The Bharat Mata controversy in Kerala shows how political and symbolic fights between the state and the Centre have taken attention away from education, throwing the state's oldest university into confusion and disorder, observes Shyam G Menon.
The INDIA bloc has 95 MPs in Rajya Sabha of which 45 were suspended on Monday.
Priyanka's victory seems assured, but the broader implications for Kerala's political landscape and South Indian politics remain to be seen.
It is in circumstances like this that the Constitution becomes extremely important. It reminds us that we have a commitment towards higher human values to fulfil, a path to get back to, suggests Shyam G Menon.Else, we risk being rudderless in an ocean of money and majoritarianism, suggests Shyam G Menon.
Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha committees had recommended that their suspension be withdrawn after they expressed regret for their conduct during the Winter session when their relentless protests prompted the Chairs to take action.
While 30 of them were suspended for the remainder of the Winter Session, three were suspended pending the report of the Privileges Committee.
A delegation of opposition party leaders on Friday met the top brass of Election Commission to raise its concerns over poll code violations by the ruling party leaders, and also flagged concerns over delay in release of voter turnout figures for the first two phases of the polls.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday alleged that the words 'secular' and 'socialist' were missing from the Preamble in the copies of the Constitution given to lawmakers on the opening day of the new Parliament building.
TMC MP Mahua Moitra also attributed the former sportswoman's stand to her Rajya Sabha seat.
Among the suspended members, six are from the Congress, two each from the TMC and Shiv Sena and one each from the CPM and the CPI.
Sixty-eight Rajya Sabha members, including nine Union ministers, are completing their tenure this year, triggering a race of sorts among leaders across political parties to eye a six-year term in the Upper House of Parliament.
The ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal demanded Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw's resignation over the horrific triple train crash in neighbouring Odisha.
Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has given adjournment motion notice over the issue of 'imposition of excise duty on diesel, petrol and other petroleum products'.
Opposition parties on Thursday continued their attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over inauguration of the new Parliament building and accused him of being 'megalomaniac' and the government of being 'arrogant'.
A fact-finding team of MPs and MLAs from the Left parties and the Congress, which arrived in Agartala on Friday to look into post-poll violence in Tripura, was attacked in Sepahijala district, police said.
Communist Party of India's member of Parliament Binoy Viswam on Monday submitted a notice to move a privilege motion against Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for his statement in Parliament last year on the Pegasus spyware issue.
Soon after the panel vice chairman Sasmit Patra called for the start of the discussion amid slogan shouting, leaders of various opposition parties took to raising points of order frequently to get the discussion stalled.
Lakshadweep has been witnessing a series of protests by residents for the past few weeks against Administrator Praful Khoda Patels decision to implement reform measures in the islands.
The opposition parties had till now been calling for a debate under Rule 267, which entails voting, and a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Alva, 80, would file her nomination papers on Tuesday, July 19 which is the last date for filing nominations for the August 6 election.
Ahead of the Winter Session in Parliament, leaders of 11 opposition parties met in the chamber of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.
Several opposition leaders hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party following the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as an MP on Friday, alleging the ruling party was involved in vindictive politics, and said it was a new low for democracy.
Authorities in Nuh district Sunday razed some illegal structures including a hotel from where stones were allegedly pelted on a religious procession last week, even as a mahapanchayat was held in support of four men arrested over arson at a mosque and the death of its junior imam.
Sources said former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for early passage of the bill in the Lok Sabha during the upcoming session as the same has already been passed by the Rajya Sabha.
To maintain dignity of the House, government was forced to place this proposal of suspension, minister Pralhad Joshi said
18 leaders from 14 parties said it is unfortunate that the government has 'unleashed a misleading campaign to malign the combined opposition' and blaming it for the continued disruption of Parliament proceedings.
In an major embarrassment to the Kerala government, the widow of famous conservationist 'crocodile hunter' Steve Irwin has sent a legal notice to the state Wildlife Department, for naming a crocodile park near Thiruvananthapuram after him without her permission. Kerala Forest Minister Binoy Viswam had announced naming the crocodile park at Neyyar in Steve's 'honour', shortly after his death in 2006 in a stingray attack, while shooting a film off the Australian coast.
These meetings with Pawar has fuelled speculations about the possibility of opposition parties coming together to form a third front against the Bharatiya Janata Party.
On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Modi had announced the decision to withdraw Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination notes with the ultimate aim of reducing corruption and black money in the economy.
The surprise action comes weeks after the broadcaster aired a two-part documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots and India.
Parliament's Budget session has been a washout since the beginning of its second part on March 13, with the BJP demanding an apology from Gandhi.
The body of M N Vijayan, critic, social activist and Marxist thinker, who died in Thrissur on Wednesday, was cremated on Thursday with state honours at Kudungallur in Thrissur.
Image used for representational purpose only. Photograph: Jayanta Dey/Reuters The Congress also said demonetisation has come a full circle and added that the Rs 2,000 note was a "band-aid to cover up the foolish decision of demonetising" Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has put in place new rules wherein a woman candidate with more than three months pregnancy will be considered "temporarily unfit" and can join the bank within four months after delivery. The move has elicited criticism from some quarters, including from the All India State Bank Of India Employees' Association. In its latest medical fitness guidelines for new recruits or promotees, the bank said a candidate would be considered fit in case of pregnancy which is less than 3 months.
The opposition leaders also accused the government of violating Constitutional norms by not inviting President Droupadi Murmu to the event.
Along with them, ex-BJP lawmaker Ram Shakal took the oath.
Just two days before Congress leader Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra is scheduled to reach Jammu, two back-to-back explosions rocked a busy locality on the outskirts of the city on Saturday, leaving nine people injured, officials said.
'To summarise, PM Modi's failures in the last nine years can be categorised under 'durniti' (bad policies), 'anyay' (injustice) and - perhaps most importantly - 'badniyat' (ill intention)'
The leaders neither spoke from the podium of the Kisan Sansad (farmers' parliament) nor were they seated on the dais.
The joint Opposition including the Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Trinamool Congress, the Left, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the Aam Aadmi Party did not join the Question Hour of the session when the House reassembled after its first adjournment till noon.
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