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The Caravan April 11, 2019 On 11 April, Smriti Irani, the union minister of textiles from the Bharatiya Janata Party, filed her nomination to contest the Lok Sabha elections from the Amethi constituency, in Uttar Pradesh. Slated to go to polls on 6 May, Amethi has been a Congress bastion for several years, and the party’s president, Rahul Gandhi, has been the member of parliament from the seat since 2004. The BJP had polled merely 37,570 votes from Amethi in the 2009 elections. It fielded Irani against Gandhi in the next general election. Irani’s aggressive canvassing brought up the party’s vote share to an impressive 300,748 votes, only around one lakh short of Gandhi’s winning tally. For the upcoming election, Irani is once again pitted against Gandhi. In the following extract from “Role of a Lifetime,” the cover story of The Caravan’s November 2016 issue, Rohini Mohan traces Irani’s campaign in the 2014 general election, and how she continued engaging with the constitue...

The Print April 11, 2019 India is in the middle of an election campaign driven by the issue of ‘national security’, especially as it comes after the Pulwama attack and the Balakot air strikes. So, there were a lot of expectations that the political manifestos of the Congress and the BJP would refer to the issue with an improved mindset. But both parties’ manifestos lack a holistic approach to national security, settling instead for a simple ‘to-do’ list which has been our bane in the past. The manifestos mirror what India’s strategic community unanimously says: that India does not have a formal national security vision, that it lacks a coherent strategy, and that we go about managing national security affairs from ‘crisis to crisis’. India needs radical reforms — with respect to higher defence management, integration of the three services, creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff, and restructuring/ reorganisation of the armed forces. Keeping in mind how modernisatio...

 Shubhangi Khapre | Mumbai |  August 12, 2018   After the Marathas, it is now the turn of the Dhangar (shepherd) community to launch an agitation seeking quota in jobs and educational institutes under the Schedule Tribe (ST) category. Under the banner of Dhangar Sangharsh Samiti Maharashtra Rajya (DSSMR), the community leaders in Maharashtra plan to hold a statewide agitation from 10 am to 6 pm on Monday. At a DSSMR meeting held in Mumbai on Saturday, local leaders across western and northern Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha regions were directed to mobilise the community and identify strategic locations in their respective districts and villages for the stir. While it was emphasised that no one should resort to violence during the agitation, a clear directive was also issued that the Dhangars should go all out to display their might. DSSMR leader and Rajya Sabha MP Dr Vikas Mahatme said, “The Dhanger protest is to highlight the long-pending dem...

  Ritika Chopra | New Delhi |  August 12, 2018 THE ELECTION Commission (EC) has decided to enhance its reserve of voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines by 10 per cent for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, in the wake of rising incidents of failure reported in the recent elections. On June 20, the Commission ordered an additional 1.3 lakh paper trail units costing Rs 250.16 crore, which would effectively increase its VVPAT reserve from 25 per cent to 35 per cent. This is apart from the order for 16.15 lakh VVPATs, already placed with the two manufacturing PSUs, to cover all polling stations during the general elections next year. As first reported by The Indian Express on July 25, the poll panel is already struggling to meet the September 2018 deadline it has committed to the Supreme Court for procuring the 16.15 lakh VVPAT machines for the Lok Sabha elections. The Commission is now expecting deliveries of the paper trail units by the end of November. ...

 Sadaf Modak , Rashmi Rajput | Mumbai | August 11, 2018  Following multiple raids, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) Friday announced the arrest of three men affiliated to radical Hindu outfits from Nallasopara and Satara. The ATS also said that with the recovery of a huge cache of explosives, including live crude bombs and gelatin sticks, they had averted major terror attacks at multiple places. Among the arrested is Vaibhav Raut (40), allegedly a member of the Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti who is also said to be a sympathiser of the right wing Sanatan Sanstha. Suspects allegedly linked to the Sanatan Sanstha were involved in the murders of three rationalists – Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and MM Kalburgi – and the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh. Another accused, Sudhanwa Gondhalekar (39) from Satara, is a member of the Shri Shivapratishthan Hindustan, whose chief is Sambhaji Bhide. Bhide has been booked in two criminal cases in connection with...

PTI: Economic Times: June 24, 2018 The state-wide plastic ban, including carry-bags and thermocol by the Devendra Fadanvis government, will result in loss of up to Rs 15,000 crore and nearly 3 lakh job, says the plastic manufacturing industry.  "The ban imposed by Maharashtra from Saturday has hit the industry very hard and the plastic industry is staring at a loss of Rs 15,000 crore, leaving nearly 3 lakh people jobless overnight," Plastic Bags Manufacturers Association of India general secretary Neemit Punamiya told today.  Nearly 2,500 members of the association have left with the no option but to shut shop following the ban, he added and termed the ban as "discriminatory".  On March 23, the state announced a ban on manufacture, use, sale, distribution and storage of plastic materials such as one-time-use bags, spoons, plates, PET and PETE bottles and thermocol items. The government had given three months time to dispose of the existing stocks, ...