#grand alliance in delhi

[mariacallous]

In April, an unassuming old building in New Delhi’s furniture market housed roughly 30 youngsters. Some were hunched over their laptops crunching data on Excel or analyzing a heat map, while others huddled to discuss strategy. These were engineering graduates, economists, political scientists, and others. There were office chairs, desks, and a couple of white boards.

The entire setup could easily have passed as a startup office, but it wasn’t. This was an election war room.

From there, Sapiens Research founder Rimjhim Gour’s team served as the brains of Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP. The party’s senior leadership had entrusted Gour with mobilizing 12.5 million female voters across India, and her team spent their days crunching historical polling trends, using data to pinpoint critical constituencies, browsing WhatsApp for real-time on-ground updates, and shaping electoral strategies to usher in BJP for a third consecutive term.

Gour’s team was successful: Modi was sworn in as the Prime Minister on June 9 after the BJP formed the government through an alliance with 293 seats. India’s general elections happen once in five years, and in 2024, a record-breaking 642 million Indians voted. Of the total voters polled, 312 million were women. This was BJP’s grand experiment: The party wanted to micro-target and mobilize female voters, and hired people like Gour to make it happen—revealing, says Amogh Dhar Sharma, author of the forthcoming book The Backstage of Democracy: India’s Election Campaigns and the People Who Manage Them, “the hidden power of a new technocratic elite that has become critical for parties and politicians to fight elections and win votes in India.”

“In most places [in India], electorates who are registered but not voting are always women,” says Gour, who previously worked as a media strategist at Indian Political Action Committee, the legendary firm widely recognised for propelling Modi to victory in 2014. Dressed in an off-white salwar kameez, with a big pair of round glasses keeping her hair off her face, Gour is suave and confident, and fluently switches between English and Hindi. “That’s when it struck me that if we have to mobilize someone, it has to be women; they make up 50% of the electorate but still haven’t been tapped into completely in a systematic approach.”

Over the past decade, the Indian electioneering landscape has been overhauled by the advent of social media, data-driven insights, and political consultants. “I think the 2024 Indian general election confirms … the inordinate role of campaign professionals in Indian elections,” says Sharma. From call centers being used for “screening” party supporters, to WhatsApp for real-time updates, and a specialized app for reporting and documenting meetings, each tool served a unique purpose in this BJP campaign. “The speed at which these technologies are being embraced by parties and the growing emphasis on them is certainly unique,” says Sharma.

The BJP’s use of technology and social platforms has evolved as politics has, as they have gone from being niche tools to essential infrastructure. The BJP emerged as the highest spender on political ads on Meta platforms this election. If the 2019 election was characterized as the “WhatsApp Election” because of the excessive use of the messaging platform, the 2024 campaign was the “YouTube Election.” It marked an unprecedented use of YouTube influencers by BJP that featured softball questions with political candidates and paid promotions. While rival parties worked to catch up, the BJP still leads the pack with dedicated cyber troops for year-round content creation—and not just during elections.

And the BJP’s decision to hire a dedicated consultant to woo women votes seems like the next step in this broader evolution of using tech.

Historically, women voters lean towards progressive parties. But over the past decade, under Modi’s rule—characterized by what critics describe as creeping authoritarianism due to attacks on civil society, religious polarization, and cracking down on dissent—there has been a noticeable shift, with both the 2014 and 2019 elections recording higher female participation and increased support for the BJP amongst female voters. The BJP had been launching female-friendly welfare schemes including subsidized cooking gas cylinders and maternity leaves, for greater equality. As a result, in 2019, women’s poll participation exceeded men’s for the first time. This time it was about going a step ahead to remind a specific cohort of targeted women about Modi’s policies and nudge them to go out to vote.

Gour’s get-out-the-vote effort, which used a potpourri of apps, data analysts, and personal outreach by party workers, thus represented a convergence of two trends in an attempt to consolidate a women’s vote newly open to the BJP.

For Modi to return to power, BJP had to win 272 of the 534 parliamentary seats. Gour’s young team was focused on 235 seats, which they identified as “critical seats”—areas where the BJP has either won or lost by less than 10% margin of votes in the past. The goal was to identify women self-help groups, or SHGs, in those 235 critical voting areas, and then use BJP’s party workers, or karyakartas, to meet, motivate, and mobilize female voters.

India’s rural SHGs are collectives of 10 or more women who pool their money and support each other through savings; nearly 100 million women are part of SHGs. And women involved with SHGs are already more politically active.

