Here's a list of the full first-time ministers in the second term of the Narendra Modi government.
He was suffering from lung cancer for last several months, West Bengal CPI secretary Swapan Banerjee said.
'A fierce crusader against communalism, George joined hands with majoritarian forces, never to revisit or re-assess his saffron association.' 'He was a Union minister in 1998-2004, a time when people like Graham Staines were lynched in Orissa.' 'On the Gujarat pogrom of 2002, George went on to kind of justify the slashing of pregnant women, by saying in the Lok Sabha that this was nothing new for India.' 'Thus, he was in sharp contrast to what he had himself stood for in the heyday of his political career in the 1970s and 1980s, says Mohammad Sajjad.
Shah said police used force as the protesters indulged in violence, set blaze vehicles. He also said the NRC was not a religion-based exercise.
Muslims across the country have joined the agitation, apprehending that the move could be a precursor to a country-wide NRC.
A 7-hr debate was held over the contentious bill. Oppn amendments rejected.
True, Azam Khan is being targeted rather disproportionately and also because of his Muslim identity. That must be protested and resisted. But to say that he is a big messiah, and his profit-making educational enterprise is an issue concerning all Muslims of India, is absolutely unjustified, assert Mohammad Sajjad and Md Mohammad Zeeshan Ahmad.
Priyanka said the presence of Gandhis in the party would impede the functioning of a non-family president only if her family wanted things to be that way.
A consensus builder, Jaitley was regarded by some as Modi's original 'Chanakya'.
'In other parts of India, people may feel their religious identity is more important, but here in Assam, we are Assamese first and then, anything else. So, we are against this CAB (now CAA). It will hurt the interests of us Assamese'
Former CM Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday accepted his responsibility for the Congress' debacle in Assam assembly polls.
Terming the Emergency as the worst post-independence chapter of Indian democracy, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said it gave him the best political education of his life as it taught him that some compromises are "just not possible".
We sorted through countless photographs taken around the world to come up with the top photos of 2019. Together these images tell the story of the year -- capturing moments of hope and heartbreak, triumph and tragedy.
The BJP's manifesto speaks about the Prime Minister's vision of making 'Atmanirbhar Bihar'.
The RSS realises that with a majority BJP government at the Centre and in several states, now was the best time to undermine and perhaps outdo the Congress-Left 'stranglehold' over campuses and young minds.
In a letter to Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra, senior Congress leaders and former law ministers Ashwani Kumar, Kapil Sibal and Salman Khurshid said the Governor's office, as envisaged under the country's constitutional scheme, is above and beyond the constraints and compulsions of partisan politics, 'so that its holder can act freely and fairly to uphold the Constitution'.
Shaktisinh Gohil asserted that the Gandhi family had always shown large-heartedness and never aspired for power.
'The Bodos and the Assamese were at each other's throats, the Assamese Muslims and the Bengali Muslims were at each other's throats, the Bengali speaking Muslims and Hindus were coming together against the Assamese speaking caste Hindus and the plains tribes and vice versa.'
'We want Muslims to go about their work and business unhindered.' 'They should not get victimised and that will only come through the process of reconciliation.'
'By manipulating India's electoral laws, the aim of the Modi government is to weaken democracy to such an extent that it ultimately crumbles.'
The Centre has started the process of identifying around 30 crore priority beneficiaries who will be given vaccine in the initial phase. The Centre will procure the vaccine directly and make it available free-of-cost for the priority beneficiaries.
'The Congress agreed to it, but the RJD has some problem with Kanhaiya.'
Will appeasement, rising unemployment and her dictatorial style become major obstacles in her path? asks Payal Singh Mohanka.
The elections in this phase are seen as a big test for the Bharatiya Janata Party
An RJD leader said that the two brothers came together at the insistence of Misa Bharti, who made them sit together and explained that by fighting each other they will end up falling into the trap of the BJP-led NDA, which wants to "finish off the party.
For two-and-half weeks, as Kanhaiya Kumar's Jan Gan Man Yatra opposing the CAA-NPR-NRC makes its way through Bihar, it has come under sustained violent attack. Archana Masih/Rediff.com discovers that the yatris, who include teenagers wanting to save the Constitution and the Nation, are unfazed by the threats and loathing.
If one were to go by the degree of clout, Jaitley was the undoubted No. 2 in the Modi government.
The Congress chief celebrated her 69th birthday like a never-seen-before affair where she engaged with her supporters and was all smiles.
Uddhav Thackeray would do well to remember: Once he decides on a course of action, Bhagat Singh Koshyari never gives up, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Mayawati was outmanoeuvred by the BJP in the race for the Rajya Sabha in Uttar Pradesh just days after she helped the Samajwadi Party snatch two Lok Sbaha seats from the saffron party in bypolls.
In yet another jolt to the Bharatiya Janata Party, the party's Alipurduar district president, Ganga Prasad Sharma, joined the Trinamool Congress on Monday, as senior leader of the state's ruling party Mukul Roy, who also switched sides two weeks ago, claimed that this was the 'beginning of the saffron party's end' in the state.
What does the National Educational Policy 2020 mean for students, parents and teachers?
'The violence that shook Assam was a direct outcome of the state's ethnic problem... The tension that created a rift between the Bodos and the non-Bodos for years found a blood-spattered expression.' Former NSG chief Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary, the Trinamool Congress candidate from Kokrajhar, speaks to Indrani Roy/Rediff.com about last week's carnage in Assam.
'There are 17 million Hindus in Bangladesh and we, in the north east, see this Citizenship (Amendment) Bill as a route for them to enter India on the plea that they are facing persecution in Bangladesh.'
'People feel concerned about the future, whether it is the land or the jobs.' 'The BJP came to power in Assam with promises of maati, bheti (home, hearth and identity), land, jobs and culture.' 'Are these going to taken care of? I think those are real concerns.' 'The Assam chief minister (Sarbananda Sonowal) was one of the leaders of the All Assam Students Union which fought for and is one of the signatories to the Assam Accord.' 'Today, his comrade-in-arms (Samujjal Bhattacharya, chief advisor, AASU) is leading the opposition in the streets.'
'I have nothing more to lose. My three sons were killed. I am not going to sit silent.'
A total of 3,30,27,661 people had applied to be included in the NRC. Of them, 3,11,21,004 have been included in the document and 19,06,657 excluded.
The exercise to add the inmates' names to the electoral roll was initiated in February this year.
Assembly elections in Assam used to be a quiet affair and people outside the state would take little interest in the outcome. This time, even in faraway Delhi, people are keeping tabs on political developments in Assam.
"The policy draft has been approved. The ministry has been renamed as education ministry," a senior HRD ministry official said. The existing NEP was framed in 1986 and revised in 1992. A new education policy was part of the Bharatiya Janata Party's manifesto ahead of the 2014 general election.
