Articles

Tackling 4 Rumours About Bengal Flung Around By BJP

r since the COVID-19 crisis acquired a serious dimension, many of the discussions and efforts have been on a unified, coordinated strategy against the pandemic and much of the political scoring has been left for another day.

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9 examples of federalism power in this crisis

The COVID-19 crisis is a genuine national crisis. Why do I use the adjective “genuine”? This is because most “national” crises in our country emotionally affect all of India but physically or tangibly affect only a part of it. A case in point could be a cyclone, an earthquake, an insurgency or even a war. The COVID-19 pandemic is different. It has affected every single state. From Kashmir to Kerala, the Northeast to the western coast, every local administration has been galvanised.

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Why Centre should listen to Bengal CM’s call for giving states fiscal room in fight against Covid-19

The number of COVID-19 cases in India has risen sharply in the past week. The ongoing lockdown has disrupted the lives of hundreds of millions. This is a national battle, but it is also a battle being waged by individual states, districts and cities. In Bengal, for instance, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee – she is the state’s health minister as well – has taken a proactive, “people first” approach to the pandemic challenge.

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What Covid-19 will change about us

Every crisis changes us, as individuals and as a society. The coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) will also do so. It is too early to make defining predictions, but the initial days of the national lockdown have given us some indications. Here are 10 thoughts about what can potentially change.

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Mr Prime Minister, wrong to have kept Parliament in session

It’s not easy to turn down an invitation from Rashtrapati Bhavan. Earlier this month, I was mortified at having to do this not once but twice. I was invited by the President of India for breakfast meetings with groups of MPs on March 13 and then, on my polite refusal, on March 18.

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Preserve parliamentary supremacy

Parliament’s Budget Session has resumed and will last a month. Usually, this phase is extremely productive in terms of deliberation and discussion, debate and legislation, and for the conclusion of the budgetary exercise. Unless there are exigencies, the government and the Opposition, and of course the Chair, approach the session with sobriety and purpose.

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A movement to save the Idea of India

If you asked my father Neil O’Brien, the pioneer who brought quizzing to India in 1967, what his favourite subjects were, pat would come the reply: heavyweight boxing and World War II. Our bedtime stories, oddly enough, were not about Hansel and Gretel.

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In 2019, Modi won’t deliver Red Fort address

When looking at the BJP’s election victory in Tripura, one needs to be mindful of the fine print. In football terms, this is a big victory by a struggling team in a football league – against a team going through even worse form and facing relegation to a lower division. This is not quite a World Cup victory.

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