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The BJP has reposed faith in the incumbent chief ministers in all the four states where it won in the recently concluded Assembly elections. Whether it was a coincidence or by design, the big picture is clear: the party high command did not want to disturb the winning formula in these states. The earlier practice has been to nominate a new face. The decisions indicate that the party preferred continuity, stability, and youth.

The frequency of elections has lately gained centre stage, with voices rising against the prevailing practice of holding continuous elections in one or other part of the country. In that context, the idea of simultaneous elections — holding elections for all three tiers of government together ­— is being pushed as a comparatively efficient practice.

US President Joe Biden seems to have fouled up his game plan and unwittingly given some Belgian chocolate to Russian president Vladimir Putin for whom a perfect tornado has been forming up.

New Delhi: Tokyo Olympics silver medallist weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu has won the BBC Indian Sportswoman Of The Year (ISWOTY) award.

New Delhi: Jehan Daruvala drove to his second podium finish of the season in Sunday’s Formula 2 Feature race at Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

The discourse that arose in the Supreme Court in January this year about the creation of an Indian Environment Services has its origins in a report by a high-level committee that was headed by former Cabinet Secretary T.S.R. Subramanian. The committee was established in August 2014 to suggest amendments to six laws related to the environment. The committee in its report tried to balance the imperatives of development that cause the least damage to the environment. To formulate the report, the committee had consulted with related stakeholders.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal are gung ho about India’s merchandise exports that is goods exports touching $400 billion mark for the first time this year. This certainly calls for rejoice as India’s goods exports growth has been tepid in the last few years, even in years before Covid pandemic. Over 25 per cent growth this year is something noteworthy. Coupled with this, India’s services exports too is looking up and it is expected to be around $250 billion in 2021-22. This really calls for celebrations as India’s total goods and services exports are likely to exceed $650 billion this year. With foreign exchange reserves surging towards $650 billion India’s balance of payments position is quite comfortable and has thrown enough indications that India is poised for an economic recovery that will take the country back to high growth trajectory.

There is talk of the “fear” on Uddhav Thackeray’s face. And that if anybody started the ‘sliving’, it was the Sena’s partner Nationalist Congress Party. ‘Sliving’ is slang for somebody “slaying” as well as “living it high.” Using the analogy, the BJP-Shiv Sena ‘sliving’ has reached a crossroads. The BJP has lost patience and so, it seems, has the Shiv Sena.

The Hon’ble Calcutta High Court’s decision to entrust the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)with the power to probe the ghastly Birbhum village massacre instead of leaving the job to the Bengal police, is commendable: it makes any cover-up job planned by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) more difficult. Also unexceptionable is the Court’s insistence that the peoples’ faith in due legal process must be restored --especially in a woefully misgoverned State!

Sonia Gandhi’s recent meetings with the G-23 leaders of her party for whom she did not have much time earlier underlines her realization that Rahul Gandhi has failed to live up to her expectations for him to be an unchallenged, front-ranking leader of the Congress. She has to look for other options, therefore, even if reluctantly.