BackPolitical updates: Assembly polls results tomorrow, India snubs Pak on Geospatial Bill
In other news, Narendra Modi's Iran visit to focus on boosting energy, trade ties; Amar Singh returns to SP as Rajya Sabha candidate
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New Delhi: The countdown for the counting of votes in four states and the Union Territory of Puducherry has begun with results to be declared on Thursday. The election will see two 92-year-old veteran leaders in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala take one last shot at being in power.
Meanwhile, preparations for elections in the state of Uttar Pradesh have begun with the Samajwadi Party nominating Amar Singh as a member to the Rajya Sabha. Singh had been expelled from the party six years ago.
In other news, the ministry of women and child development has announced a new policy for women to accommodate rights with welfare.
Amar Singh returns to SP as Rajya Sabha candidate
A year ahead of the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, and six years after his expulsion from the Samajwadi Party, Amar Singh, 60, once regarded as one of the wiliest political minds in the country, is back in the party. On Tuesday, the party declared Singh, once inseparable from its chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, as one of its seven candidates for Rajya Sabha membership. Elections to the upper house are scheduled for June. Read more
Five reasons Subramanian Swamy is wrong about Raghuram Rajan
In a fresh salvo at Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Subramanian Swamy has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking the immediate sacking of former International Monetary Fund chief economist Raghuram Rajan, while alleging that he was “mentally not fully Indian" and has “wilfully" wrecked the economy.
Here are the erroneous claims in the letter written by Subramanian Swamy asking for the removal of Rajan as RBI governor. Read more
Two 92-year-olds play starring role in assembly elections
Both of them led their respective parties in spirited campaigns, both have been former chief ministers, both are looking at (perhaps) one last shot at being in power and both having seen the turn of nine decades are defying age and debunking popular stereotypes by owning a place in young India. Meet two 92-year-old leaders—Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan who led the campaign of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala and Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi, the patriarch of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)—two veterans of Indian politics, often defeated but never out of race. Read more
Narendra Modi’s Iran visit to focus on boosting energy, trade ties
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Iran over the weekend on a two-day trip that is expected to boost bilateral energy and trade ties, besides giving a fillip to India’s connectivity plans in its extended neighbourhood. India’s external affairs ministry announced the visit in a press statement on Tuesday in which it said that Modi was making the 22-23 May trip at the invitation of Iranian president Hassan Rouhani. Read more
India snubs Pakistan’s objection to draft Geospatial Bill
Pakistan on Tuesday opposed a draft Indian legislation that seeks to penalise anyone misrepresenting India’s geographical boundaries, drawing a swift and sharp rebuke by New Delhi. A statement from the Pakistani foreign office, forwarded by the high commission in New Delhi, said that Pakistan had “expressed serious concern to the United Nations secretary general and the president of the UN Security Council (UNSC)..." with regard to the Indian government’s efforts to introduce a controversial ‘Geospatial Information Regulation Bill’ in the Indian Parliament. Read more
New policy for women looks to accommodate rights with welfare
The women and child development ministry has reset the narrative on women’s rights in India by focusing on women’s reproductive rights, redistribution of gender roles and the recognition of the rights of single women in its draft National Policy for Women, 2016. Read more
Record rainfall in Chennai, 300 heatwave deaths in Telangana
Even as a heatwave wreaked havoc in six states across the country, heavy rainfall lashed south India, breaking records in Tamil Nadu. Chennai received the highest single day rainfall for May in five years, with more rainfall expected on Wednesday. Read more
Govt considers ordinance to defer NEET by one year
The Centre is mulling bringing an ordinance to defer by one year the implementation of the Supreme Court-ordered National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) as the sole entrance test for admissions to medical and dental colleges. People in the government who are familiar with the matter said on Tuesday that the ordinance could be brought to “postpone the effect of the Supreme Court judgement by 12 months". Read more
Maharashtra nod for use of pipelines to supply water from dams
The Maharashtra cabinet on Tuesday decided to streamline water distribution as well as demand management, and supply water from new dams using closed pipelines, instead of the present system of using open canals. The draft of the new water supply policy was approved at a meeting of the state cabinet, chaired by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai. Read more
MCD bypolls: AAP rejoices debut, wins 5 seats
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which made a debut in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) bypolls winning five of the 13 wards, said its next target is to win all the seats in the civic body polls next year. However, the party acknowledged that the result was not as “overwhelming" as it had expected and said it would examine the reason behind it. Read more
Two years of Modi govt: Swachh Bharat, Jan Dhan most visible
Only a few, including Jan Dhan and Swachh Bharat, have caught the imagination of the country in the first two years of the Narendra Modi government, while most of its other schemes have escaped notice, a CMS study says. In all, there are about 40 schemes being implemented since Modi took power in May 2014, including those from earlier governments. Nearly ₹ 1,000 crore has been spent over the last two years by the National Democratic Alliance government to publicize these programmes. Read more
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