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The Sangh Parivar’s attempt to take political advantage out of what has traditionally been a religious congregation has turned the Kumbh into of the bloodiest events since the Kumbh in 1954. The effort was visible long before the Kumbh began in Prayagraj. It was reflected in a massive campaign launched by the BJP and its governments, inviting devotees from across India and even from foreign countries. They promoted this year’s Kumbh as the rare occasion for religious tourism. The mainstream media dutifully followed the suit, reported every claim of the government and published promotional photographs without questioning the political shift that was sought to be given to the religious congregation.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ‘Invest Kerala Global Summit’ to be held in Kochi, Kerala is expected to give a booster shot to the State’s economic activities.

The controversial circumstances surrounding the appointment of the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) have given rise to a sense of distrust between the Congress party and the Election Commission, setting the stage for a difficult and fraught relationship. The tension was further exacerbated when Rahul Gandhi publicly expressed his dissent, effectively institutionalizing this mistrust. While he refrained from making direct personal attacks on the appointee, his concerns about the selection process itself have created an unavoidable rift. This dynamic between a major political party and an institution responsible for conducting free and fair elections threatens to undermine democratic processes and public confidence.

With Union Government of India making the appointments of the Chief Election Commissioner of India, and an Election Commissioner under the new law of 2023, while the law itself is pending adjudication in the Supreme Court of India, people’s hopes and fears about independence of Election Commission of India running high.

It isn't funny, the Supreme Court choosing to "slam" Ranveer Allahbadia and simultaneously giving him relief against more FIRs. This interim protection, however, comes even as the bench hinted at more trouble for Allahbadia’s incestuous thoughts. For Ranveer Allahbadia, the future looks bleak unless his parents come to his rescue hoping he doesn’t jump into their bed.

The data that PM Narendra Modi government has been churning out since 2014 have always been a suspect. Now, by no less a person than PM Narendra Modi’s own Economic Advisor has indicated that many of the data earlier produced even under the Modi regime were “influenced” while chiefly targeting the Congress for that, as PM Narendra Modi and BJP does. He indirectly and unwittingly contradicts Modi government’s claim on reliability of their high-quality data sets, giving rise to the question – Are Modi government’s data reliable? It is a question whose answer India needs.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat returned to Nagpur a disappointed patriarch. His ten day mission to Bengal to find a "credible and charismatic face" who could throw Mamata Banerjee out of power and install a saffron government after 2026 state assembly polls, could not be accomplished. Known as a man of few words, he did not express his displeasure openly but he was sure that the saffron ecosystem with the present leaders leading the pack would not succeed in catching the imagination of the people of the state and provide an alternate government.

In a special gesture Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Monday and received the Amir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani. And in another special gesture, because the Amir is extraordinarily tall, security personnel assigned to stand at guard at the foot of the plane’s air-stairs were also picked for their extraordinarily height.

SOCIAL media influencer Ranveer Allahabadia’s question to a contestant on the online show ‘India’s Got Latent’ has attracted not only public outrage, but systematic response from various State authorities. By mid-February, the Maharashtra Cyber Department had filed a First Information Report (‘FIR’) against Allahabadia, comedian Samay Raina, and other artists from the show for allegedly creating obscene content. Soon after, sitting chief ministers and a debate in a parliamentary standing committee pushed for constitutional restrictions on free speech, keeping in mind the malicious effects of such expression on Indian society.

The government disinvestment in India’s state-controlled enterprises is always welcome if it is aimed to make them professionally managed entities for faster growth. Unfortunately, the haphazard disinvestments in public sector enterprises (PSE) by the government seem to have only a single purpose — financing part of the annual union budget deficit. The practice has been going on for the last several years. New shareholders are mostly other state-controlled entities. They rarely take any active interest in the management of those PSEs. The government continues to control those PSEs. The directors and chief executives of those PSEs are usually there merely to complete their terms to retire at 60. A PSE chief executive is allowed to serve till 62 under exceptional circumstances. The government’s stake dilution in small parts does not bring any change to the PSE management style, including the continuity of top performing executives and CEOs.