There are instances -- both from national and state elections -- of economic under-performers being returned to power, and also of parties being thrown out despite good performance, observes T N Ninan.
These states and UTs are Maharashtra (seven districts/municipalities), Telangana (four), Tamil Nadu (seven), Rajasthan (five), Assam (six), Haryana (four), Gujarat (three), Karnataka (four), Uttarakhand (three), Madhya Pradesh (five), West Bengal (three), Delhi (three), Bihar (four), Uttar Pradesh (four), and Odisha (five).
Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Odisha will be held simultaneously in the first phase.
The reforms will help FPOs procure directly from farmers, something that they have been pressing for long.
Stifling heat has killed more than 1,242 people in India in less than one week.
The migrants were ferried to their villages in sanitised buses arranged by the Jharkhand government to take them home after preliminary medical screening at the station, officials said.
While Uttar Pradesh has allowed 837 trains, Bihar has permitted 428 and Madhya Pradesh more than 100.
Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com gives the lowdown on the constituencies going to polls in the first phase on April 11.
Apart from Kerala, in no state did the Grand Old Party scored in double digits.
During the first phase of the Vande Bharat mission, Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express are scheduled to operate a total 64 flights between May 7 and May 14 to bring 14,800 Indians from 12 countries on a payment basis.
People living in the national capital and in states such as Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are more likely to contract COVID-19 due to prolonged exposure to high concentration of PM 2.5, according to a new pan-India study.
To help the country emerge as a true welfare State, political parties must put the country's interests first before strategising to win elections and short-term goals, argues Ramesh Menon.
Several states are likely to witness heat wave conditions, the India Meteorological Department said in its summer forecast for the season (March to May).
For Tuesday, the IMD said heavy to very heavy rains, with extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places, are likely over Assam and Meghalaya.
Going by the strict criteria set, only Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana qualify for such extra borrowing, as of now.
Of the 1,075 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 432 fatalities, followed by Gujarat at 197, Madhya Pradesh at 130, Delhi at 56, Rajasthan at 51, Uttar Pradesh at 39 and Andhra Pradesh at 31.
Of the 937 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 369 fatalities, followed by Gujarat at 162, Madhya Pradesh at 113, Delhi at 54, Rajasthan at 46 and Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh at 31 each.
According to the ministry's data, Maharashtra is on the top of the list with most COVID-19 cases, 5,652 cases of which 789 patients have recovered and 269 patients succumbing to coronavirus.
The counting will begin at 8 am, and as per the Election Commission's COVID-19 guidelines, a candidate, his poll agent and counting agent can remain present in the counting hall, officials said, adding various measures have been taken to ensure social distancing and avoid crowding.
Maharashtra has reported the most coronavirus deaths at 45, followed by Gujarat at 12, Madhya Pradesh nine, Telangana and Delhi seven each, Punjab six and Tamil Nadu five fatalities.
Cooking gas LPG price on Wednesday was hiked by Rs 15 per cylinder in line with a surge in international fuel prices. Rates of both subsidised and non-subsidised LPG prices were hiked, oil company officials said. Cooking gas now costs Rs 899.50 per cylinder in Delhi.
According to the health ministry data, Delhi has reported the highest number of confirmed cases at 503.
Out of the 932 trains which have been operated so far, 215 are in transit while 717 have terminated at various stations. Sixty-seven more are in the pipeline, an official said.
The results are a ringing endorsement of Modi's popularity, his government's achievements in the last five years and his campaign, which centred around national security, nationalism and Hindutva.
The IMD said heatwave conditions are likely to continue over the northern plains, and central and southern parts of the country for two more days and abate gradually.
The killer heat wave brought the nationwide toll to 2,338 even as some places like Delhi got respite on Monday.
The country has recorded over 20,000 cases of the infection for the fourth consecutive day. India went past Russia on Sunday to become the third worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Around 52.46 per cent of the patients have recovered, the health ministry said. The number of active cases stood at 1,53,178 while 1,80,012 patients have recovered, it said in the daily COVID-19 update.
An elusive figure, Hidma is a top leader of the outlawed Naxal outfit CPI (Maoist) and has been on the radar of security agencies for many years.
It is wrong to say the Congress doesn't matter. Certainly one set of people who do not believe that for a minute is the BJP. That's why even in his speech in Parliament on Constitution Day, Mr Modi called dynastic politics a threat to democracy, observes Shekhar Gupta.
In the wake of 73 confirmed cases of coronavirus in India so far, the Union health ministry has made functional 52 laboratories for testing samples while 57 labs have been designated for helping in sample collection for Covid-19 to enhance capacity for diagnosis and detection of the disease. "Following the increase in load of screening samples from suspected cases with symptoms and travel history to the affected countries, the department of health research/ICMR has commissioned 52 laboratories for COVID-19 testing in India," an official said.
Out of the total 22 tableaux, 16 were of various states and UTs and six of ministries, departments and the National Disaster Response Force.
The SIMI members, wanted by the National Investigation Agency, were arrested from a house in the steel city after a three-hour long operation.
Presently 14 states and UTs including Chhattisgarh (0.96 per cent), Jharkhand (0.87 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (0.82 per cent), Telangana (0.57 per cent), Bihar (0.49 per cent), Assam (0.44 per cent), Odisha (0.43 per cent) and Kerala (0.34 per cent) are reporting case fatality rate of less than 1 per cent.
According to the IMD forecast, monsoon is likely to be normal this year.
Polling for 16 Rajya Sabha seats in four states will be held on Friday amid allegations of attempts at horse-trading by rival parties which have corralled their MLAs in hotels and scenic resorts, prompting the Election Commission to appoint special observers and order videography of the entire exercise.
The enhanced allowance will be applicable to all paramilitary personnel deployed in Jammu and Kashmir and Naxal-hit areas.
The 71-year-old Dalit leader is expected to have a smooth sailing in the event of an election.
The Bal Puraskar was conferred by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who gave digital certificates to the awardees using blockchain technology developed by IIT Kanpur.
The total coronavirus cases mounted to 49,30,236, while the death toll climbed to 80,776 with 1,054 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.
