The immediate challenge for the Centre and the home ministry is to ensure the conduct of assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir and restoration of its statehood.
With almost all opposition parties too backing the 'Bharat bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure peace is maintained.
Kavitha Kuruganti has been fighting for decades to ensure farmers are respected and get their due from the Indian nation. In order to ensure they don't struggle for a living, she works to ensure sustainable farm livelihoods and farmers' rights.
As many as 4,291 farmers in Maharashtra killed themselves in 2015 topping the list of states with the highest number of suicides in the farm sector followed by Karnataka (1,559), Telangana (1,400), Madhya Pradesh (1,290), Chhattisgarh (954), and Andhra Pradesh (916).
As many as 116 farmers have committed suicide due to agrarian reasons so far this year, with maximum cases reported in Maharashtra, followed by Punjab and Telangana.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a forum comprising 40 farmer unions, called for a Bharat Bandh on Monday against the Centre's three agriculture laws. Here is its impact across the country:
Gandhi kicked off his 15-km padyatra from Koritical village in Adilabad district to highlight the problems faced by farmers.
His cinema of compassion inspired me, gave me tools to develop empathy for others. But it also made me understand that serious, socially committed cinema with deeply engaging narratives and great performances is an art form to admire, appreciate and explore. Aseem Chhabra remembers Shyam Benegal, who passed into the ages on Monday evening.
Agitating farmer groups on Thursday held a four-hour nationwide 'rail roko' agitation with the railways saying there was negligible impact on services though some trains were stopped by officials at stations as a precautionary measure.
Months before the Haryana assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party replaced its strongman Manohar Lal Khattar as chief minister with low-profile OBC leader Nayab Singh Saini, a decision that surprised many.
'The UPA was the gang that couldn't shoot straight. The NDA is the gang that can't stop shooting. They (the Modi government) are shooting at anybody, everybody, all directions, shooting themselves in the foot.'
'The farm bills will not bring in corporate zamindari'
The Congress had released 'Farmers Declaration', 'SC, ST Declaration' and 'Youth Declaration', comprising its promises to the Telangana voters in the assembly polls scheduled to be held in a couple of months.
According to them, these marches were a "rehearsal" for their proposed January 26 "Kisan Parade" to the national capital from different parts of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
Telangana's Rythu Bandhu policy is an embryonic UBI, or rather embryonic QUBI (a quasi-universal basic income, pronounced Kyoo-Bee). And it could potentially also be the future of agricultural policy in India, says Arvind Subramanian.
'When the Congress tied up with Chandrababu Naidu, they helped trigger Telangana pride.'
Electorally, the yatra seems to have paid dividends in the south, but the march does not seem to be helping the Congress in stopping the BJP's surge in the Hindi-heartland states.
The Congress on Saturday released its election manifesto for Telangana, promising socially-inclusive growth with focus on jobs and social justice and a three-pronged approach for building the new state.
The groups, including those associated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's parent organisation the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, have also threatened a big nationwide agitation if growth of illegal GM crops isn't checked.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which pulled off a hat-trick of wins in Haryana by bucking anti-incumbency, managed to make significant inroads into the Dalit seats and Jat strongholds.
It is turning out to be a clear case of playing dirty politics over the dead in Andhra Pradesh in general and Telangana in particular.
She said despite being aware of adverse political consequences, the Congress went ahead and created Telangana, and paid the price in the elections that followed.
The Kamareddy constituency attracted attention ever since KCR announced his decision to contest from there and the contest hot up as Congress fielded Revanth Reddy to take him on.
KCR will continue as caretaker chief minister until the new government is formed.
The victory in the assembly elections, the first in Telangana after its formation in June 2014, might well act as a springboard for the leader, often accused of perpetuating family rule and promoting nepotism, to realise his ambition of playing a greater role in national politics.
The party's gamble to go in for early elections paid rich dividends.
Bharatiya Janata Party's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was in all praises for Telugu superstar turned politician Pawan Kalyan. Sharing the stage with him at a rally in Nizamabad, Modi said, "As long as there are people like Pawan, the Telugu spirit will never die."
There is no one in Telangana to match KCR's stature and he believes he has outgrown the state, observes Aditi Phadnis.
Here are the 10 key issues likely to be the centre of discussion in the seven-phase general elections that begin on April 19.
The Congress on Friday said the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is being organised by the party to raise voice against the 'injustice' of the last 10 years, as it released a 'Nyay anthem' with the tagline 'Saho Mat, Daro Mat (do not suffer, do not be scared)'.
The shocking incident triggered protests by revenue department employees across Telangana, while political leaders condemned it.
Farmers in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, were a distressed lot when compensation cheques issued to them for crop damage by state government bounced.
As controversy raged over Yati Narsinghanand's objectionable remarks against Prophet Muhammad, his supporters on Sunday alleged that the Dasna temple head priest is being illegally kept in detention by police, which denied the claim.
'Barring Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the BJP will may make inroads in Karnataka, Andhra and Telangana in 2024.'
Telangana is facing a day-long bandh on Saturday called in protest against the passage in Lok Sabha of a Bill to transfer some villages of the newly-created state to Andhra Pradesh to aid the construction of the Polavaram project.
If states have to fall in line with MSPs declared by political parties, they will have to do so in violation of central order or bear the full expense of the surplus procured at above MSP rates.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor E S L Narasimhan at a simple ceremony on the lawns of Raj Bhavan.
Raising social security pension amounts, increasing financial assistance given under the 'Rythu Bandhu' investment support scheme for farmers and providing LPG cylinders at Rs 400 each are some of the promises made by the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samiti for the upcoming assembly elections in Telangana.
Usually, turmeric is grown over 290,000-330,000 hectares of land. But in 2022-2023, according to official estimates, there has been a drop of about 10,000 hectares.