“Often the hardest problem for political parties who want to engage with women and get women to participate in public life is to figure out how to get these women to participate in a political cause,” says Anirvan Chowdhury, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University who studies the BJP’s attempts to target female voters. “And in a context where politics is often seen as unsuitable for women, reframing politics as seva [selfless service] or using existing institutional frameworks like the SHG structure helps solve that problem.” Because of this sustained effort, there has been a pro-BJP tilt in women’s political preference in many northern states which have a strong history of support for Modi’s BJP, research shows.

For Gour’s Sapiens Research team, the challenge wasn’t merely to locate these self-help groups but to identify potential BJP supporters within these groups—a task that requires data analysis. Ujjawal Agrawal, the program manager at Sapiens Research, spearheaded the initiative of meticulously mapping voter and demographic information to phone numbers of women in “critical” SHGs. Agrawal then mustered the BJP’s in-house network of 20,000 call center operators—run by another Indian Political Action Committee alumnus Diggaj Mogra—to identify BJP sympathizers within the large SHG cohort.

The call centers did so by asking a few pointed questions. One key question was whether the woman would help mobilize 10 other women for the BJP. If she responded positively, she was deemed a supporter. If the SHG member’s response was no, then she would be categorized as a swing voter or non-supporter. For instance, in West Bengal, Agrawal said, 10% of women who were part of the SHG refused to mobilize voters for the BJP. (Interestingly, this approach bears some broad similarities to the Donald Trump campaign’s strategy for this year’s US election.)

Soni Bam is the sort of SHG mobilizer Gour’s team was looking for. She is from the Leparada district in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh and her eight-member group, called Hiri Molo, is dedicated to making women independent by finding ways to earn and save. But since October 2023, she has been involved in the BJP’s election-related work: going door-to-door explaining women about the elections, and advocating BJP schemes that will help women. She also asks women to attend meetings organized by the BJP workers.

Gour’s team used the 20,000 callers from the BJP’s call center to do 300,000 “screening” calls a day to create the final target list. “We are the brain and call centers are basically your eyes [of political campaigns],” says Gour.

It has become commonplace in India for political parties to set up call centers in the weeks leading up to polling, says Sharma. “These call centers can provide a range of functions—encouraging citizens to update their voter ID card, reminding them of the party’s manifesto promises, gauging their intention to vote, and even soliciting their feedback on the ticket distribution or chief minister nomination process.” But what’s unique, says Sharma, about the BJP is the massive investment in an in-house network of 20,000 call center operations across 350 locations. No other party has a comparable infrastructure for electioneering.

BJP’s central leadership monitored the SHG meetings organized by party workers through the revolutionary SARAL app, which stands for Sangathan Reporting and Analysis. (Sangathan in Hindi means “organization.”) It’s the BJP’s “digital handheld office.” Nearly 4 million BJP party workers use the app monthly, where they can upload party activities and share images of events, and details of people they meet during campaigns. In the months leading up to elections, the BJP ran a campaign on the app called “Shakti Chaupal” to mobilize female voters. It was overseen by Gour’s team.

The tech-savvy team of data analysts at Sapiens’ office in Delhi would then aggregate the trends, and submit weekly or monthly reports on the extent of voter mobilization to party leaders. “If they send us those two photos on a WhatsApp number, it will be difficult for us to monitor,” Agrawal said. “We get clear, systematic data from SARAL.” In the three months leading up to May, an estimated 5000 meetings were conducted, and 5877 party workers helped Sapiens team in mobilization.

In late April, during the first phase of the election, where nearly one-fifth of all parliamentary seats were going to polls, witnessed poor voter turnout. The dip in voter turnout compared to elections in 2019, gripped Gour and the BJP with panic. Early doubts over BJP’s decisive victory surfaced online. Soon, the BJP machinery redoubled outreach activity and notched up demands on state-incharges to address voter apathy.

One crucial battlefield for the BJP was the Kendrapara constituency in the eastern state of Odisha, which has been ruled by the Biju Janata Dal, or BJD, for two decades. Gour’s team was responsible for mobilizing the SHGs in the area. When it came time to vote, Gour’s war room sprang into action. Her team began calling party workers every few hours for updates on the SHGs voting. After that, a round of bot calls were made to the SHG women, since the human call centers were at capacity. At the end of the day, an automated call went out to SHG women, asking if they mobilized, who they mobilized, and if they could share pictures and data.

This process was repeated in constituencies across the country, to great effect: By the end of the election, Gour says, they personally mobilized 12 million women voters.

