-The Indian Express The anti-incumbency Banerjee faces is as much about local-level corruption and competing ideologies as it is about stalled industrialisation, weak credit growth, a near-freeze in new jobs, low infrastructure development and agriculture spend. AS West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee fights perhaps her most significant electoral battle, framing her contest is not just BJP vs Trinamool politics — but the state’s economics as well. The anti-incumbency Banerjee faces is as...

-The Hindu The gradual deterioration in Parliament’s functioning has to be stopped if it is to fulfil its constitutional mandate The Budget session of Parliament ended on Thursday, two weeks ahead of the original plan, as many political leaders are busy with campaigning for the forthcoming State Assembly elections. This follows the trend of the last few sessions: the Budget session of 2020 was curtailed ahead of the lockdown imposed following the...

-The Hindu With basic survival at stake, the vulnerable Sabar tribe of Lalgarh have little stomach for elections A tube well and a few houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana are new additions to Punapani village in Lalgarh, which lost seven people of the Sabar community in November 2018, reportedly due to hunger and malnutrition. Election posters and flags are not visible in Sabar basti which is part of the Jhargram Assembly...

-Livemint.com The farmers’ agitation at Delhi’s doorstep against laws enacted by the Centre hits the four-month mark on Friday. A Supreme Court-appointed committee has just submitted its report on the issue. Can the warring sides arrive at a resolution any time soon? Mint explores The farmers’ agitation at Delhi’s doorstep against laws enacted by the Centre hits the four-month mark on Friday. A Supreme Court-appointed committee has just submitted its report on...

-Hindustan Times The nuns’ congregation belongs to Syro-Malabar Church which is based in Kerala. Thiruvananthapuram: The brief detention of a group of nuns by Government Railway Police (GRP) following complaints of alleged forced conversion by Bajrang Dal activists in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi district has generated a political firestorm in Kerala ahead of the crucial Assembly elections next month. The nuns’ congregation belongs to Syro-Malabar Church which is based in Kerala. While the Kerala Catholic...