Indian-American scientist Amit Kshatriya's journey from watching rocket launches in Houston to becoming NASA's Associate Administrator is a testament to his dedication and expertise in space exploration.
Four astronauts from NASA's Artemis II mission have safely returned to Earth after completing a historic flyby of the moon, marking the first human journey to the moon in over 50 years.
Amit Kshatriya, a decorated Indian-American and NASA veteran, has been appointed as NASA's new associate administrator, marking a significant step in the agency's exploration efforts.
'He is a man of action and goes to the ground and solves the problem.' 'Be it the Air India crash of Ahmedabad, Morbi bridge collapse, Deesa blast or Gambhira bridge collapse, he is on the spot.'
'The BJP is using administrative machinery to fight elections'
After BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal's Surat win, Gujarat will see 25 Lok Sabha seats go to polls on May 7 with 266 candidates in the fray.
The stakes are significant for the BJP in this round as the party had in 2019 won an overwhelming majority of these seats, including all in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, that will go to polls on May 7.
Over 65 Union ministers are likely to take oath, going by the visual of the meeting Modi held with his likely council of ministers.
2019 was the Bharatiya Janata Party's breakout year, when it stretched the boundaries of what was thought possible and ended up with 303 seats on its own steam. Now it is forced to play defence, on a pitch queered by too many variables, asserts Prem Panicker.
While Ahmed Patel staved off the challenge to his Rajya Sabha membership, it leaves the scene wide open for the Gujarat assembly election this winter.
An OBC leader, Thakor, who has good oratory skills, will have to take along all factions in the state unit while taking on the well-organised BJP which has been in power in the state from 1998.
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
'Politics and religion can be a combustive combination, but this once I am pleased that Pinarayi Vijayan made an issue of a rather innocuous tweet by Amit Shah.' 'It provided the perfect excuse to seek respite from political pronouncements and take (temporary) refuge in the classics,' says T V R Shenoy.
Names of Hardik Patel, the face of the Patidar agitation ahead of the 2017 polls who quit the Congress to join the BJP, and Rivaba Jadeja, wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, figure in the list.
It had given the BJP a tough fight in 2017 winning 77 of the 182 seats at stake.
Political analysts say the Congress appears on the backfoot this time after one of its senior tribal leaders from the region joined the BJP, which has a stronghold in urban areas where civic bodies, leaders and the network required to win the election are firmly with the saffron party.
Patel was administered the oath as the 18th chief minister by Governor Acharya Devvrat at a function held at the Helipad Ground near the new Secretariat.
While the BJP says it is confident Dalits will vote for it in the state assembly polls due this year-end, the Congress says it is paying attention to seats with 10 per cent or more Dalit population.
'Where should shudra-OBCs go because of whom the nation is surviving?'
'By the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, they moved back to the BJP almost totally and later their backing helped us win the local body elections.'
I should not stay in a party where I am being insulted, ignored and betrayed, Alpesh said.
Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath to 10 cabinet ministers and 14 ministers of state, including five ministers of state with independent charge.
The Patidar community leader pitched for constitutional protection to the provision of reservation for them so as to preclude a judicial review.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and chief ministers of various BJP-ruled states attended the ceremony.
A bench headed by CJI Dipak Misra agreed to hear on Tuesday the interim applications of both the states.
''The Congress has forgotten how to mobilise people on political issues,' says Aakar Patel.
Caste assertions, including from the upper castes, could have the Sangh Parivar stumble yet again in its efforts to construct a Hindu rashtra.
Political observers say that except for a strong anti-incumbency sentiment, there is little that might go against the BJP.
It is unusual to see Narendra Modi highlight his OBC status -- something he has never done in his long political career. Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com examines Modi's compulsions for bringing his caste to the foreground
'The BJP should know that simple caste arithmetic may have ceased to follow the basic law of addition.' 'Adding up seemingly distinct vote banks can even cause overall reduction in numbers,' says Sudhir Bisht.
Why this non-BJP MP became a Modi bhakt.
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