Despite Gour’s best efforts, though—and positive feedback they received on WhatsApp, SARAL, and call centers—the BJP suffered huge losses in their Hindi-speaking heartland states such as Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. From being the single largest party with 303 seats in 2019, Modi’s BJP was cut down to size with 240 seats, and formed the government by entering into a power-sharing agreement with smaller regional parties.

Consultants like Gour continue to claim the election as a win, with a caveat that while their work contributed to the vote share of the candidates, they were “not the only factor.” Other experts tell WIRED that there were likely additional reasons women came out to vote during this cycle, such as religious polarization and welfare programs such as free food or cash handouts. The ultimate lesson may be about the enduring power of traditional methods.

“No Indian politician,” says Sharma, “can as yet dispense with holding public rallies, road shows, or door-to-door canvassing, which create momentum both for ordinary voters and for party workers themselves.”

[marwahstudios]

Fourth Summit on Education Alliances Inaugurated by Sandeep Marwah in New Delhi

New Delhi: The 4th Summit on Education Alliances, organized by the Centre for Education Growth and Research (CEGR), took place at Hotel Eros, New Delhi. The summit, aimed at fostering collaboration and innovation in India’s education sector, saw participation from prominent educational institutions from across the country.

Dr. Sandeep Marwah, President of Marwah Studios, Past President of CEGR, and now a mentor for CEGR, inaugurated the event alongside T.G. Sitharam, Chairman of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), who served as the Chief Guest. During his address, Dr. Marwah emphasized the vital role of education in shaping the future of the nation, remarking, “Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. If anything can take India to new heights, it is education.”

The event was attended by a wide array of educational leaders, including Prof. Dr. G.D. Yadav, President of CEGR, and Ravish Roshan, Director of CEGR. Discussions at the summit revolved around enhancing higher education in India and the importance of alliances between institutions to drive growth and research in the sector.

A unique feature of the summit was the opportunity for institutions to meet, greet, and sign Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) to promote collaboration. These MOUs focus on sharing resources, knowledge, and support in order to strengthen the education system across India.

AAFT University, a key participant at the summit, also showcased its commitment to educational excellence and actively engaged in discussions about enhancing collaboration within the Indian education sector.

The 4th Summit on Education Alliances was a grand success, furthering CEGR’s mission to unite institutions in a collective effort to advance the country’s educational landscape.

[apacnewsnetwork0]

New Delhi: In a grand ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, President Droupadi Murmu appointed Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of India for his third term. The BJP-led NDA secured its third consecutive term with 293 Lok Sabha seats, with BJP winning 240 seats.

30 Cabinet Ministers, 36 Ministers of State (MoS), and 5 MoS with independent charge from the BJP and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) also swore-in during the event. The President administered the oaths of office and of secrecy to the Council of Ministers. An official statement confirmed Narendra Modi’s appointment as Prime Minister and listed the new Cabinet members.

Read More Here : https://apacnewsnetwork.com/2024/06/narendra-modi-swears-in-for-third-term-as-pm-of-india-30-cabinet-ministers-36-mos-5-mos-independent-charge-swear-in-as-council-of-ministers/

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.8 (before 1950)

217 – Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated and is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus. 876 – The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids. 1139 – Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated by Innocent II for supporting Anacletus II as pope for seven years, even though Roger had already publicly recognized Innocent's claim to the papacy. 1232 – Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols begin their siege on Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin dynasty. 1250 – Seventh Crusade: Ayyubids of Egypt capture King Louis IX of France in the Battle of Fariskur. 1271 – In Syria, sultan Baibars conquers the Krak des Chevaliers. 1605 – The city of Oulu, Finland, is founded by Charles IX of Sweden. 1730 – Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in continental North America, is dedicated. 1812 – Czar Alexander I, the Russian Emperor and the Grand Duke of Finland, officially announces the transfer of the status of the Finnish capital from Turku to Helsinki. 1820 – The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos. 1832 – Black Hawk War: Around 300 United States 6th Infantry troops leave St. Louis, Missouri to fight the Sauk Native Americans. 1866 – Austro-Prussian War: Italy and Prussia sign a secret alliance against the Austrian Empire. 1886 – William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons. 1895 – In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. the Supreme Court of the United States declares unapportioned income tax to be unconstitutional. 1904 – The French Third Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland sign the Entente cordiale. 1906 – Auguste Deter, the first person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, dies. 1908 – Harvard University votes to establish the Harvard Business School. 1911 – Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovers superconductivity. 1913 – The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, requiring direct election of Senators, becomes law. 1918 – World War I: Actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin sell war bonds on the streets of New York City's financial district. 1924 – Sharia courts are abolished in Turkey, as part of Atatürk's Reforms. 1929 – Indian independence movement: At the Delhi Central Assembly, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt throw handouts and bombs to court arrest. 1935 – The Works Progress Administration is formed when the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 becomes law. 1940 – The Central Committee of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party elects Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal as General Secretary, marking the beginning of his 44-year-long tenure as de facto leader of Mongolia. 1942 – World War II: The Japanese take Bataan in the Philippines. 1943 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in an attempt to check inflation, freezes wages and prices, prohibits workers from changing jobs unless the war effort would be aided thereby, and bars rate increases by common carriers and public utilities. 1943 – Otto and Elise Hampel are executed in Berlin for their anti-Nazi activities. 1945 – World War II: After an air raid accidentally destroys a train carrying about 4,000 Nazi concentration camp internees in Prussian Hanover, the survivors are massacred by Nazis. 1946 – Électricité de France, the world's largest utility company, is formed as a result of the nationalisation of a number of electricity producers, transporters and distributors.

