom of movement, according to a top United Nations official who visited the country recently.
'I thought that the days of firing between two police forces (belonging to states of the Union of India) were over.'
