With almost all opposition parties and several trade unions backing the 'Bharat Bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing all the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure COVID guidelines are followed.
The elections in this phase are seen as a big test for the Bharatiya Janata Party
Opposition calls the Budget 'hollow and plain'.
For the entire UPA regime, from 2005-06 to 2013-14, the average annual farm growth according to the GDP back series data is 3.8 per cent, which too is higher than the first four years of the NDA, though these two periods aren't comparable because one spans nine years and the other four.
'No right thinking student of politics can name one state where the BJP gains in double digits.'
Sowing up 400%; prices may be low in 2014 as Maharashtra, MP and Bengal also likely to increase acreage 15-20%.
'The first two months of monsoon are not looking good.' 'In case both the halves fail, it is going to be misery.'
There should be one comprehensive and credible report on weather for India since a major part of the economy is dependent on it, says 'weather man' Angshujyoti Das.
A large number of rich farmers, who earn more than salaried employees in the cities, get away with paying no tax at all in view of the government's lack of will to consider an agricultural income tax
YSR Congress party chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy will meet Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday evening in Lucknow, to garner political support for a united Andhra Pradesh.
'This confrontation could have been avoided by a less arrogant administration that initially listened, used whatever negotiating skills they had and tried to be more credible,' observes Ramesh Menon.
Families of the 40 CRPF jawans, who were martyred in the dastardly terror attacks in Pulwama, have not yet been able to comprehend the huge void left behind.
The challenge ahead for central and state governments remains enormous.
The Enforcement Directorate, probing money laundering charges against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his family members, on Tuesday recorded the statement of his wife Pratibha Singh
Rediff readers tell us what they did with their first salary.
The Union Budget on Monday evoked contrasting responses in the political arena with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party hailing it as a vision for an 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' and the Opposition describing it as a 'let down like never before' that was meant to 'deceive' people.
'I have tutored my family and myself to fight hunger,' the former agent for the disgraced Saradha chit fund says, his eyes welling up. 96 of the 107 cases referred to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office are based in Bengal!
The membership drive, which had begun in November, ends on Thursday midnight.
The senior Congress leader was in a coma since October last year, when he was admitted to AIIMS after he suffered a brain haemorrhage.
Between 2001 and 2011, the number of rural habitations with population of less than 1,000 has declined sharply
The restoration of the Chilahati-Haldibari railway link and signing of the pacts, providing for cooperation in areas of hydrocarbons, agriculture and textiles among others, came at a virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina.
Traders say prices will remain elevated due to increased demand, lower availability
"We have to collectively address all doubts. The vision of flexibility with which this policy was brought... We will have to show in a similar way maximum flexibility in implementing it," Modi said while addressing the 'Governors' Conference on the Role of NEP in Transforming Higher Education'.
Reaction to surge in applications, seemingly to hide identity as chit funds.
'Where is the spirit of Team India?' asks Chandrababu Naidu.
Monsoon revival over weekend likely, but second-half rainfall may be muted. If the rains become scarce after mid-August, the standing kharif crops might be impacted
Without naming the Prime Minister or using his 'andolanjivi' phrase, Tikait said, "In Parliament, they are saying these are parjivis (parasites). Was Bhagat Singh who sacrificed his life for this nation a parjivi? What about 150 farmers who died during this agitation? Were they parjivis too? Had they gone to Delhi to agitate and die?"
India is currently under the 21-day lockdown since March 25, with only essential services exempted to contain the fast-spreading virus.
Industrialist Pawan Ruia's (think Dunlop and Jessop) arrest this month for cheating and criminal breach of trust marked a new low, but the tide had been turning against him for a while now. Ishita Ayan Dutt & Avishek Rakshit report.
The deep depression in Bay of Bengal that crossed the coast close to Kakinada in East Godavari district on Tuesday morning left a trail of devastation as it brought with it a massive downpour in several districts of Andhra Pradesh.
Official celebrations in most states were restricted to unfurling of the national flag and chief ministers and governors addressing the people, with fewer guests in attendance.
India has been put in lockdown to halt the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. People have been told to stay indoors, but for many daily-wage earners this is not an option.
The event will be significant for the Congress and Trinamool Congress leaderships, cementing the proximity during the winter session of Parliament.
The Congress expressed its 'whole-hearted' support to the 'Bharat bandh' called by farmer unions against the new agri-marketing laws and announced that it will hold protests that day at all district and state headquarters in solidarity with the demands of the farmers. TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the party rank and file would actively participate in the bandh to ensure it was a success.
Various facets of Mahatma Gandhi's life journey were displayed by the 22 tableaux that rolled down the Rajpath during the 70th Republic Day Parade.
In a nearly 25-minute televised address to the nation, Modi said implementation of the lockdown will be strictly ensured in its second phase and detailed guidelines will be brought out on Wednesday to ensure that outbreak does not spread to new areas.
He maintained that the laws were for their benefit and then apologised to people of the country, adding that the government could not convince a section of farmers despite its clear heart and clean conscience.
Bhaichung Bhutia, India's iconic former football captain, is set to try his political luck again, this time in his native state of Sikkim, as he plans to contest the assembly elections due this year.
'The government till now said that we did not want a meeting, now that we have specifically told them when, where and what of the meeting, there is no response from them'
'Modi is still immensely popular and, therefore, he can sustain any number of policy failures.' 'Modi himself has worn multiple faces so it would be naive to think that the Modi of 2021 will be the same Modi that will be campaigning for re-election in 2024.'
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