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New Delhi: Judo was the talk of the town when Thangjam Tababi Devi clinched India’s first judo medal at the Youth Olympics in 2018.

The Delhi assembly poll results turned out to be a dismal disappointment for the Bharatiya Janata Party. It gained only seven out of 70 assembly seats as against three in the last assembly election. Of course cynics may see a positive gain as the party gained 133 per cent more than in previous elections. Many are left wondering over the base and method of calculation that the BJP adopted to conclude that it would gain a clear mandate in the Delhi polls. The state unit lone cannot be blamed for dismal performance as reins of the party were always in hands of the party high command. The union home minister Ameet Shah had the total control that did not allow the state unit to throw up a leader capable of managing the state affairs. The campaign also remained in the sole hands of Ameet Shah. He made the state unit to depend entirely on personality of the Prime Minister and on issues relevant to India as a nation.

Srinagar: Real Kashmir Football Club co-owner Sandeep Chattoo had an extensive meeting with envoys from the European Union and other countries, at present on a visit to Jammu and Kashmir.

Coming off his second straight popular vote win, in New Hampshire’s Democratic primary on February 11, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Ind-Vt., preached party unity to defeat incumbent GOP President Donald Trump. So did fourth-place Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Economic prognosis says that Make in India has lost the steam. This was exemplified by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence in the 72th Independence Day speech from the rampart of Red Fort on August 15, 2019. GDP growth plummeted. IMF forecasted a nine year slowest growth of 4.8 percent in 2019-20. Job opportunities are in doldrums. Hope from Make in India is far-fetched.

In spite of great potential of Indian exports, the country’s performance has remained weak. India’s exports even in South Asia, where the Indian economy is relatively advanced and plays a significant role in shaping the economic and trade environment, are not encouraging. South Asia still remains one of the least economically integrated regions of the world. Forget Pakistan, India’s potential has never been explored to the fullest even in SASEC (South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation) countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

With both central and state governments committed to implement Clause 6 of the 1985 Assam accord, intended to ensure the preponderance of Assamiya identity, culture and language, there are fears that non-Assamiya people, mainly Bengali Hindus and Muslims, will suffer a total marginalisation. Life for them, post CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), could turn into a journey that leads to a final conflagration from the frying pan. The rigorous implementation of Clause 6 would involve the total loss of their civil rights for non-Assamiya people in Assam.

Late last month the Centre signed yet another peace accord with several militant groups in Assam. Among these are the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), Rabha National Liberation Front (RNLF), Kamtapur Liberation Organization (KLO), National Liberation Front of Bengalis (NLFB). Most of these were paper organizations with very little strength to create trouble. It was also announced with a good deal of fanfare that 644 militants had surrendered with their arm at Guwahati. Reports suggest that almost all of them had surrendered to the security forces much earlier. The whole thing was dressed up as a recent incident. It was not.

The Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) have been provided with reservation in jobs and also in education in the government on the basis of constitutional and statutory provisions in order to address the problems of discrimination, inequality and deprivation caused by castes, which in the words of Dr B R Ambedkar constituted “ascending order of reverence and descending order of contempt”.

Chennai: A clutch of hungry teenagers from across the globe, besides a couple of veterans, will be again going head-to-head as the third and final round of FIA-approved MRF Challenge, organised by the Madras Motor Sports Club, gets underway at the MMRT here on Friday, with a card of six races.