Who took the decision for the prime minister, the nation's single most popular leader, to take the road route when they should have already known about the farmers' protests and also the grave risks involved, when and how, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
'...if elections were to be held today.' 'The problem is Akhilesh is not very aggressive.' 'Had he started his campaign aggressively six months ago, the picture in UP would have been very different.'
'The man who has been Gujarat's chief minister for 13 years has no understanding of the ills affecting the farmers and agriculture in India.'
At Birmingham, Avinash Sable became the first non-Kenyan to win a medal since 1994 at the Commonwealth Games.
Ahead of the general elections, a slew of states and also the Centre had doled out sops to the marginalised sections, including the farmers and the poor.
Campaigning came to an end on Saturday for the single-day election in Uttarakhand and Goa, two states known for political volatility where the Bharatiya Janata Party is attempting to retain power, and for the second phase of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh on February 14.
The Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act of a state regulates the purchase of agricultural products, such as cereals, pulses, fruits and vegetables for that region. It hobbles farmers, imposing multiple levies on produce and disallows direct sales to private companies.
Amid concerns over minorities being targeted in India, former Reserve Bank governor Raghuram Rajan on Thursday cautioned that an 'anti-minority' image for the country can lead to loss of market for Indian products and may also result in foreign governments perceiving the nation as an unreliable partner. India enters the perception battle from a position of strength, the professor at Chicago's Booth School of Business said, alluding to credentials like democracy and secularism, but warned that this battle is "ours to lose". The comments came a day after bulldozers tore down several concrete and temporary structures close to a mosque in Jahangirpuri as part of an anti-encroachment drive, days after the northwest Delhi neighbourhood was rocked by communal violence.
Her inclusion in the Modi's team is significant ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections next year and the Lok Sabha polls in 2024 as the Other Backward Classes have a sizeable number of voters in the key Purvanchal region.
'The Khalistanis get bulk of the money from abroad.' 'Where did Amritpal's Mercedes come from, which costs well over Rs 60 lakhs?' 'Where does his fleet of vehicles come from?' 'Local Punjabis can certainly not contribute this kind of money.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday unveiled its manifesto for the West Bengal elections, promising to build a 'Sonar Bangla' by providing employment, strengthening social security schemes and vowing to clear the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act in the first cabinet meeting of the new government.
Maneka Gandhi will contest from Sultanpur and Varun Gandhi from Pilibhit.
'Many times when Khalistan slogans are raised, it is from those who feel alienated, not because they want a separate state.'
Rural India was left to fend for itself by those who ruled the country earlier, Modi said in a swipe at the Congress.
The top court also asked the state governments of Punjab and Haryana to pursue the farmers for two weeks not to do stubble burning.
At the meeting which lasted for more than half an hour, the leaders of the two parties are understood to have discussed the key issue of seat-sharing among alliance partners in the NDA, which also includes Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP.
The results of bypolls to three Lok Sabha and 29 assembly seats spread across 13 states and a union territory have been a mixed bag for the BJP as its fortunes continue to nosedive in West Bengal against the might of Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee while bad tidings have also come from states like Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.
As the new year arrives, the Bharatiya Janata Party's finds itself on the cusp of the most consequential cycle of state polls since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as the results will tell if the road ahead in its bid for a third straight term at the Centre is getting any bumpier or a strong opposition challenge remains elusive.
He said though there was a "ray of hope", certain issues he had flagged remained unresolved.
The session will begin with the address of the President to the joint sitting of the two Houses on Friday morning followed by the presentation of the Union Budget on February 1.
The protests brought home the fact that the Sri Lankan public is in no mood for halfway measures, as voices against Rajapaksa 'family rule' and 'securitisation' of the civilian administration began sidestepping the more critical economic crisis, affecting the nation and afflicting the individual, observes Sri Lanka watcher N Sathiya Moorthy.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com tracks Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi's project-launching spree with just about three months to go for the assembly election in India's most populous state.
In two months, as many as 25 complaints have been sent to Enforcement Directorate, Competition Commission of India, Reserve Bank of India and income tax department, beside various state agencies, to thwart the deal.
In his address to the nation on the eve of 73rd Republic Day, President Kovind noted that democracy, justice, liberty, equality and fraternity form the bedrock of India and stressed that the observance of Fundamental Duties mentioned in the Constitution creates the proper environment for the enjoyment of Fundamental Rights.
While farmers in Gujarat are rejecting the compensation package, farmers in Maharashtra say they do not wish to part with their land for a project that largely benefits Gujarat.
Stating that 'we cannot...infuse creativity in your bureaucracy', the apex court warned it will have to do something extraordinary if the authorities failed to control pollution.
Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, speaking on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address, charged the government with not delivering on its various promises, including generating two crore jobs per year.
NITI Aayog has been working on an action plan to relieve rural distress and energise the agricultural sector
The measures include an information search prompt with the Election Commission of India (@ECISVEEP) and State Election Commissions to provide reliable information around the elections, a custom emoji to encourage participation, a series of pre-bunks and debunks to tackle election-related misinformation, and a youth discussion series titled #DemocracyAdda aimed at voter literacy and civic participation among young Indians for the upcoming elections.
In his maiden foray in the state election, Yadav won from the Karhal assembly seat by a margin of 67,504 votes.
Amarinder Singh failed spectacularly in these assembly elections -- his new party failed to open its account, his ally BJP fell flat and he failed to even win his own constituency.
Kiran Vissa, co-convenor of National Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, said that amendments to the EC Act have nothing to do with farmers' welfare but instead meant to please big players and agriculture companies. This is because small and marginal farmers don't have the storage capacity to attract provisions of the EC Act.
Former West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was on Thursday sworn in as the 14th Vice President of India.
The Child Protection Services programme under the Integrated Child Development Services was increased to Rs 1,500 crore from Rs 925 crore.
Patel later released on bail later and transported out of Madhya Pradesh in police vehicles
'Imagine for a soldier -- first you conquer territory after fighting a fierce battle, suffer casualties and then you are ordered to come back to your side of the International Border in India.'
'Akhilesh did politics like Rabi and Kharif crop which come once a year. Politics is not seasonal, you have to harvest your field all through the year and only then you get a good crop' Political analyst lists 12 reasons why Akhilesh Yadav lost the UP elections.
'We have learnt lessons from Mamata Banerjee who overcame the BJP's canard by reciting Chandi Path and playing up her Brahmin origins in her campaign. We need to adopt strategies like asking Muslims to lie low and distributing tickets prudently so that we are not accused of favouring one community.' Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
'We do not want people who are air dropped and who fly out once the job is done.' 'Ever since liberalisation started, we keep on hearing that it's going to be jobless growth.' 'This speaks of the failure of the foreign returned policy makers.' 'When questions are raised, answers should be given and not a resignation.'
There have been several instances of traders dumping fruits and vegetables outside mandis. Or of farmers dumping produce outside their villages or feeding them to their animals.
