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The death of J. Jayalalithaa and M. Karunanidhi within eight months of each other has rung the curtains down on the atheistic, anti-Hindu, anti-Brahmin and anti-Hindi Dravidian chapter of Tamil Nadu politics. The beginning of this period, which underlined the state’s distinctive nature, was the watershed event of the DMK’s victory in the 1967 assembly elections, which was the second time that the then seemingly invincible Congress tasted defeat after its loss to the communists in Kerala in 1957.

India will need to build on the success of its reforms to sustain rapid growth and raise incomes for the country’s 1.3 billion people, though the economy is gaining momentum. With a growing working-age population, which constitutes about two-thirds of the total population, India needs to reinvigorate reform efforts to keep the growth and job engine running. This is critical in a country where per capita income is about $2,000, still well below that of other large emerging economies.

Several findings and reports, including those of the parliament's standing committee and NITI Aayog, have consistently found fault with the way Medical Council of India handled medical education in India. MCI was tasked with "maintenance of uniform standards of medical education", in which it had failed miserably. Barring few exceptions, the current standards of medical education are abysmal. No wonder despite having 460 medical colleges, not one features in the global top 100 ranking. With the possible replacement of MCI with the National Medical Commission (NMC) is set to change the way India conducts its medical education.

Will somebody take the podium away from Shashi Tharoor? It should have been taken away from Asauddin Owaisi long ago. It’s not too late even now. But who will do the taking? Rahul Gandhi could in the case of Tharoor. Barrister Owaisi?

BHOPAL: Ignoring criticism and in gross violation of government rules and procedures, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister continues to announce sops to win the support of the electorate in the forthcoming Vidhan Sabha elections. Just the other day he handed over thousands of letters of intent of job to young people at a programme held in his constituency. Similar programmes were held all over the state in which letters of intent were given to prospective beneficiaries.

Weekly Round-Up of Major Decisions of the Courts in India as also Legal Policy Developments

The Union government has already confessed to the Supreme Court that the personal datas of some Aadhaar card-holders had been leaked. This confession is suffice to expose the tall claims of the Modi government that Adhaar was a safe and secured instrument. Though some rights organisations and activists have claimed that Aadhaar was not in the interest of the common people and it violated the basic concept of right to privacy, the government and its mandarins have strongly denied this. Critics of the government’s decision to make Aadhaar mandatory for everything, from obtaining PAN cards to getting benefits of the welfare projects, cautioned that the move would “dilute civil liberties and dominate the citizens”.

On 30th July, 2018, the second draft of the National Register of Citizens (‘NRC’), which was touted as the proof of citizenship, was released. Out of 3.29 crore applicants in Assam, around 2.89 crore people found their names in the list, thereby leaving out around 40 lakhs of people from NRC, wherein more than 37 lakhs been rejected, and around 2.5 lakhs claims been kept on hold. The entire exercise of NRC was meant to include the names of all Indian citizens who were residing in India from before 24th March, 1971, which has thrown open questions about ancestry, citizenship, and historical developments, amongst others. Though described as a draft list, with further opportunities given to those left out of the list to submit documents to prove their citizenship claims, the NRC, in one stroke, has wrecked havoc in the lives of 40 lakhs individuals who have known no other country, except India, leaving them stateless and rootless.

The latest reports about the resignations of two leading respected journalists of a national TV channel ABP News following the high pressure from the BJP ministers and the party bosses on the company management, only indicate that the ruling party leadership is becoming more and more desperate to muzzle whatever has remained of the independent press through its strong arm tactics and this will be stepped up more in the coming months preceding the crucial Lok Sabha polls in April/May 2019.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been caught in his own trap. On Friday, when he confessed to being ashamed for by the gruesome incident of rape of 34 little girls at the state government-funded shelter home in Muzaffarpur, he did not imagine his remark would put him in a tight spot.