'Only when you are close to the party, will you understand what the BJP stands for.'
Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) have been given 10 per cent quota in admissions and jobs out of 50 per cent general category seats for the first time without eroding the "totally independent" reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
'If we want a stable society, then all groups must feel that they have a seat at the table of power.'
The BJP continuing to look at the Dravidian polity through the religious prism has not worked in Tamil Nadu whereas it has yielded political and electoral results across much of the rest of the country, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The situation is very bad there. People are stranded'
The demand for extension of the GST cess regime among others was made by several state finance ministers at a pre-budget consultation called by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi. Besides, many states also demanded raising the share of the Union government in the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS). Currently, the central government and state government share in some CSS is 60:40 while in others it is 75:25.
'During Amit Shah's recent visit to Kerala, the strategy of concentrating the attacks on the CM on false charges was clear enough.'
'From March 2020 to November 2021, the combined wealth of the billionaires of this country has doubled.'
'When people who ignored us, when relatives who have not spoken to us for a long time, congratulated us, it was a proud moment for my mother.'
Words and actions like those of R N Ravi and a vocal section of the state BJP have only added to Tamil fears and suspicions, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'She will forever be remembered for being a disrupter - a disrupter in a positive sense - as she disrupted the hierarchies that existed in society!'
Long caught between two polarities, Gujarat's electoral field has expanded to include a third party with the Aam Aadmi Party challenging the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as well as the opposition Congress that has lost ground but still has significant presence.
'I'm 79 + now, and I've been doing all this since my late 20s.' 'Sometimes the ideological war extends to the home as well.' 'Many nights I couldn't sleep when someone close to me uttered the smallest insult.' 'It would cause me a lot of pain. But one has to be honest to oneself.'
State after state has imposed an alcohol ban, and has had to retreat, unable to address the financial and administrative fallout. Are we set for more of this cycle, asks Aditi Phadnis.
Folk artist from Chhattisgarh Teejan Bai, Guelleh, Naik and theatre actor from Maharashtra Balwant Moreshwar Purandare will be honoured with Padma Vibushan.
In Bihar, where a bandh had been called, a railway station and a police vehicle were torched, an ambulance attacked and security personnel injured in stone-pelting incidents on the fourth consecutive day of the agitation, while protesters vandalised Ludhiana railway station in Punjab and blocked roads and rail tracks in West Bengal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.
'I am doing all this for the students of Kerala, and when they come and hit me, it is very frustrating.' 'My regret is that something that could set off for the future has been thwarted.' 'We have not changed the syllabus for decades, we have not accepted norms in education and technology is hardly used. Today's students are studying what I studied decades ago.'
'I don't believe the talk of free will.' 'They are either forced to dress like this, or indoctrinated.'
'How can I pursue my dream forgoing my identity? I want to fly as a trans man.'
Over the last decade, individual Muslims have started breaking from the tradition of sacrificing animals on Bakra Eid, motivated by the thought that the considerable amount spent on buying and sacrificing animals would be put to better use for the community's welfare, specially education.
Women, if addressed properly, have the potential to become a decisive factor in elections.
'Has the Supreme Court ever said that the Preamble is the basic structure of the Constitution?'
Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan is a cut above the rest in Indian politics today, precisely in his remarkable ability to look beyond the horizon. His was probably the only government that began planning for the incoming pandemic as early as in February, notes M K Bhadrakumar.
'For the UDF, it will depend on how far Rahul Gandhi will succeed with the goodwill he has.' 'That will make a difference.'
The view is that the attention on the national team is fleeting, incidental and dependent on the results they produce.
No one from the Gandhi family was present at the All India Congress Committee headquarters when the leaders filed their nominations for the election.
'The most important priority for the next 25 years should be to strengthen our democracy so that it is supportive of social harmony, and to not just respect but to take pride in the diversity of Indian society in terms of the variety of languages, religion and religious practices and social norms,' explains Nitin Desai.
If the prime minister says clearly there is going to be no NRC and that the Census will drop the NPR questions, the Census will proceed. He will not, observes Aakar Patel.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in which senior ministers including Revenue Minister Ashoka, Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar and Higher Education Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, medical experts and senior officials participated.
Whether the third wave will ravage us depends on the pace of vaccinations, careful and calibrated opening up of establishments, and a strategy to contain the spread in specific states or pockets.
'My father is a postman. My mother is a homemaker. No one in my family had studied medicine.' 'I wanted to be the first doctor in my family so I could listen to people like me and help them feel better about themselves,' says Archana Vijayan, an MBBS student with a disability, who was initially denied admission into medical school, even after passing the NEET twice.
Intensifying screening of international passengers at airports, asking educational institutions to postpone their public events, and limiting gatherings, meetings, conferences to 500 people, are among the other measures announced by the government.
"I congratulate the people of Kochi on the proud moment," the PM said.
A 38-year-old Indian frontline warrior in the United Arab Emirates was on Thursday discharged from hospital after he made a miraculous recovery from COVID-19 that seriously damaged his lungs and left him in an unconscious state for six months.
Welcoming the high court's decision to stay the award, announced by the state Education and Cultural department, VHP and Bajrang Dal office-bearers told a press conference in Kozhikode that Baby should quit office and apologise for his action.
Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra said images of students clashing with police at various institutions over the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) are deeply disturbing and crushing voices of dissent will only turn the agitators against India.
Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba chaired a high-level meet with representatives of states/UTs to also review and discussed the COVID-19 management and response strategy through video conference.
Karnataka's Manipal-MIT Campus declared Containment Zone due to rise in Covid-19 positive cases Campus of the Manipal Institute of Technology has been declared as containment zone by the Udipi administration after 59 people tested Covid-19 positive over the past few days.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai held a meeting with experts, and senior ministers and officials of his government to assess the COVID-19 situation in the state and curbs that were put in place to control its spread.
'The main reason being Kejriwal's working style is very centralised.' 'And if you don't form a team and work, take bureaucrats into confidence, take doctors and hospitals into confidence, this problem was surely going to evolve.'
