-The Telegraph Akhilesh Yadav is trying to win over segments of these communities, and the extent of his success in the effort may decide his fate on March 10 Ghazipur (on UP-Delhi border), Mirzapur: Ramashankar Yadav, a retired block development officer chatting with fellow villagers at a tea shop in the Madhuban market, looks up suspiciously. “I hope you aren’t from the godi (lapdog) media?” he asks, referring to media outlets seen widely...

-Newsclick.in CM Mamata Banerjee has started handing over compensation packages, but SKM and other outfits have accused it of bypassing holding of gram sabhas. Kolkata: The Deocha-Pachami-Dewanganj-Harisingha (DPDH) coal block under Mohammed Bazar Development Block in Birbhum district is fast becoming a “symbol of the West Bengal government’s high-handedness”. So much so that local residents, a large number of whom are adivasis/santhals, are being cautious in airing their concerns about the proposed...

-TheNewsMinute.com “The suggestion to have a uniform syllabus across the country and a single board is the brainchild of the right wing, which wants to create a homogenous nation, in place of the wonderfully diverse and multicultural society we have now.” In the crucial debate around federalism and states’ rights, one of the biggest issues is education. The subject was moved from the State List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution...

-The Hindu The Haryana High Court order had stayed a controversial State law which provides 75% Reservation for local youths in private sector jobs earning less than Rs.30,000 a month. The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside a Punjab and Haryana High Court order staying a controversial State law which provides 75% Reservation for local youths in private sector jobs earning less than ₹30,000 a month. Industry associations have said the law “affects...

-TheWire.in BJP has now realised that Hindutva and identity politics by themselves are not enough to win. In post-Mandal India, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s attempt to build electoral alliances tying upper castes and non-dominant OBCs is not new. This is a strategy the party used in the mid-1990s across North India to resist the consolidation of pro-Mandal parties and prevent the formation of large coalitions of “backwards”. Mid-1990s onwards, the BJP distributed...