Rajiv Kumar, the 25th chief election commissioner of India, has demitted office after a nearly three-year tenure marked by both electoral successes and allegations of bias from opposition parties. Kumar oversaw the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls, among other major elections. During his tenure, he implemented reforms across various aspects of the Election Commission's functioning, including structural, technological, capacity development, communication, international cooperation, and administration. However, he faced criticism from opposition parties and activists on several issues, including the efficacy of Electronic Voting Machines, alleged fudging of voter data, and being "lenient" on the ruling BJP. While the Commission responded to the allegations, Kumar often defended himself and the poll authority through poetry. In his farewell address, Kumar expressed concerns about the timing of petitions raising doubts over poll processes and the impact of freebie promises on the fiscal health of the state. He also criticized the practice of showing early trends on counting day by news channels, calling it "nonsense". Kumar's tenure was marked by numerous controversies, with opposition parties and activists alleging bias and irregularities. While the Election Commission defended its actions, the allegations cast a shadow over his time in office.
In March, the United Kingdom's then sports minister Lucy Frazer called on sporting bodies in the country to reassess their rules on transgender athletes competing in women's sports to ensure fairness.
The Tour de France may have to limit spectators during the first days of the race in order to comply with a ban on major events gathering more than 5,000 people before September, the French sports ministry said. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Tuesday that major sporting and cultural events bringing together more than 5,000 participants could not be held before September as he announced plans for a gradual end of a nationwide coronavirus lockdown from May 11.
The Tour de France has been postponed to August 29-September 20 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the International Cycling Union (UCI) said on Wednesday. French president Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that no public event would take place in the country until mid-July as part of measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak, which has infected over two million people worldwide.
'I just want to thank the whole team ... everybody it took to get to here.'
2023 was the worst for the tiger population, recording the highest number of mortalities in a decade with 178 tigers dying.
New coronavirus cases have been rising at an alarming rate in France since the beginning of the month, casting a menacing shadow over the re-scheduled 107th edition of the race.
Leading players from top countries are clearly already struggling to cope with the demands of international cricket's packed calendar.
The American was stripped of his Tour de France titles and banned from the sport for life in 2012 after the International Cycling Union ratified the US Anti-Doping Agency's sanctions.
The monthly Rs 2500 payment for poor women is expected to cost Rs 11,000 crore while the pension scheme of Rs 2000 for every senior citizen will cost around Rs 4100 crore. The Yamuna clean up will cost over Rs 10,000 crore while a similar amount is required to upgrade Delhi's hospitals. Ultimately, the new BJP government will have no choice but to ask the centre for financial support, notes Rashme Sehgal.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Unprecedented bribery charges, farewells, separation, failed union, monumental mergers and record-breaking IPOs, along with a healthy dose of online happenings in the form of spat and lessons in customer care, corporate India saw it all in 2024.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
Gold, a safe-haven bet, is likely to continue its record-smashing journey in the New Year, rising to Rs 85,000 per 10 grams and even Rs 90,000 level in domestic markets if geopolitical tensions and global economic uncertainties continue.
In the Union Budget for Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had held forth on the need for better governance and investor protection in the banking sector. She had proposed certain amendments to the Reserve Bank of India Act (RBI Act), 1934; the Banking Regulation Act (BR Act), 1949; and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970.
Disgraced US cyclist Lance Armstrong has reportedly been ordered to answer questions about who knew what and when about his doping, including possibly his former wife and his attorneys.
Neymar will be selected as one of Brazil's three over-age players for the 2016 Olympics, the team's manager Alexandre Gallo said on Thursday.
Disgraced former Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong says he will testify with "100 percent transparency and honesty" at any independent inquiry into doping in cycling but wants assurances he will be treated fairly.
'We can hope to see a lot of creation of jobs in the days to come.'
The International Cricket Council said any player who had been through male puberty would not be able to compete in the women's game at the elite level.
