The first chief minister of Chhattisgarh, was known in the political circles as someone who never gave up despite defeats, controversies and debilitating health issues.
Terming investment in infrastructure "quintessential" to boost growth, the Economic Survey on Friday said post unlocking of the economy, infra sectors are poised for growth and construction of roads is expected to return to the high pace attained before COVID-19. The infrastructure sector will be the key to overall economic growth and macroeconomic stability, the Survey said emphasising that the year after the crisis (2021-22) will require sustained and calibrated measures to facilitate the process of economic recovery and enable the economy to get back on its long-term growth trajectory. "Basic infrastructure facilities in the country provide the foundation of growth. In the absence of adequate infrastructure, the economy operates at a suboptimal level and remains distant from its potential and frontier growth trajectory.
Virtually stroking the fire on the suddenly hyped issue of reservation to the Jat community, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Wednesday blamed the Congress-led central government for its continued dilly-dallying.
The problem of unemployment is spread across the economy.
The new Lokpal Bill was introduced by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal in Lok Sabha on Thursday after an hour-long acrimonious debate among members of various political parties.
'The Congress-NCP is a declining force while we are a rising force.'
Apart from the second pandemic upsurge in Haryana which devastated its cities and villages, in most districts panchayats stopped inviting BJP-JJP leaders to social gatherings, while a few announced a boycott.
Announcing sops for minorities ahead of the panchayat elections next year in the state, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that her government has ordered a survey for ensuring job reservation for Muslims and would also bring a bill for 50 per cent reservation for women in panchayats.
"Desh ke chowikdar ki pehredari mein, sansadhono ki chori karai ja rahi hai (the country's resources are being looted under the watch of the country's gateman)," she said in a derisive reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla has rejected the contention that Muslims are feeling insecure under the Bharatiya Janata Party-led regime and said the community has felt alienated since Independence because of the policies of successive Congress governments.
The Shiv Sena on Friday came out in support of the demand that the Maratha community be included in the Other Backward Classes category. The Marathas are considered to be the 'ruling caste' of the state, yet a demand for inclusion in OBCs has been gaining strength of late.
The draft bill on reservation to Jats and four other castes was cleared at a Cabinet meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
Several Muslim members of Parliament on Monday complained to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the 12th Five-Year Plan had nothing concrete in it to uplift the Muslim community. They claimed that the plan made a mockery of the prime minister's vows of "inclusive" development.
Narendra Patel also showed bundles of cash that he said were handed over to him, at a late-night press conference on Sunday.
The Patel quota agitation leader formed the Patel Navnirman Sena bringing together the Patels, Kurmis and Gujjars.
Internet and mobile SMS services have been suspended indefinitely by authorities in Rohtak district in the wake of protests by Jat community.
The govt said that once the apex court clarifies the issue, then it can frame rules for the benefit of transgenders.
On Tuesday, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti kicked up a storm when she used expletives during a campaign speech in Delhi. While campaigning for the Bharatiya Janata Party, she called the electorate to choose between Ramzadon and h********n.
Ravi Kishan, the BJP's candidate, is an outsider. The BSP-SP candidate is from the powerful Nishad community. Yogi faces a tough task in ensuring that the Gorakhpur seat, which he represented from 1998 to 2017, stays with the BJP.
Savitri Bai Phule said a 'mahapurush' like Jinnah should be installed with respect... Jinnah is respected from the times of freedom struggle... His portrait is installed in the Lok Sabha... His name should be taken with respect."
Bihar's development is not uniformly sweeping over the state. There are less visible aspects of the state's society and polity is which this wave bypasses.
Modi did not speak much about politics but made a reference to the agitation by the Patels for quotas.
'The Rajputs feel they are being left behind.'
Barely 24 hours after the Allahabad high court expressed serious concern about her government's inaction to resolve the two-week old agitation by the Jat community seeking inclusion among backward castes, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has chosen to blame the Centre for the spiraling protests.Mayawati sought to take credit for removing the agitators from the railway tracks in parts of western UP, where services had been completely disrupted.
'When those in power fail on the twin fronts of employment and poverty, they have to play the reservation card'
'Most of those involved in these honour killings are the people who belong to the class that feels left out.' 'The high development index in a way is perpetuating conditions that result in social tension.' 'The only solution to the problem is politicise inter-caste marriages.'
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 fifth-term Lok Sabha member is the mascot of the party's Hindutva-wrapped agenda of development as the BJP makes a final push in its bid to capture power in the state
'Why do they talk about Narendra Modi insulting Oommen Chandy when he himself informed the PMO that he would not be available? Why did he write to Delhi that he was preoccupied on the 15th? After that, he should not make such noise about the function.'
He accused Modi of reducing the cabinet to a 'rubber stamp', 'betraying' backward classes and giving Bihar only 'jumlas'.
Sahil, 26, a resident of north Gonda area, says his father, Parvez Alam, 50, ran a garage and was trying to pacify people from both communities to not engage in violence.
The ten-day agitation by the Jat community in Uttar Pradesh demanding their inclusion in the list of Other Backward Castes in government job quota received a setback on Friday with the Allahabad high court asking the Maywati administration to get into action.
'Hindu unity is possible without any external forces playing any role if their faith is questioned.'
The events that unfolded after Advani's arrest not only benefited the BJP, whose political clout grew exponentially, but also catapulted Lalu to the forefront of the anti-saffron camp.
President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and other leaders condoled the death of the seer.
'We will do a holistic review of the entire act and the policy at the state level and I need to be convinced that not a single Jharkhandi is uprooted from his or her home due to this law'
Muslims in Hyderabad, who constitute 41 per cent of the population in the metropolis, do not want a separate state of Telangana to be created, the Srikrishna panel said noting that they would feel more secure in the larger state of united Andhra Pradesh.
The four-time MLA and OBC leader joined the saffron party in presence of Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah.
cution' of the Brahmins in the regime of Adityanath, a Rajput, accused of pandering to his caste's interests. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.