Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday asserted that Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, will not be restored even if Congress stalwart and late PM Indira Gandhi comes down from heaven.
Recommending statutory backup to the model code of conduct, a parliamentary committee has sought to take away certain powers vested with the Election Commission like de-recognising a political party.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned twice in the post-lunch period on Thursday as a war of words broke out between the treasury and opposition benches, triggered by Congress MP Charanjit Singh Channi's spat with the Bharatiya Janata Party's Ravneet Singh Bittu.
'It will be difficult to challenge Hindutva anymore as the police will have the power to charge you as anti-national.'
'At the start of the session, (Prime Minister) bows down at the door of Parliament. This is theatrics'
Rajya Sabha chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar in his maiden speech in the House on Wednesday criticised the judiciary for scrapping the NJAC bill, terming it as an instance of "severe compromise of parliamentary sovereignty", and said the government's three organs should respect the "Lakshman Rekha".
The meeting of the Joint Committee on Waqf (Amendment) Bill took an ugly turn as the Trinamool Congress MP smashed a glass water bottle and threw it towards panel chairman Jagdambika Pal of the Bharatiya Janata Party during a heated exchange of words with BJP's Abhijit Gangopadhyay, a former Calcutta high court judge.
'In Parliament, he was the one person who stood for democracy and secularism even when the principal Opposition party was not very forthright in taking on the BJP and RSS.'
India needs to recognise and address challenges posed by its dependence on China for critical minerals and examine the implications of phasing down coal on bank balance sheets as it accelerates its green transition, the government's Economic Survey 2023-24 tabled in Parliament on Monday said. As part of its national plan to contribute to meeting the global goal of limiting the average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, India has committed to reducing emissions by 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, achieving 50 per cent cumulative electric installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources, and creating a carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 gigatons of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover.
Will Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who gets his orders from New Delhi, call the shots or allow a democratically elected government to independently govern, questions Ramesh Menon.
Pakistan's Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday nominated himself for the post of prime minister, while Imran Khan's party threatened to withdraw its lawmakers from Parliament if the former Punjab chief minister was allowed to contest the election for the top post on Monday.
That he hasn't done so yet, has continued to be active on the political street, in public debate and on social media, signals an important change. It will give his party hope. Maybe the achievement of reducing Mr Modi well below the majority mark will now motivate him to stay committed, observes Shekhar Gupta
The Congress' top leadership will deliberate on the Lok Sabha election results and chalk out its future strategy at a crucial meeting of the party's working committee on Saturday.
Now, every state election -- first up, Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand later this year, then Delhi in January and Bihar in September next year -- will be seen by his followers for evidence of his recovery, and by rivals of sharpening decline, points out Shekhar Gupta.
The depiction of hijackers of the Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to Delhi has kicked off a row with a section of viewers objecting to the 'humane' projection of the perpetrators.
The opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is unlikely to contest the Lok Sabha Speaker's post and the National Democratic Alliance nominee is likely to be elected unopposed, sources said Tuesday ahead of filing of nomination for the key post.
The existing building is a British-era building, designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker who were responsible for planning and construction of New Delhi.
'The Indian government is better prepared this time and has reached out to all contenders and not putting all eggs in one basket.'
Five people died in rain-related incidents in Delhi Friday as Monsoon arrived with a fury early in the morning, lashing the city with its highest rainfall in a single day of June in 88 years which brought it to a standstill with streets flooded, traffic in chaos and some commuters stranded on roads.
All borders of the national capital will be sealed for the entry of commercial and heavy vehicles by Thursday midnight apart from heavy police deployment, they said.
'The fact that he hasn't resigned so far shows that he is going to do everything to hold onto power.'
'I would think that India faces less damage from opinions voiced overseas compared to the damage it suffers if the right to free speech of its citizens is curtailed in the name of image management,' asserts Shyam G Menon.
Leaders of the JD-U, which has two ministers in the Union government, insist that the resolution also spoke of "special package and other types of help" and that Bihar could still get a lot from Narendra Modi government.
Tahul assured that he would raise the stampede issue in Parliament in a bid to prevent such incidents in the future, they said.
They slammed the Union and state governments for the collapse, with Uddhav Thackeray calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi's apology as one "smacking of arrogance", while Sharad Pawar said the episode was an example of corruption.
As the Centre pushes reforms in the power sector, especially for the beleaguered electricity distribution segment, several states, especially those ruled by Opposition parties, are clamouring against it. Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Kerela have voiced their reservations against the proposed amendments to the Electricity Act, 2003. The irony is the states opposing the amendments on the ground of threat of privatisation already have private partnerships in power supply. The proposed Bill was slated to be placed on the floor of Parliament in the Monsoon session. But it still awaits Cabinet approval amid several states complaining that they have been not consulted on the issue.
Section 6A, which was incorporated in the Citizenship Act 1955 following the signing of the 1985 Assam Accord, was upheld by the Supreme Court.
"Everything may look normal in Kashmir. Everything may look normal here. We may be celebrating the victory, although of course some people believe that that victory or that success of 2024 was perhaps only marginal, perhaps a lot more needs to be done," he said.
For the first time, Modi is eyeball to eyeball with his bete noire, sitting a few feet across him. Given the last 10 years, a confrontation between them was unavoidable, inevitable, points out Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Saturday's Quad meeting in Delaware is taking place against the backdrop of China's assertive behaviour in the South China Sea, its sabre-rattling in the Taiwan Strait and increasing footprints in the Pacific and Indian Ocean, asserts Rup Narayan Das.
There is nothing "fundamentally inconsistent" with a minority institution being an institution of national importance (INI), the Supreme Court said on Wednesday while hearing arguments on the vexed issue of minority status to Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
This will be the first time that the Congress, since its ouster from power in 2014, will get the post of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. It failed to get the position in the past 10 years as its tally was below the requisite 10 per cent of total seats in the House, both in 2014 and 2019.
The minority judgment of the 1998 verdict has highlighted the prima facie absurdity in the paradox created by the majority judgment, it said.
Muhammad Yunus on Thursday promised to deliver a government which assures safety to its citizens, as the Nobel laureate returned to the protest-torn Bangladesh from Paris to take oath as the head of the interim government following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina.
'Afzal Guru became a victim of Pakistan's conspiracy. He was used as a means, just like all other innocent Kashmiris.'
After Modi is elected the leader of NDA MPs, senior members of the alliance like Telugu Desam Party's N Chandrababu Naidu, Janata Dal-United's Nitish Kumar and Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde will join the prime minister for a meeting with President Droupadi Murmu to present her the list of parliamentarians supporting him, some alliance members said.
In her oeuvre, Han Kang confronts historical traumas and invisible sets of rules and, in each of her works, exposes the fragility of human life.
It also saw the suspension of 100 members in a span of four days for unruly conduct and a major security breach on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack.
'Those betting against PSUs will likely be punished in this upswing.'
At least one commentator felt that both the BJP's reach and popularity had been underestimated in Kerala. They have shown systematic gain; one that seems personality-neutral and therefore institutionalised, explains Shyam G Menon.