The fight against doping costs $300-400 million a year and sporting medical experts at a conference hosted by FIFA on Friday questioned whether it was value for money.
Harris, who is of Indian and African heritage, has received the backing from more than the 1,976 pledged delegates needed to win the Democratic Party's nomination on the first ballot, CNN reported on the first full day of her campaign.
It seems that the West is sending a signal to India that it can return to old hostilities unless India toes their line on Russia. It is no surprise that India is being compared with Putin's Russia in terms of targeting 'dissidents' as the West calls these Khalistani terrorists, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Did Jeff Bezos decide against endorsing Harris because it would hurt his business interests? Only God and Bezos know, and neither of them are talking, notes Prem Panicker.
The policy is the strictest from any Olympic sports body and effectively bars any transgender women
Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, who cheated his way to seven Tour de France victories from 1999-2005, claims it would have been impossible to win the world's greatest race without doping.
All team members, riders and staff had until 1100 GMT on Monday, the Tour's first rest day, to take a test in the mobile laboratory provided by organisers.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) faces a challenge to tackle cheating in sport while it has an annual budget of less than the income of many top athletes, its president Craig Reedie said. Lack of money could equally prove a handicap for a proposed independent testing authority, said Reedie, who also expressed support for global athletics chief Sebastian Coe and said WADA was in a state of "peace not war" with Coe's troubled sport. "I could do with a lot more money," Reedie said in an interview with Newsweek published on Saturday. The Scot said governments decided their own contributions to WADA's budget, which were then matched by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). "The total is not nearly enough," he said. "WADA's total annual budget of $30 million a year is exceeded by many athletes around the world who make more than that themselves in one year."
A combination of factors, including heavy investments in US Treasury bonds and dollar sales at a healthy profit, facilitated the Indian central bank in transferring a record surplus of Rs 2.11 trillion to the government for 2023-24 (FY24). The RBI's dollar purchases increased in FY24, supported by robust capital inflows endorsing the economy's health.
Briefing reporters, Nadda said his party has proposed that if holding the three-tier polls together was not possible immediately, then Lok Sabha and assembly elections can be held together first.
The past few weeks have seen several hundred people let go of by IT services firms joining unions claiming to represent tech workers fighting for their rights.
'Make in India' could suffer the same fate as did privatisation and the command economy, says Ajit Balakrishnan.
Lance Armstrong's promise to come clean about doping is "a little late", the head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) said on Thursday, accusing the disgraced cyclist of trying to use events to "gain advantage".
A successful Olympic track cyclist, O'Grady won a madison gold at the 2004 Athens Games, following a team pursuit silver at the 1992 Barcelona Games and a pair of bronzes at Atlanta in 1996.
Bharat Forge, the Pune-based automotive component maker, has been one of the top-performing companies in its segment. The company's stock price is up 39.3 per cent since the beginning of the 2023 calendar year, surpassing other leading automotive component makers such as Bosch and Samvardhana Motherson International. The stock also outperformed the benchmark BSE Sensex, which is up 17.3 per cent year to date so far.
Corporate margins and profits in India remain vulnerable to changes in crude oil prices in the international market. Historical quarterly data from listed companies (excluding banks, finance and insurance, oil and gas, and power sectors) indicate an adverse correlation between corporate margins and crude oil prices.
Seventy two years ago, a newly independent India ventured to hold the the first Asian Games in Delhi with meager resources.
In a major relief for pilots in dealing with fatigue, aviation watchdog DGCA on Monday came out with revised norms that increase their weekly rest time to 48 hours and limit the number of landings to two during night operations. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has also extended the night hours for pilots and now, it covers the period from 0000-0600 hours whereas it was 0000-0500 hours earlier. Besides, all airlines have to compulsorily submit quarterly fatigue reports, which "should follow a follow a non-punitive and confidentiality policy".
Slovakian Peter Sagan elbowed Mark Cavendish off balance as the Briton was trying to force his way between him and the safety barrier, and Cavendish was sent crashing heavily.
