Each 'adarsh village' should have piped drinking water, connectivity to the main road, electricity supply to all households, library, telecom and broadband connectivity including CCTVs in public areas. Emphasis will also be on e-governance, says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
During the college festival, 'Reverie', around 6:30 pm on February 6, groups of unruly, drunk men mobbed the entrances of the college and forced their way in.
Responding to a discussion during Zero Hour in the Lower House, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said he was falling short of words to condemn the heinous crime.
In this COVID-19 phase, the BJP leveraged its pre-eminence again to tip the power scales in its favour and relegate its allies in the National Democratic Alliance to a lesser position. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
'If the Congress is to challenge the NDA government, Rahul Gandhi will have to shed his indifference to Parliament, become more visible and vocal and, essentially, lead from the front,' says Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal.
"I am now a free citizen of India like you. I am no longer the DGP. So, no service rules apply to me anymore. Thousands of people are coming from Buxar, Begusarai, Jehanabad, Aurangabad and other districts. I will take a decision after talking to them. Contesting elections is not illegal," he told journalists.
'The nominations were not meant to last permanently, but depended on the government of the day.' 'There was no question of revoking it during Congress, Janata Dal or even Vajpayee's NDA rule.' 'But Modi is different.'
This phase will decide the fate of senior minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav of Janata Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal legislature party leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui and RJD chief Lalu Prasad's 'Man Friday' Bhola Yadav among others.
The Akali Dal-BJP alliance won on four seats and the AAP bagged one.
Barring Maharashtra, the poll percentage in rest of the states was in excess of 60 per cent while in Puducherry it was 80.47 per cent.
At least eight MLAs of the opposition Congress in BJP-ruled Gujarat appeared to have voted for Kovind.
Altogether 169 MLAs vote in favour of the motion of confidence, pro tem Speaker Dilip Walse Patil informed the House.
TDP Telangana unit president Ramana said they favoured a 'grand alliance' for the elections in the interest of Telangana people.
'Rightly or wrongly, 1962 got ascribed to Krishna Menon and him alone. That's unfair.' 'Certainly, he was one of the guilty men, but he was not the only guilty man. Mistakes were made all around.'
The Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government has given environment clearance to five projects since it took charge on May 26.
Modi's NDA is good enough to give a psychological boost to the once 'untouchable' BJP and Modi but if the NDA doesn't get a majority on its own, then walking the last mile will be the greatest challenge of this election for Modi, says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
'The Congress party hated him because he had not gone to jail, he was not lathi charged, he had not gone on hunger strike.' 'They felt he had lived in London all his life and then he came to India and became an MP and a minister.'
Arun Jaitley, who is recovering from a kidney ailment, attended the proceedings after a long gap.
"The weak don't survive, the strong survive. You make peace, alliances with the strong. You are able to maintain peace by being strong," he said.
As round one of the seven-phase Lok Sabha election began in 91 constituencies across the length and breadth of India, from the hills of Kashmir to the islands of Andaman and Nicobar, reports of unrest and irregularities cast shadows over the world's biggest poll process.
'#metoo has put front and centre an issue that society has suppressed for far too long,' says Kanika Datta.
Biennial elections are being held for 58 Rajya Sabha seats across several states and by-poll for one in Kerala.
The swearing in of the new members will begin on Thursday and continue on Friday, when the Lok Sabha speaker will be elected. Rediff.com contributor Renu Mittal reports
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, visited Thackeray's residence 'Matoshree' and held a close-door meeting, which started around 10 am and lasted for nearly 75 minutes.
The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu had begun seeing Governor Ravi's decisions and actions as a part of the state BJP's non-stop criticism of its government and directed from Delhi, a view strengthened by the governor's decision to return the NEET exemption bill, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Parliament proceedings were washed out for the fifth straight day, as members from parties including the Telugu Desam Party and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, continued their protests on various issues.
Mounting attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said while the Left is not going to play any major role in Indian politics after the elections, the saffron party was trying to divide society by stoking anger.
The development came a day after the protesting farmers rejected the Centre's offer to start talks as soon as they move to Burari and continued to stay put Singhu and Tikri borders of the national capital.
The LJP will also be given a Rajya Sabha berth and Paswan is likely to be its candidate.
Modi told the delegation that urgent action was needed against those supporting and sponsoring terrorism.
The 82-year-old former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister received the ED summons a day after the formation of the People's Alliance led by him was announced on October 15.
'This may be good news for Rahul Gandhi, for no matter how Modi performs, there will always be some degree of dissatisfaction with his performance among large sections of voters,' says R Jagannathan.
With the Modi government battling propriety issues over the Lalit Modi row and the furore on Vyapam scam, leaders of "like-minded" parties will meet for Congress president Sonia Gandhi's Iftar dinner on Monday where they are likely to deliberate on the strategy for Parliament session beginning July 21.
The BJP also suspended its state executive council member Kheto Semaparty, who had signed the joint declaration.
Behind the movement are shock-workers functioning quietly to ensure that a seemingly spontaneous, apolitical, grassroots mobilisation sustains itself without dribbling into chaos or violence. Sai Manish lists some of them.
'They don't just kill their enemies, they chop off limbs, sever heads.' 'How can anyone kill a teacher in front of small children and a son in front of his parents?'
Probodh Panda and Atul Kumar Anjaan are among 39 candidates declared by the Communist Party of India for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as the party said that it would fight on 60 seats in 24 states.
Justice V Gopala Gowda's name has been considered positively by the Trinamul Congress as well as the Left.
One of the most prominent leaders of the socialist movement in the 1970s, George Fernandes was a senior Janata Dal leader before he founded the Samata Party.
The country has seen that "people are God" in elections, the PM said.
