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LUCKNOW: Whatever Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath may claim during the election campaign in Karnataka, the Gram Swaraj Yojna for Dalit outreach in Uttar Pradesh has created a major embarrassment for BJP and the government.

While President Donald Trump has pulled out of Iran nuke deal, a leader of the secular left in Iran says Trump is stepping up plans for an attack on that country which could trigger a devastating regional war with horrific implications for world peace.

The cat (Rahul Gandhi) is among the pigeons (BJP). The day after Rahul said he is ready to become “Prime Minister”, sitting PM Narendra Modi spoke of the “impudence of the immature”, of the “naamdar with the temerity to betray his own alliance”. Is the BJP rattled? Did Rahul unleash a masterstroke on Modi? For, once again, after taking the lead in setting the agenda from the day (May 1) Modi addressed his first election rally in Karnataka, the BJP is not setting the terms of rhetoric.

Eighty years after Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s portrait was put up in Aligarh Muslim University, the BJP’s electoral compulsions in Karnataka have made the saffron apparatchiki call for its removal.

In the scheme of the Constitution of India, prison is State subject, governed by the Prison Act, 1894 and Prison Manuals of States and Union Territories. It is, therefore, the primary responsibility of the States and Union Territories. Despite several steps taken by the Union of India, prisons across India continue to be mired in overcrowding, shortages of funds, unhygienic conditions, sub-human state, various types of malpractices, leakages of revenue and so on, violating with impunity the human rights of the inmates in flagrant disregard of the Constitutional postulates. A look at the state of prisons indicates that Indian prisons rile in oppressive regime with no semblance of rule of law based system of democratic governance where human rights should be reigning supreme.

The stakes are so high for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deny the Congress, his arch-enemy, a second successive term in Karnataka – the only Southern state within the saffron grasp, if Kannadigas fall for his tantrums all the way.

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

The Supreme Court is currently hearing a bunch of petitions filed by lawyers and organisations seeking live streaming and recording of the proceedings of the Apex Court, thereby pushing for greater transparency in judicial proceedings as well as raising public awareness on important questions of constitutional law being heard by the Court. One of the petitions has been filed by Ms. Indira Jaising, Senior Advocate, in her own name, wherein she has sought directions including that Supreme Court case proceedings of ‘constitutional and national importance’ having an impact on the public at large be live streamed in a manner accesible to the public; and Supreme Court to frame guidelines for determining the cases that qualify for live streaming, amongst others. She also gave examples of cases having constitutional and national importance, i.e., the constitutional challenge to the Aadhaar Act, Section 377, IPC, offence of adultery, and the entry of women in Sabarimala temple.

The hunt for the ‘real core Hindu’ is on. Somebody ‘right’ asked the other day: ‘Will the real core Hindu please stand up?’ So far nobody has stood up. Resident Indian National Congress leader in Pakistan Mani Shankar Aiyar is not ‘real core Hindu’. He told his Pakistani constituency that 69% of India did not vote for ‘Hindu nationalist party’ BJP. Aiyar’s main point was the 69% who did not vote Modi were a “fractionized” lot.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Campaigning for the Chengannur Assembly by-election has slipped into top gear with the polling date less than three weeks away.