Apart from the appointment of Lokpal at the national level and Lokayukta in states, Hazare has been demanding implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendations and some electoral reforms.
Rajini's call may now force other political parties, including the DMK and the Congress, who are in alliance talks already, to come up with water proposals of their own in their poll manifesto. In a way, this may be a 'tactical victory' for Rajinikanth, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Counting of votes will take place on May 15.
India studied the Malaysian model, which was scrapped on Wednesday, before implementing the GST and borrowed the anti-profiteering clause to ensure GST benefits are passed on to the end-consumer by the industry
The schedule for Gujarat will be announced separately.
The centre pays only an insulting Rs 200 per pensioner each month at a tight-fisted 0.04 per cent of GDP, among the lowest in the world. Instead, as illustrated by Jean Drze, one option is for NYAY to provide individual rather than household entitlements to all pensioners of at least Rs 1200 per month.
'Modi is larger-than-life, but not invincible. Yet,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'EVMs are absolutely credible, they are robust.' 'It's only a calculator with certain instructions. And the sim card inside an EVM is burnt and cannot be reprogrammed.' 'Besides, the machines are circulated among various states. No machine is allowed to remain in one state after an election.' 'By far, it is one of the finest innovations India should be proud of.'
'Should the government be in the business of running banks?' 'Particularly when it does not have the fiscal strength to continuously infuse capital into such banks?'
Barring Maharashtra, the poll percentage in rest of the states was in excess of 60 per cent while in Puducherry it was 80.47 per cent.
'Rather than 'consolidate' the Hindu majority votes, as the BJP-RSS combine has been known and wont to try, this time round PM Modi has himself taken the party to the next step, by seeking to create a new divide within the majority community, a la V P Singh in his time.'
2,470 BJP workers from across the country would spend a year visiting polling booths, while another 1,441 workers would spend six months and 378,000 workers will spend 15 days to reach out to party cadres and ensure better polling management in areas outside their home districts.
The battle on creating jobs is virtually lost. If the battle for achieving higher growth too is lost, then its political consequences could become difficult to manage, says A K Bhattacharya.
Of the 40 CEOs polled from across the country, 60 per cent identified a fractured electoral mandate as a bigger risk than trade wars, volatile oil prices, and inflation.
Delhi University had claimed that unless the roll number of a student is not provided, it would be difficult to search the records.
Corporate India tempered its victory celebrations for the supposedly business-friendly Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance's landslide electoral victory by highlighting the need for immediate steps to create jobs through inclusive economic growth.
'Mamata is synonymous with Bengal, its culture, language, traditions.'
Hari Shankar Brahma, who took over as the 19th Chief Election Commissioner on Friday, said his priority and "mission objective" is to ensure free and fair conduct of Delhi assembly polls.
Some genius assumed that a 2,000 note could seamlessly replace 500s and 1000s in ordinary transactions. If that genius had consulted an actual chai-wallah, he might have thought twice, argues Devangshu Datta.
'A close relationship between India Inc and the government cannot help the BJP win elections.' 'While Opposition parties may feel good about Mr Bajaj criticising the Modi regime, the BJP should be seeing the indictment as a political boon,' says A K Bhattacharya.
The imprudent, not to mention immature, attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi by Congress leaders, especially on the election trail, can only be read as a sign of nerves on the eve of an important poll battle.
'The attempt to make Aadhaar mandatory has now emerged as an act of bullying by government agencies, turning citizens into subjects by making fundamental rights conditional on biometric identification,' says Gopal Krishna.
'After we released the report, the stir it created took us by surprise.'
The Supreme Court on Tuesday commenced hearing to revisit its two-decade-old 'Hindutva' judgement for an authoritative pronouncement on electoral law categorising misuse of religion for electoral gains as "corrupt practice".
The ministry has raised five questions in all including whether the personal data of Indian voters and users has been compromised by Cambridge Analytica or any other downstream entity in any manner.
'Right now, politics is operating in a state of suspended animation. That works to Modi's advantage.'
The GST's significance for the BJP's politics is as important as its implications for the Indian economy, says A K Bhattacharya.
'In the medium term, the advantage is still with the BJP.' 'One reason for this is Shah's talent. He is a terrific organiser and builds his strategies around the grassroots worker,' says Aakar Patel.
'The Republic is currently captained and crewed by people who seem interested in the safety and well being of only a select kind of passenger, advising the rest to swim for Pakistan,' points out Mitali Saran.
'The party will keep to the script that its core supporter understands: temples, statues, Muslims and cows.'
Trinamool leaders have claimed the NRC process and subsequent verification is vote bank politics. Other critics call it as modified ethnic cleansing. But putting poll rhetoric aside, the issue dates back to a time when many of these leaders had no political relevance.
The focus shifts almost immediately from celebrations to the challenges faced by the man who powered his party to 303 seats in the Lok Sabha.
'There is little doubt that his exertions are among the reasons why Narendra Damodardas Modi routinely lambastes the dynasty at nearly all his rallies, suggesting that he regards the Congress's First Family as a bigger threat than any other political formation,' argues Amulya Ganguli.
If Mr Modi has to win, he must convince the people of this country how his reforms improved the quality of their lives.
'They don't have a political strategy so they are going to try to deal with it purely as a law and order problem.' 'They will try to use the same strategy they have repeatedly used since 2014 in Kashmir.' 'Mr Modi has landed in a situation where he faces the possible prospect of not only being unable to Indianise Kashmir, but his actions may end up making the rest of India a virtual carbon copy of Kashmir.'
The Congress sent in Rahul Gandhi to play Aamir Khan at the FTII, but it turned out that he played Imran Khan instead, says Malavika Sangghvi.
The country's merchandise deficit narrowed to $9.2 billion in November, but exports growth eased to 5.9 percent from 13.5 percent in October, government data showed.
'The political fallout of the verdict on national politics is pregnant with incredible opportunities.' 'Post-judgment politics can change the ground rules of election campaigning in the coming decades,' says Sheela Bhatt
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and three of his cabinet colleagues are among 44 candidates whose fate will be decided on Tuesday in the third phase of polling in 16 seats spread across Budgam, Pulwama and Baramulla districts.
The BJP's win in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls has emboldened the top leadership to pursue a pro-woman agenda.
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