Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the much-awaited 5G services in India on October 1, 2022, an official release said on Friday. According to the release, 5G to be launched by the Prime Minister in select cities, will progressively cover the entire country over the next couple of years. The cumulative economic impact of 5G on India is estimated to reach $450 billion by 2035. Capable of supporting ultra-high-speed internet services, the fifth generation or 5G is expected to unleash new economic opportunities and societal benefits, serving as a transformational force for Indian society.
China's ruling Communist Party has appointed Wang Junzheng, sanctioned by the US, Britain, EU and Canada for his alleged role in the human rights violations against Uygur Muslims in Xinjiang, as the head of its party unit in the sensitive Himalayan region of Tibet.
Elections for 19 Rajya Sabha seats spread across eight states will be held on Friday with the contest in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan promising to be a close affair between the BJP and the Congress.
The Congress legislators, led by Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar, demanded that the governor should summon one-day session of the assembly for a floor test.
Buoyed by the formation of governments in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, the BJP is making a bid to expand its footprints in the region.
Fissures in Maha BJP were out in the open at a rally organised in memory of the late Gopinath Munde, with Eknath Khadse and Pankaja targeting former CM Devendra Fadnavis.
On his maiden visit to Beijing, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during which the two leaders agreed to strengthen the all-weather friendship and the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Banerjee also alleged that the BJP is manipulating electronic voting machines to increase its vote share.
Amid talk that BJP Maharashtra unit chief Devendra Fadnavis could be party's chief ministerial choice, Nagpur-East MLA Krishna Khopde on Wednesday offered to quit and vacate his seat to pave way for his mentor Nitin Gadkari, after voices grew louder on bringing back the Union Minister to the state to don the mantle.
'The Congress has become two distinct parties, one of the durbar, the other of the field and if they keep drifting apart, death is a certainty,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'The trading community will be a priority for Modi when he forms the next government.'
A PAGD leader said the meeting was held at the residence of alliance chairperson and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah at the Gupkar locality of Srinagar.
He maintained that the laws were for their benefit and then apologised to people of the country, adding that the government could not convince a section of farmers despite its clear heart and clean conscience.
The BJP, the same party which in 2009 had said, 'Give us power and you will have Telangana within 24 hours', seems to be finding the going a bit bumpy. Vicky Nanjappa tells you why
The days of coalition governments are here to stay, said the Congress general secretary, who is seeking a fresh mandate from the electorate of Madhya Pradesh's Guna-Shivpuri seat for a fifth term
If Kerala wants to sustain its room for independent thinking and talk back to Delhi when needed, it should put its finances in order. Or - if one takes the North East example - Kerala's political posturing may end up commensurate with its financial dependence on others, suggests Shyam G Menon.
Observing that there are "definite and proved" allegations that complaints of the victims of violence in the aftermath of the West Bengal assembly polls were not even registered, the Calcutta high court on Thursday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into all alleged cases of heinous crimes like rape and murder, while accepting the recommendations of a National Human Rights Commission panel.
Farmer organisations also called for boycott of mandis or wholesale markets in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Mahrashtra, leading to fears of shortage and price rise.
"It was a social event and we did not talk politics there," he said on his interaction with Modi.
Several Muslim leaders on Friday echoed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party's sentiments on the Section 377 issue with some even warning the United Progressive Alliance government that it would be taught a lesson in the 2014 polls over its move to file a review petition against the Supreme Court verdict against homosexuality.
Polling will be held between 7 am and 4 pm, except in some polling stations of the interior districts of Nagaland, where the process is scheduled to conclude at 3 pm. The two states have a 60-member House each, but voting will be held for 59 constituencies in both.
The central election committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party will meet on Thursday to finalise its first list of candidates for five assembly polls, with top party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expected to attend the meeting.
Ahead of the crucial Congress meeting on Telangana, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kirankumar Reddy on Friday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and briefed her about the political situation in the state.
A day after Devendra Fadnavis was anointed chief minister-designate of Maharashtra, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday went into a huddle with top party leaders to discuss the future course of action but there were no signs of the party being in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government for now.
The removal of the term limit will give Xi a limitless tenure.
With the BJP backing off from the race, the onus to form government now rests with the Sena, which has indicated that it might rope in the Congress and the NCP to prop up a government.
As state minister Suvendu Adhikari, along with other functionaries, openly air grievances against the Mamata Banerjee-led dispensation, senior leaders are frantically looking for ways to pacify the rebels.
'Anyone can come and anyone can go.' 'There is no ideology or vision that differentiates one party from another.'
Support from the committee gives Xi an indefinite extension on the reins of power, which will surely result in hawkish and insular policies. It does not bode well for relations with the USA, or with anyone else who does not bow the knee to Beijing, for that matter.
In her message on the occasion of the 73rd Independence Day, she appealed to all to reinvigorate the principles of compassion, coexistence and inclusive development as the indelible features of polity, society and economy.
The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Bombay high court order directing sale of bankrupt Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) to ensure the repayment of dues of crisis-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank. A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobe and justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant took note of the appeal of the Reserve Bank of India against the Bombay high court order.
In her condolence message for Patel, who served as her political secretary for years and was the All India Congress Committee treasurer, party chief Sonia Gandhi said, 'In Shri Ahmed Patel, I have lost a colleague, whose entire life was dedicated to the Congress Party.'
The Union Cabinet on Thursday night gave the go-ahead for the creation of a 10-district Telangana and outlined the blueprint for carving out the country's 29th state from the current Andhra Pradesh.
Continuing to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his second day of campaign in Tamil Nadu, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday alleged Chinese troops have occupied Indian territory and the man with '56 inch-chest' cannot even utter the name of the neighbouring country.
Thakur's name was proposed by Suresh Bharadwaj and Mahender Singh and seconded by other members.
Says govt offer a positive move and Wednesday's one-day stir should be deferred; others not impressed enough, especially Left
The Congress president inaugurated a photo exhibition commemorating the birth centenary of Indira Gandhi, with more than 200 pictures depicting various events from her life at the historic Swaraj Bhavan where the former prime minister was born.
It will be the year of preparation for the electoral test in Uttar Pradesh, due in 2022. But before that, the West Bengal Assembly election will set the mood for the rest of 2021.
If the protests have cemented the ties between the peasantry and the traders, the political implications for the BJP might become too serious to be disregarded because its core base was made up of the urban Khatri merchants.
