A recap of moments captured in India in the past 24 hours.
More than 3,000 squads under health and local self-government departments have started the process of cleaning houses and public places, official sources said.
The dinner Jill Biden and her husband US President Joe Biden hosted for Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, June 22, at the White House brought together, Indians and Americans from so many firmaments.
The Indian authorities have to reconfirm that Prabhakaran is dead. It may require seeking assistance from Interpol and also involve the re-opening of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, and more so, the investigations, formally or otherwise, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Amid massive protests by the opposition in the Kerala assembly state Finance Minister K M Mani, facing corruption charges in the bar licence issue, presented the budget on Friday morning.
'I do not want to get into the number game. This time, the BJP will get unprecedented seats and vote percentage in Gujarat.'
Unless controlled and contained, given the untested belief that the north Indian labour support and follow the Hindutva kind of political ideology, there is a potential in terms of ideological clashes with their Dravidian brethren in the local neighbourhoods, and it all escalating into violence, especially during election time, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
As fuel prices continue its northward march with petrol and diesel being sold at Rs 80.73 and Rs 72.83 per litre in the national capital, at least 21 opposition parties, led by the Congress have staged a Bharat Bandh protesting the rise in fuel prices and depreciation of the rupee.
The organisation established its electoral presence post-Independence in states such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Assam, with West Bengal being its main stronghold, but eight decades down the line, the party, now limited to just some pockets of the country, has no MP or MLA in its kitty.
Treasury and opposition members nearly came to blows in Lok Sabha on Friday when Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan condemned in "no uncertain words" the "outlandish" remarks made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Congress gets into the opposition groove but still has miles to go, says Saroj Nagi.
The leadership styles of the two Gandhis being different, the party appears to be pulling in different ways. While Sonia Gandhi, the longest-serving Congress president, seems more predisposed to holding the government accountable on issues of probity, the younger Gandhi is more keen on taking up battles that ensure immediate victories.
Many non-NDA parties have extended support to the nationwide 10-hour strike on Monday called by farmers protesting against the three agri laws under the aegis of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM).
The Grand Old Party must bring widespread reforms across all levels of the organisation to show it is no longer in a state of inertia and to present itself as a viable political alternative to the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress veteran Kapil Sibal said.
The BJP continuing to look at the Dravidian polity through the religious prism has not worked in Tamil Nadu whereas it has yielded political and electoral results across much of the rest of the country, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Congress Lok Sabha member from the Kerala capital said the BJP and "Sanghi goondas" orchestrated the incident.
Several trains were cancelled, highways and key roads blocked and many thousands stranded for hours on Monday as a nationwide 10-hour shutdown against the Centre's three agri laws disrupted lives across parts of India, particularly in the north.
Jaitley insisted the new central notification will not interfere with state laws on slaughtering animals.
A high voter turnout was recorded in West Bengal, Assam Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly elections on Tuesday. The massive polling exercise following COVID-19 health protocol and involving lakhs of personnel began at 7 am and the last hour from 6 pm to 7 pm was set aside for COVID-19 patients and those under isolation. The counting of votes in the states will be held on May 2.
CPI-M veteran Pinarayi Vijayan was elected its Parliamentary party leader, paving the way for his successive stint as chief minister of Kerala.
Ten trade unions with a combined membership of 15 crore workers in public and private sector, including banks and insurance companies, are on a nationwide strike to protest against changes in the labour laws.
Stalin, like his father M Karunanidhi did in 2004, may play the king-maker in a way -- not the king, unless the 2024 post-poll circumstances throws up a situation where he alone becomes acceptable to the rest, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
"People in India are showing their angst, their concerns, their worries about the future of India. Everybody wants development, what has Modi done? He has done his own development rather than development of the country," he added.
Narendra Modi on Friday accused Congress and its chief Sonia Gandhi for resorting to "low-level" politics and raising issues from his personal life to his caste in their bid to prevent him from coming to power.
'Mamata has used minorities only as her vote bank.' 'In her entire election campaign Mamata did not utter a single sentence against the RSS.'
A look at the team behind the Congress' aggressive stance.
"All students supporting the Left will participate in the campaign along with Kanhaiya. For the first time, the nation can see the power of the youth of Left," Yechury said.
Rahul said his party's soon-to-be released manifesto will reflect the people's voice and not just one man's view.
The Assam cabinet had on December 13 approved a proposal to close down all Madrassas and Sanskrit Tols (schools) however, the legislation brought in the assembly during the day did not contain anything related to the Sanskrit tols and the education minister also did not mention anything about it.
'Who has given them the right to decide that I am not a Hindu like them'
'They thought he can separate the Muslim votes and win, but the Kerala mind is completely different.' 'It is a secular mind because Hindus, Christians and Muslims live together.' 'We don't like somebody coming from outside, contesting in our state, winning and going and avoiding us.'
In a huge embarrassment to the Communist Party of India-Marxist in Kerala, party's senior state leader P Jayarajan was on Wednesday arrested in connection with the murder of Indian Union Muslim League youth wing activist Abdul Shukkoor in February.
The accent on 'making the south feel wanted' was the reason why P Muralidhar Rao, who was dropped as general secretary, was partially reinstated in the central apparatus as prabhari in charge of Madhya Pradesh. 'Pressure from the RSS was brought to bear on Rao's return,' a source said. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
Opposition on Monday picked holes in various government decisions like demonetisation and surgical strikes as well as allocation of funds for MNREGA, agriculture sector and Scheduled Castes, saying it has failed on all fronts despite which it is trying to "fool" the people.
Will the M (Muslims) in the RJD's M+Y move fast swiftly towards the MIM and away from the RJD, asks Mohammad Sajjad.
Launching a fresh attack on Defence Minister A K Antony, Narendra Modi on Tuesday charged that the country's defence had suffered seriously during his stewardship and said he owed an explanation to the people for this.
Protests were held in many cities across the country. So far, no one has been arrested for the attack on students and teachers at JNU even as clamour for resignation of the V-C grew.
'None other but the invincible chariot led by Modi and Shah could have taken up the challenge and won,' says Tarun Vijay.
More than 1.20 lakh Himachalis have already returned home in less than a week's time. There is a list of 21,000 others approved for return, and at least two lakh more are still awaiting official nod for their return. Will this influx see a spike in coronavirus numbers? That is the administration's main worry, reports Ashwani Sharma.
Political parties have demanded a thorough probe after the family of the student, who hailed from Kerala, accused a faculty member of the IIT-M of driving her to commit suicide.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances