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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A controversy is raging over the decision of the Muslim Education Society (MES) not to allow students studying in their educational institutions to wear “any dress that covers their face”.

West Bengal, which sends 42 MPs to the Lok Sabha, has managed to attract the limelight during this election season. The intense political rivalry between state’s ruling party Trinamool Congress led by chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the BJP, which has targeted the state to compensate the losses of the Hindi belt, clearly indicates that Mamata Banerjee is facing the heat from the saffron party. On the other hand, the Left and the Congress are fighting hard to retain their relevance in state's politics.

To ensure empowerment of vulnerable groups women, children, young people, persons with disabilities, older persons, refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants and to protect human rights the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was launched by a UN Summit in New York on 25-27 September 2015 which has 193 countries as signatories. It envisages “a world of universal respect for human rights and human dignity, the rule of law, justice, equality and non-discrimination”. The Agenda has 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and 169 targets which seek to eradicate poverty, promote human rights and achieve gender equality. The agenda became effective from 1st January 2016.

Rahul Gandhi’s proposal for Nyunatam Aay Yojana (Nyay) connoted well, irrespective of how serious the Congress president may have been with his scheme. Announced with much fanfare at the start of election campaign in January, it had all but been forgotten by the time the campaign ended. So much for its sustainability.

Now that most gruelling election campaign has come to a grinding halt, one can hazard a guess on the number of seats, the BJP, the Congress, Mayawati-Akhilesh alliance in Uttar Pradesh and the BJP’s allies Shiv Sena and Nitish Kumar’s party will get?

LUCKNOW: Shudeldeo Bhartiya Samaj Party of Om Prakash Rajbhar is set to damage BJP in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The simmering tension in the Kerala Congress (Mani), an ally of the Congress in the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala,is threatening to boil over.

Now there is the belief that it’s not a fantasy world. Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress is more or less convinced a large section of the Left vote is shifting to the BJP and that will cost the Trinamool a neat pile of Lok Sabha seats. Actually, for that to come true, it will take a perfect storm and there are no perfect storms. A cyclone Fani might come along and that’s all.

It is a national shame. No amount of excuse and apology would redeem the duopoly of BJP, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah of the sin as the crime has not been committed by an ultra element or a terrorist. Instead it was executed by the saffron vigilantes and goons who swear by the Indian culture, tradition and nationalism.

Bizarre are the ways in which Modi Government has been handling the public sector telecom behemoth BSNL. Though 4G was launched by Airtel in India as far back as April 2012, and by Reliance Jio and all other private telecom majors subsequently, the government adamantly denied 4G to its own BSNL. BSNL is still operating with dated 2G and 3G tech but is still remarkably able to withstand competition from Reliance Jio and Airtel.