[werindialive]

Arvind Kejriwal cleared the air, will not contest in the association INDIA bloc in Haryana

Leader of Aam Aadmi Party, Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday made an announcement saying that he will contest alone on all 90 seats in the Haryana assembly elections. He further added that for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, AAP will come forward with INDIA Alliance.

"For the upcoming Lok Sabha elections we will contest elections together with the INDIA alliance but for the assembly elections, we will contest alone on all 90 seats of Haryana by itself," he said.

The Delhi CM was addressing the 'Badlaav Jan Sabha' in Haryana's Jind when he made the statement.

"Today, AAP is the largest group in Haryana compared to other political parties like Congress, the BJP, and the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP). There is a committee of 15-20 people in every village and ward. There are nearly 1.25 lakh office-bearers of the party in Haryana. This has been achieved in the last six months," Kejriwal added.

Talking about the current Bihar Political landscape Kejriwal said, "People have been disillusioned with every party in Haryana. Every political party that ruled Haryana in the last 75 years only thought about their own family. They accumulated enough money for their next seven generations. Today, people believe only in one political party. That is AAP."

He concluded his statement by saying that the people of Punjab and Delhi the neighboring states of Haryana, "are very happy with the work of the AAP."

The statement came in the backdrop of Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar severing his ties with the grand alliance in Bihar and rejoining the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

For more political news India in Hindi, subscribe to our newsletter.

[brijeshtiwaripune]

Billionaire's Son Jai Kotak Ties the Knot with Miss India Aditi Arya: A Glamorous wedding of the Year

Jai Kotak, the son of billionaire banker Uday Kotak, recently exchanged wedding vows with former Miss India, Aditi Arya. The grand ceremony took place at the illustrious Jio Convention Center, where the couple took the traditional seven rounds around the sacred fire. The wedding was a highly anticipated event, and it made headlines across the nation. The Love Story of Jai Kotak and Aditi Arya Jai Kotak and Aditi Arya's love story began a few years ago when they first met at a social gathering. Their initial encounter was brief, lasting only a few minutes, but it left a lasting impression. After parting ways, Jai Kotak took the initiative to reach out to Aditi on Instagram, which led to their growing closer over time.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Aditi Arya (@aryaaditi) A Year of Engagement The couple's engagement became a public matter when reports surfaced about their engagement in August 2022. A picture of them standing in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris circulated, but they kept their engagement relatively private. Jai Kotak eventually confirmed their engagement by referring to Aditi as his fiancée in a heartfelt social media post, congratulating her on her graduation from Yale University. Meet the Newlyweds Jai Kotak, who serves as the co-head of the digital bank Kotak811, is an accomplished individual with an MBA from Harvard Business School and a background in history from Columbia University. He is the son of the renowned Uday Kotak, the founder of Kotak Mahindra Bank, with a staggering net worth exceeding Rs 1.09 lakh crore. Aditi Arya, the former Miss India who now shares her life with Jai Kotak, is a multi-talented individual with an impressive background. She was born on September 18, 1993, and grew up in Chandigarh. Aditi completed her primary education at Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School and then pursued her studies at Amity International School in Gurugram. She graduated from Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies at Delhi University and worked as a researcher at Ernst & Young.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Aditi Arya (@aryaaditi) In 2015, Aditi Arya achieved the prestigious title of Femina Miss India in the 52nd beauty pageant. She also represented India in the Miss World competition held in China. Aditi ventured into the world of cinema, debuting in Tollywood with director Puri Jagannadh's film 'Ism' and later appearing in the Ranveer Singh starrer film '83' in 2021. She also made her mark in the Hindi web series 'Tantra' and boasts a substantial following on Instagram, where she regularly shares her life and experiences with over 3.4 lakh followers. Aditi Arya furthered her education by enrolling at the Ivy League institution, Yale University, in the United States, where she pursued her MBA. A Grand Wedding Jai Kotak and Aditi Arya's union took place at the Jio Convention Center in Mumbai, with additional wedding rituals and ceremonies held in Udaipur, Rajasthan. The event attracted prominent figures from the business sector, including Mukesh and Nita Ambani, whose presence made waves on social media. This marriage continues the tradition of alliances between industrialists and prominent personalities, like Shweta Bachchan-Nikhil Nanda and Tina Munim-Anil Ambani. Jai Kotak, the scion of Kotak Mahindra Bank founder Uday Kotak, and Aditi Arya, a Bollywood actress and former Miss India World, have now embarked on a new journey together. Jai Kotak and Aditi Arya are indeed a remarkable couple, and their love story has captured the hearts of many. Read the full article

