Learning from East Asia, India must reform its district administration with performance, accountability, and vision to achieve the goal of Viksit Bharat, points out Deepak Mishra.
Zakia Jafri, the wife of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed in the 2002 Gujarat riots, died on Saturday in Ahmedabad at the age of 86. Ehsan Jafri was among 69 persons who were killed inside Gulbarg Society, a Muslim neighbourhood in Ahmedabad, on February 28, 2002, a day after coaches of the Sabarmati Express train were burnt in Godhra, resulting in the deaths of 59 'karsevaks' returning from Ayodhya. The incident triggered horrific rioting across the state. Zakia Jafri hit the national headlines as she waged a legal battle all the way to the Supreme Court in a bid to hold top political leaders accountable for the large conspiracy for the riots post the Godhra train burning episode. Her son Tanveer Jafri said that his mother was visiting his sister's house in Ahmedabad when she complained of feeling uneasy. The doctor who was called in declared her dead at around 11:30 am. Social activist Teesta Setalvad, who was co-complainant in Jafri's protest petition in the Supreme Court, posted on X that Zakia Jafri was a compassionate leader of the human rights community.
On the eve of Durga Puja in October 2008, industrialist Ratan Tata announced that Tata Motors would withdraw from the nearly completed Nano car plant in Singur, attributing the decision to Mamata Banerjee's anti-land acquisition movement, which he claimed had derailed what was meant to be a "groundbreaking project" -- the world's cheapest car.
Gujarat was labelled Hindutva's crucible and Modi was to become the chief 'chemist'. A revealing political saga excerpted from Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay's The Demolition, the Verdict and the Temple: The Definitive Book on the Ram Mandir Project.
'I am not a person who would do such things from behind the scenes.' 'I don't believe in taking somebody else's support for speaking out my mind.'
'Another term for the government under the prime minister would likely be a step forward on the path to Hindu Rashtra.' 'No question of going back or any slowing down.'
In a major victory for Tatas, an arbitral tribunal has awarded Tata Motors a compensation of over Rs 766 crore for the losses incurred because of protests by Trinamool Congress that stalled its small car project at Singur in West Bengal. The tribunal asked the West Bengal government to pay Tata Motors the compensation, along with interest, according to a stock exchange filing by the Mumbai-based auto major on Monday. The company stated that the arbitral tribunal has asked the West Bengal Industrial Development Corp (WBIDC) to pay the company Rs 766 crore compensation, in connection with losses incurred on its manufacturing site in Singur.
Zakia Jafri, the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed along with 68 others in the Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad during the Gujarat riots of 2002, visited the Gulberg society on the 21st anniversary of the massacre on February 28, 2023.
It's just not a date. It's just not about selecting a candidate. It's not about helping some candidate win. It's about expressing emotion, after ten years, that could reach out in India and beyond it, notes Sheela Bhatt.
A special court in Gujarat on Thursday acquitted all the 67 accused, including former Bharatiya Janata Party minister Maya Kodnani, in the 2002 Naroda Gam riots case in which 11 people were killed.
Bhatt is the third accused arrested in the case after social activist Teesta Setalvad and former Director General of Police of Gujarat R B Sreekumar.
In switching over, Nitish has sent out a message that if he could not now become the NDA's PM, then he would need to stay on as CM at the very least, which a third term for Modi would not let him have, N Sathiya Moorthy points out.
The high-voltage outbursts of netizens over #Feku (Gujarat Chief minister Narendra Modi) versus #Pappu (Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi) is not the real issue. It's how parties are using social media to get their message across, says BJP cyber cell chief Arvind Gupta.
The news report that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi helped in the evacuation of 15,000 Gujaratis from Uttarakhand in two days has come under fire from various quarters. Even if one disputes the figures, Modi's detractors can learn how the entire operation was handled meticulously. Sheela Bhatt reports.
The response to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's speech at Delhi University's Sri Ram College of Commerce was largely positive, reports Priyanka.
Additional metropolitan magistrate MV Chauhan committed the case to the sessions court in Ahmedabad for trial against Setalvad, former state director general of police RB Sreekumar and ex-Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt.
The Supreme Court on Monday stayed for a week the Centre's order dismissing Satish Chandra Verma, a senior IPS officer who assisted the Central Bureau of Investigation in its probe in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, a month before his scheduled retirement.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar believes that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's popularity may not translate into votes to give him a clear nod to become prime minister, says Sheela Bhatt
For the first time since the riots of 2002, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi finds himself on uncertain territory in Saurashtra, where the intense caste politics of Patels is now intertwined with the water problems of all the farmers of the region, reports Sheela Bhatt.
The Congress has done a disservice to its party leaders and workers by fielding a non-entity like Shweta Bhatt to take on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, feels Sheela Bhatt.
The Congress has done a disservice to its party leaders and workers by fielding a non-entity like Shweta Bhatt to take on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, feels Sheela Bhatt.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi would be 'stopped' if he indulges in politics during his visit to the ongoing Mahakumbh next week, a senior leader from the ruling Samajwadi Party said on Wednesday.
She had been lodged in the Sabarmati Central jail in Ahmedabad since her arrest on June 26.
Somabhai Modi talks to Sheela Bhatt and Sonil Dedhia about his famous younger brother, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi
While Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's moral argument has been severely weakened by the judgment, on the political turf he is unlikely to lose, or gain, from it. However, the story is not about politics but justice, says Sheela Bhatt
The Bharatiya Janata Party is looking upto Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to turn the tide in its favour in Karnataka. But Modi's job won't be easy. Vicky Nanjappa reports
'Modi has to lead the BJP. There is no alternative,' a senior BJP leader tells Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
If Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi wanted to launch a new image or change his brand through his interview to me he will not be successful, Nai Duniya editor Shahid Siddiqui tells Sheela Bhatt
Ishrat, a resident of Mumbra near Mumbai, and three others, were killed in an alleged staged encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is pulling in different directions on the kind of role Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi should play in the future, even before the issue has come up for discussion in the party fora. Neerja Chowdhury analyses
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has nothing to do with the FIR filed against suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt and his subsequent arrest, government pleader said on Tuesday during hearing on the latter's bail plea.
Muslim clerics and organisations on Saturday flayed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his three-day fast terming it as a "political drama".
Sheela Bhatt analyses the Supreme Court directive to a trial court to hear a case against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the killing of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri during the 2002 riots, its implications on Modi's future and politics in the state.
A group of noted former civil servants on Wednesday sought withdrawal of the Supreme Court's "gratuitous observations" against social activist Teesta Sitalvad and others while upholding the SIT's clean chit to the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 communal riots in the state.
Following is the timeline of events in the case in which the Supreme Court on Friday upheld the Special Investigation Team's (SIT) clean chit to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and 63 others in the 2002 riots in the state.
A world-class bus terminal has redrawn the architectural landscape of Vadodara.
"Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is an efficient man. There is a need for a strong political will to bring the two states (Punjab and Gujarat) on par," Sidhu, a BJP MP from Amritsar, said.
Justice A M Khanwilkar, the second senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, retired on Friday and thanked bar association leaders for their 'love and affection'.
A special investigation team (SIT) on Wednesday submitted a charge sheet against activist Teesta Setalvad, retired director general of police R B Sreekumar and former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in a case of alleged fabrication of evidence in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots cases.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday alleged that Congress president Sonia Gandhi was the "driving force" behind the "conspiracy" to implicate then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 riots case in the state.
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