-The Hindu Party may have missed target section The Congress had seemed to be in a relatively better position when the election year began, but its efforts to create an anti-incumbency atmosphere in the country were derailed by the Narendra Modi-led BJP government post-Pulwama and Balakot. Having struggled to counter the dominant narrative of nationalism and Hindutva created by the ruling party, the Congress announced its minimum income guarantee, or NYAY, scheme for...

-The Indian Express To fulfil the constitutional requirement, reservation must be based on a rigorous identification of economic backwardness. The introduction of the 124th constitutional amendment that provides the possibility of quotas for the “economically weaker sections” (EWS) has rekindled the debate on reservations. These quotas diverge from reservation policies for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other socially and educationally backward classes, by jettisoning caste or community identity as the...

-The Indian Express While Uttar Pradesh’s sugar belt has post-Independence shifted to the western and central districts, sugar cane still retains political relevance in the four northeastern constituencies that vote in the last phase of polls on May 19. Kushinagar: It is past mid-May, but the sugar mills at Hata, Ramkola, Kaptanganj, Khadda and Siswa Bazar — the first four in Kushinagar and the last in Maharajganj constituency — are still...

-CaravanMagazine.in India is often hailed for its democracy, for empowering its poor and ordinary citizens to participate in the electoral process and play a role in shaping the country. This narrative has increasingly come under strain since the Supreme Court, through its March 2003 judgment in Union of India vs Association for Democratic Reforms, made it mandatory for candidates contesting elections to disclose their wealth, educational qualification, and criminal cases pending...

-The Hindu CM Naveen Patnaik writes to PM seeking 5 lakh PMAY houses BHUBANESWAR: With a month left for the Southwest monsoon to hit Odisha, the State government on Monday said it would begin a door-to-door house damage survey from May 14 and issue work orders for the construction of houses on June 1 in cyclone-affected areas. 11-member team An 11-member Central team, split into two groups led by Vivek Bharadwaj, Additional Secretary in...