'Previously, contributing only 25 per cent of material costs, states now face burdens of 40 per cent to 100 per cent of total costs, ensuring poorer states will curb project approvals, directly stifling work demand.'
As the March 31 deadline arrives, a wave of Maoist surrenders suggests insurgency's end, but political and social concerns remain.
A girl who was set on fire by a person after she did not reciprocate his proposal in Jharkhand's Dumka district succumbed to her burn injuries on Sunday.
The decision that came soon after the Bharatiya Janata Party's poll victory in four of the five states was taken after a high-level committee submitted its report to the Railway Board.
'He fears that the youth tide has gone against him and he will be swept away in the next assembly election in the state.'
Road and rail traffic was partially affected in some regions on Monday during a 'Bharat bandh' called against the Agnipath military recruitment scheme, while protests appeared to taper off in many states, with authorities stepping up security and imposing curbs after days of unrest.
'For politicians, winning the next election has become more important than economic stability of the country and broader national interest.'
Aam Aadmi Party MPs boycotted President Droupadi Murmu's address to the joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on Thursday to protest against the arrest of party convenor Arvind Kejriwal.
Protestors continued to target railway properties in Bihar and West Bengal on Saturday to vent their ire against the Agnipath defence recruitment scheme disrupting train services in the eastern region for the fourth day in a row, while demonstrations were held on roads in Odisha and Jharkhand.
The BJP may be in the Opposition in many states, but nowhere is it as divided as it is in Karnataka, points out Aditi Phadnis.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday approved a proposal to reserve 10 per cent of the job vacancies in the defence ministry for 'Agniveers' who meet requisite eligibility criteria.
Banerjee also appealed to the people of West Bengal not to get provoked over matters concerning the current situation in Bangladesh.
The bus careened and went down to a field behind the highway, leaving a few passengers slightly injured. Its occupants were brought back to Purulia town in West Bengal for medical treatment, a party leader said.
Convert the Haryana result into a blessing in disguise; make the calamity into an opportunity. Maharashtra was always the big ticket game in town; MVA must win it. The Congress should shift headquarters to Mumbai for the entire month. Show urgency and a hunger to win, asserts Sanjay Jha.
The agency seized a Haryana-registered BMW car from Soren's residence apart from some documents recovered by them during the search conducted at the house, sources said.
As the tussle appeared getting out of hand, the two lawmakers disengaged and went their separate ways.
A man was shot dead in police firing in Telangana's Secunderabad, trains went up in flames, and public and private vehicles attacked, as railway stations and highways turned into battleground in many states on Friday amid burgeoning protests against Agnipath, the contentious defence recruitment scheme.
A man jumps from the 6th floor of Mantralaya, the Maharashtra government's administrative headquarters in Mumbai, but lands in the safety net installed in the building.
With the reality of coalition politics staring the BJP in its face, this was inevitable, points out Ramesh Menon.
Political stability and a couple of big projects are pluses, but focus on medium and small industries is still missing.
'Union Budgets are often used as political instruments and that was the intention of this government too.' 'But while the exercise has settled two fronts, it has left open several others and this has the potential to aggravate with time,' predicts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
'Arithmetic could decide the Haryana election given the presence of multi-cornered contests.'
Four BJP leaders and former Supreme Court judge S Abdul Nazeer, who was part of the Constitution bench that upheld the archaeological report on Ayodhya, were among six new faces appointed as Governors on Sunday.
In UP and Bengal, it is willing to sacrifice its interests to stop the BJP and would work towards ensuring the BJP did not win incremental seats in Odisha and Telangana.
Days after senior West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the school recruitment scam, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday slammed the media for allegedly launching a "malicious campaign" against her party.
By conventional yardsticks, Das was an audacious choice by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP president Amit Shah, like Devendra Fadnavis was in Maharashtra and Manohar Lal Khattar in Haryana. Will his choice pay off in the elections next month?
There is disquiet and discomfort in the citizenry that can be touched and felt. No one is talking, but then, the Indian voter has not talked much -- with the conviction that all that goes up has to come down, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The people of Uttar Pradesh have already made up their mind to puncture the Samajwadi Party's cycle, kick away the Bahujan Samaj Party's elephant, and remove shadows of the already-vanished hand of the Congress.'
The Congress and the government engaged in a war of words in Lok Sabha on Tuesday over sedition cases with the opposition party alleging the stringent law is being misused, drawing a sharp retort from Union minister G Kishan Reddy who asked it not to lecture others on democracy.
BJP said Gandhi's remarks were condemnable and he should apologise in the House.
Rushikesh Devdikar alias Murali, 44, who was absconding was arrested on Thursday from his hideout at Katras in Dhanbad district of Jharkhand, the SIT said in a statement. According to the probe team, Devdikar was part of the conspiracy to kill Lankesh. He is accused number 18 in the case.
A day after the death of Territorial Army's first woman jawan in Jalpaiguri, the police on Wednesday managed to tide over the protests of adivasi organisations and send her body for post mortem.
'It will be suicidal for Left voters to vote for the BJP because of their anger against the TMC.'
The chief minister of Meghalaya had met Shah late on Friday night urging the Central government to implement Inner Line Permit in the state.
Police cited the final post-mortem report that said Ansari died due to cardiac arrest.
'Those of us who care for the Indian Constitution worry,' says Aakar Patel.
Protests by central labour unions and widespread criticism from Opposition parties because of job losses on account of demonetisation and the GST have put the contentious labour reform proposals in the slow lane.
'The way opposition parties such as the Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena, the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Jharkhand Mukti Morch have supported her, if she wins, she will be the biggest opposition face for 2024'
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.
