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Union Home Minister Amit Shah has spoken. And the timing is telling, just in time for a clutch of assembly elections in 2023, and the big one in 2024. Shah announced that a grand Ram temple will be inaugurated in Ayodhya on January 1, 2024. That means the Bharatiya Janata Party will go into the 2023 assembly elections, and the 2024 general elections with the successful completion of the Ayodhya Ram Mandir as one of its main poll planks, if not the main. Shah said the 'gagan-chumbi' Ram Mandir will be ready for a January 1, 2024 inauguration, just in time for campaigning for the 2024 general elections to kick-up a storm.

India’s current account deficit for the second quarter (July-September) of 2022-23 has reached a massive $36.4 billion which is 4.4 per cent of the gross domestic product, higher than at any time in the last nine years. It is only in October-December 2012 that the absolute level of the current deficit had been $32.6 billion which was 6.7 per cent of the GDP.

Pune: Seasoned campaigners N. Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan created a major upset as they stunned the No. 2 seed American duo 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) in the doubles quarter-finals of the Tata Open Maharashtra ,at the Balewadi Tennis Stadium here on Thursday.

Rourkela: "Jai Ho Hindustan Ki” written by Sameer Anjaan and sung by Sukhvinder Singh, is the Hockey India anthem for the Odisha Hockey World Cup.

Himachal won, and Gujarat lost and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has done what previous Congress presidents have done, i.e., set up a committee to do an autopsy, find out why Gujarat was lost. In Himachal Pradesh, the Congress posted a very satisfactory win though the vote-share wasn't too north of that of the BJP. Yet it was a victory to write home about and it enthused the Congress worker.

In 1947, when we attained freedom, our dream was to build a country for ourselves without any inequality. There was to be fundamental rights ensured in the Constitution. Directive principles of the state policy in the Constitution promised us all that only a socialist democracy offers. Our preamble says that we, the people of India having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign democratic republic and to secure to all its citizens, justice, social, economic and political, liberty, of thought, expression, belief, faith, and worship, equality of status and of opportunity, and to promote them all, fraternity ensuring the dignity of the individual and the unity of the nation. “...In our Constituent Assembly, this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do hereby adopt, enact, and give ourselves this Constitution.”Constitution came into force on January 26, 1950.Later in 1970s,two more words were added, and that were “Socialist” and “Secular’. We had felt the need to pronounce these two words that we had earlier found in built. When the first election (1952) results were declared, our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had sent letters to all chief ministers saying that it was not the victory of any party, it was the victory of secularism.

Concerns have been looming large on the sanctions on Russian oil, which is heading for another major oil shock in the world. Russia is the second biggest exporter of oil in the world. EU is the biggest importer of oil from Russia. EU has prohibited maritime exports of Russian oil and levied price cap of US $ 60 per barrel in December 2022. These followed suit to USA, G-7 and Australia for price capping on Russian oil. The angry Russia retaliated and banned the export of oil to these nations from February 1 , 2023 for 6 months till July 1, 2023.

It would be pleasing to hear that India is set to be the second-fastest growing economy in the G20 in 2022-23, despite decelerating global demand and tightening of monetary policy to manage inflationary pressures, but the harsh reality on the ground can’t be wished away. New challenges are knocking at the doors that can be tackled only by considerably increasing public investment, since private sector would be facing greater challenges.

In Tripura, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP), eager to consolidate its traditional Bengali Hindu support base, revved up its pre-poll campaign by launching two major Rathyatras from Sabroom and Dharmanagar areas of Agartala. Union Home Minister Mr Amit Shah, who specially flew in for the programme, launched the programme.

LUCKNOW: Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi has entered Western Uttar Pradesh, boosting the morale of the Congress workers and leaders all over the state.