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“Today, when there is so much talk about revising of the Constitution or even writing a new Constitution, we have to consider whether it is the Constitution that has failed us or whether it is we who have failed the Constitution,” said the then President K R Narayanan while speaking in the Central Hall of the Parliament on the occasion of the celebrations of completion of fifty years of our Constitution on January 27, 2000.

Bhubaneswar: Three-time winners Australia survived a mighty scare before scrapping past Spain 4-3 while defending champion Belgium put it across New Zealand 2-0 to move into the semi-finals of the Hockey world here tonight.

Union Budget 2023-24 has fallen into the trap of lower growth prospect that has been estimated downwardly for the current fiscal 2022-23 ending on March 31, 2023, and also for the financial year 2023-24. Union Finance Ministry is under acute pressure of resource mobilization to fund social sector schemes that is politically sensitive since Union Budget 2023-24 would be the last full pre-election budget before the Lok Sabha Election 2024.

BHOPAL: An analysis of the results of the polls of civic bodies in Madhya Pradesh shows that they cannot be described as victory or defeat either the BJP or Congress. Polls were held for 19 civic bodies in various districts of the state. Out of 19, BJP won in 11 and Congress in 8. Both sides seemed reasonably satisfied with the results.

Even after praise for the BJP functionaries in West Bengal from Prime Minister Narendra Modi together with the party's national president JP Nadda choosing this state as his first port of call at the beginning of his second term, prospects of the saffron camp in the coming rural polls appear to be dim. Lack of focus and complacency surfaced at a two day long organisational meeting of BJP at Durgapur which turned into a bitter pill of disappointment to Mangal Pandey and Sunil Bansal, the central observers of the party.

At 72, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thinks Muslims have a better opinion of him in 2023 than in 2014, and in 2019. With that in his political calculation, Modi believes the BJP will win 2024 Lok Sabha polls with 400-plus seats with communal-engineering. This is sheer pipedream.

A Third Front again! Before every Lok Sabha poll, this Third Front idea is floated, and the 2024 polls are no exception. Political pundits predict there is space for the entire Opposition against BJP but not a Third Front, as it will splinter the anti- BJP votes and help the ruling dispensation. The concept was tried and tested in 1977, 1989, and 1996- 1998, supported by either Congress or the BJP. But they were all short-lived.

LUCKNOW: Inspired by the tremendous response to Bharat Jodo Yatra of Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party national President Akhilesh Yadav is planning to mobilise public opinion in Uttar Pradesh for his Mission 2024.

With only a few days left for the Tripura Assembly polls, major parties have continued their efforts to work out pre-poll alliances. So far, only the CPI(M) and Congress are in the process of finalising a joint pre-poll campaign , having agreed to contest the elections in alliance, in an effort to consolidate secular and progressive forces in Tripura. Against the ruling BJP.

The best thing the Narendra Modi government’s last full budget before the next Lok Sabha election can do is to focus primarily on job creation and provide attractive incentives to large industrial investments to help push quality employment. The government has done reasonably well in the infrastructure investment sector, despite various constraints in dealing with state-level authorities. However, it has not succeeded enough in attracting fresh investments in manufacturing to create lasting jobs. The manufacturing field needs a massive investment drive like of which the country has not witnessed since the 1960s and '70s. The measure will automatically create a large number of quality jobs. Large foreign investments in manufacturing provide the best option. This will also give credence to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s any future election promise with regards to employment generation.