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Cash, Caste, Crop. Add to that Crypto! Right from 7am in the morning on November 20, when voters stepped out in twos and threes and fours and fives to cast their votes, election aficionados have been placing their bets on the three ‘C’ as the moving force behind polling in Maharashtra, refusing to pin the voting trend on the conflicting narratives of ‘Hindu’ and ‘Muslim’, which dominated this latest phase of the elections.

RANCHI: The second and final phase of polling for the Jharkhand Assembly, that will cover 38 constituencies, takes place on Wednesday November 20. The results of the election for the 81-member House will be announced on November 23.

After the recruitment of over 2 lakh school teachers in less than three months (November 2023 to January 2024), Bihar school education is plagued by the news of fraudulent documents used by the candidates for their appointments. Processes, such as e-service books and a dedicated portal to deal with transfer requests, are being put in place. These platforms will also be used for checking and verifying the documents submitted by teachers. Sources claim it might lead to thousands of teachers losing their jobs. These teachers were appointed after they cleared Teachers Recruitment Exam (TRE) 1 and 2, conducted by Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC).

Manipur is burning, and the heat of the flames is felt not only in the entire North-East, but up to New Delhi, the National Capital of India, where Union Minister of Home Amit Shah is busy in holding high-level meetings, with little action on the ground in spite of fresh waves of violence for about a fortnight. Prime Minister is on tour out of the country with his disturbing silence on burning Manipur.

RSS and BJP have been consistently raising the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration but the manner in which they are putting it in the Jharkhand assembly elections, makes it obvious that they are working on some treacherous plot. More than merely being a design to polarise the Hindu votes and put the Vanvasis against Mool Adivasis and Christians, it is part of their bigger plan to make ‘intrusion’ a big issue in the sub-continent.

A Dharma Sansad was organized in Delhi at which “firebrand” Hindu religious preachers and ‘Hindu Sants’ called for the constitution of a ‘Sanatan Board’ on the lines of the Waqf Board. Fiery speeches with a call to destroy the ‘Waqf Board’ or the setting up of the Sanatan Board (“abhi nahi toh kabhie nahin”) marked the Dharma Sansad. The congregation of “saints” and their followers was led by a Hindu preacher, Devkinandan Thakur, who assumed leadership of the ‘Dharma Sansad’.

Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna’s tenure has had an eventful start with the Supreme Court delivering the landmark ‘bulldozer justice’ verdict that grabbed global headlines. That the verdict was delivered by a bench comprising Justices B R Gavai and K V Vishwanathan, of which the chief justice was not a part, is a matter of detail. What is important is that the verdict promises to be one of the most attention-grabbing events of the new CJI’s time at the helm of the land’s highest court.

Centre is seriously working for Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) reform, which includes modernization of its database, centralization and other initiatives announced in the Union Budget 2024-25 to boost quality employment in the country through increased membership of EPFO.

KOLKATA: Foreign policy hawks who gleefully remind the world how the mightiest country in the world, the US considers fast progressing India as its strategic defence partner in the Indo-pacific region, may face an acid test soon. Belying their rhetoric, the apparent Washington-Delhi bonhomie was not potent enough to halt the US-led West from toppling the ruling India-friendly regime in Bangladesh, to give a recent example.

Air pollution in the National Capital of India is neither a new phenomenon nor the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). Every year at this season, air quality in Delhi turns severe, and in some places severe plus. A Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) is in place. Supreme Court of India intervenes, Parliament of India makes laws, so called all-powerful leaders lead the centre and in Delhi government. However, nothing works, year after year. City almost chokes these days. Residents awoke to dense smog with severe air pollution level, and from 8 AM on November 15, GRAP-3 measures are in place.