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The Centre's abrupt reversal on its proposal to permit lateral entry into senior government and public sector positions can be traced back to a complex interplay of political dynamics, strategic manoeuvring and to a large extent pragmatism. The change is widely attributed to the formidable pressure applied by Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). However, a deeper analysis reveals that the ruling party's apprehension was significantly heightened by Rahul Gandhi's strategic intervention, which raised alarms about the Modi government's agenda to progressively curtail quotas for backward classes.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) dreams of making India a Hindu Rashtra. It has been pursuing it through all its activities, and through hundreds of its affiliate organisations. Governance in India has been secular so far, and the government employees were barred in participating in RSS clan’s activities until July 9, 2024, when PM Narendra Modi led Centre lifted the ban, putting the government service in danger of losing its secular character, because government employees with RSS bias itself undermine secular governance.

The rape and murder of a young medico in R G Kar medical college in Kolkata has shaken not only the medical community but the people across sections of the society are outraged and are coming out on streets to demand stringent action against the culprits. They are unhappy over delay in the progress of investigations. The report that there was effort to destroy the evidence has further irked the people.

Has Prime Minister Narendra Modi stopped taking decisions, leaving the door open for allies to declare their intent at will by shouldering the responsibility? Take for instance, the Modi government’s decision on the UPSC's lateral recruitment process. Modi took a decision and ally Union Minister Chiraq Paswan put it to rest, indicating that Modi is now only a figurehead, a rubber stamp, in this NDA government “led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.

Notwithstanding the Prime Minister’s (PM’s) claim of “countless job opportunities” available for youth in his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of Red Fort, data reveals otherwise. As against the earlier release on regular basis of employment and unemployment surveys by the Statistical Department of the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation till 2011-12, the RSS Pariwar union government stopped the employment and unemployment surveys in 2017 and replaced it by the periodic labour force surveys (PLFS).

The Supreme Court of India constituted a national taskforce (NTF) to ensure safety of doctors in the country while hearing a suo motu case taking cognizance of the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at R G Kar Medical College on August 9 during her shift. The bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachurd, said that it was not just about one case but the systemic issue of doctors’ safety in the nation.

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Congress has launched massive outreach program to win over dalit, OBCs and minorities to strengthen the vote bank of the party to face 2027 assembly polls in the state.

Himalayan states that share borders with neighboring countries of China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and parts of Myanmar have faced tardy development since independence. This is partly because of difficult terrain and ecological fragility. Backwardness too is a factor. The terrain is hilly but most of the states are important from security point of view particularly because of some hostile neighbours like China and Pakistan. China in particular is a huge country and economy and has expansionary tendencies right from the beginning.

The Supreme Court said the nation "cannot wait" for another rape for changes on ground. The “cannot wait” is confusing for the Average Joe. Does it convey an eagerness for another case of rape to land before a court? What about the judgment of the Supreme Court in which it objected to a decision of the Calcutta High Court, cautioning it to mind the language when writing judgments? Then, the Supreme Court had taken exception to the High Court asking "adolescent girls to control their sexual urges” to prevent rape.

The United States of America or the People’s Republic of China may have nothing much to do with the massive public demonstrations in Bangladesh that began last month over governmental job quotas forcing the fall of Sheikh Hasina as the country’s longest serving prime minister and her government. Sheikh Hasina had dug her own grave firstly by rigging the last national election, which was totally boycotted by her party’s prime opposition, right-wing Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its 19 other allies, demanding the polls be held under a caretaker government. In the past, Bangladesh had been run by caretaker governments before elections.