Militants trapped in Pulwama, gunfight on
Security forces on Saturday morning surrounded a group of militants, trigerring an encounter, in south Kashmir's Pulwama.
A gunfight erupted soon after the security forces came to the Panzgam area of Awantipora in a nocturnal operation, an official said.
I am willing to be anything my party wants me to be: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra
“The interesting thing about this election campaign has been that Mr. Narendra Modi has spoken more about my family than he has spoken about his policies and plans for the next five years. His focus has been to distract the public from real issues because he knows that his record on delivering on his false promises is abysmal. Our focus has been to speak about job creation, strengthening the agricultural sector, increasing expenditure on education, improving healthcare, and other matters that we feel concern the nation.“
Will never forgive Pragya for praising Godse: Narendra Modi
The BJP initiated disciplinary action against its Bhopal candidate Pragya Thakur and others for laudatory comments on Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse amid nationwide condemnation and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s own declaration that he “would never forgive” Ms. Thakur, but drew a line at expressing regret at offering her a party ticket.
The disciplinary action came on a day when Mr. Modi in an interview to News24 TV channel said that he “would never forgive” Ms. Thakur for her comments. “These kinds of statements made about Gandhiji are condemnable and cannot be allowed in a civilised society. She may have apologised, but I shall never forgive her (Ms. Thakur),” he said.
Varanasi has only one air quality monitoring station
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency Varanasi, which goes to polls on Sunday, continues to have only one air quality monitoring station, despite being ranked as among the top 3 most polluted cities in the world three years ago, a Right to Information request has found.
Centre’s stand and BJP word differ on countrywide NRC
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s election promise to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) across the country, if voted back to power for a second term, contradicts the Centre’s stand in the Supreme Court and Parliament.
Responding to a petition calling for implementing the NRC in Tripura, the Centre had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court in January that it was not required as adequate laws existed to identify and deport illegal immigrants, The Hindu has learnt.
Opinion | A referendum on the Prime Minister?
A widely popular explanation for Mr. Modi’s 2014 success was that he had jettisoned Hindutva for reforms/development. There was no evidence to support this theory — in fact, evidence suggested the opposite, as he declared himself a “Hindu nationalist” ahead of the campaign and repeatedly raised cow slaughter, “infiltrators”, etc. through the 2014 campaign. But this had become justification for a segment of his elite supporters. Mr. Modi never promised a list of reforms, though he did promise jobs. So the difference between 2014 and 2019 has not been that Mr. Modi has returned to Hindutva, but the complete removal of jobs and development from the agenda by systematically blocking or contaminating official data on these topics. If 2014 was about seeking economic progress through Hindu consolidation, in 2019 national glory was itself the end.
Cross-party Brexit talks end without any agreement
Hopes that cross-party talks could navigate a way through the Brexit stalemate were dashed as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced that these negotiations had gone as far as they could do and would now end without an agreement.
The talks, which began in March after the European Union (EU) agreed to push the Brexit deadline to October 31, had been widely seen as giving Prime Minister Theresa May an option to get get Parliament on board her Withdrawal Agreement.
Democrats concerned over Trump’s India policy
Disturbed by what they describe as a lack of leadership and policy coherence, Democrats from the U.S. House of Representatives, including the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Eliot Engel, have written to President Donald Trump.
Their letter, dated May 15, asks that the President appoint an Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs and lists a series of concerns, including the lack of a coherent India policy. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is copied on the letter, which is dated May 15.
Air India arm’s privatisation hits a bump
The government’s effort to privatise Air India Air Transport Services Ltd., Air India’s ground handling arm, has run into a stone wall, with potential bidders raising concerns over the Airport Authority of India’s plan to award ground-handling work at 76 of its airports to vendors. This, according to them, could impact the value of the entity up for sale.
Dutee targeting Olympics mark in World University Games
For sprinter Dutee Chand, the focus now shifts to qualifying for the World Championship this September in Qatar and for the Tokyo Olympics next year.
The qualifying mark for the World championship is 11.24s, and 11.15s for the Olympics.