[lamilanomagazine]

Il light painting di Roywang alla MA-EC Gallery per la 18 edizione del Milano Photofestival

Il light painting di Roywang alla MA-EC Gallery per la 18 edizione del Milano Photofestival. Entusiasmo e coinvolgimento del pubblico alla performance di light painting di Roywang che è stata protagonista della mostra fotografica Focus. My society and me. Roywang (Sibo Wang) durante l’opening presso la MA-EC Gallery ha realizzato una performance interattiva con gli altri artisti e con il pubblico, un’opera di light painting la cui registrazione verrà proposta nelle prossime mostre dell’artista sia in Cina sia in altri Paesi. Detentore del Guinness World Record per il più grande light painting, consulente e rappresentante cinese di LPWA (Light Painting World Alliance), rappresentante di IAA China, Roywang ha al suo attivo numerose mostre a Oviedo, Parigi, Hong Kong, Pechino, Casablanca, New Delhi, e ha vinto prestigiosi premi, tra cui nel 2022 il First Prize of Intangible Cultural Heritage IP Design Competition Area of the 6th. Mentougou Cultural and Creative Competition, Gold Prize of H.C. Andersen Art Awards, Artistic Contribution Award of Luxembourg International Art Award, e nel 2021 il Guinness World Records World's Largest Light Painting Pattern 2021.586 sqm, "Light Tianzhu", 118th Rotating Mayor of Wanda Town, Danzhai, Guizhou. Il Light painting di Roywang è caratterizzato dallo stile della mitologia cinese. Usa la luce come pennello, la notte come tenda e utilizza il vuoto. La serie di animali mitologici si ispira all'antica letteratura cinese "Shan Hai Jing". Attraverso la tecnica del light painting, l’artista disegna antichi animali in stile realistico che si integrano con le scene di strade urbane in spazi architettonici contemporanei. Unendo le città di oggi con la cultura tradizionale lontana, esprime il romanticismo cinese. La performance è stata molto apprezzata dai numerosi ospiti dell’opening della mostra Focus My society and me, inserita nel programma ufficiale della 18° edizione del Milano Photofestival, che sarà visitabile alla MA-EC Gallery fino al 15 ottobre. Il progetto espositivo vede dialogare 20 artisti internazionali che propongono fotografie e video negli eleganti spazi del Palazzo Durini. Di Roywang in mostra sarà possibile vedere un video con le performance di light painting da lui realizzate negli ultimi anni. Focus. My society and me vuole evidenziare la funzione civile e sociale della fotografia, insostituibile mezzo di informazione da cui partire per fare delle analisi più approfondite. Il fotografo sa cogliere quell’attimo irripetibile che può diventare spunto di riflessione, suscitare reazioni, contrasti, incitare lo spettatore a prendere coscienza di una situazione, di un momento storico e magari far scattare quel desiderio di aderire ad una causa, di risvegliare la coscienza o anche soltanto di comprendere il messaggio. Coordinate mostra: Titolo: Focus. My society and me Sede: MA-EC Gallery, Palazzo Durini, Via Santa Maria Valle, 2, Milano Date: fino al 15 ottobre 2023 martedì-venerdì ore 10-13 e 15-19, sabato ore 15-19 Info: galleria@ma-ec.it La mostra Focus. My society and me è inserita nel programma della 18a edizione di Photofestival, la rassegna di fotografia d’autore che dal 15 settembre al 31 ottobre 2023 propone un ricco programma di mostre e altre iniziative diffuse sul territorio metropolitano di Milano e in alcune province lombarde, per promuovere la cultura dell’immagine (milanophotofestival.it). Con questa mostra MA-EC Gallery aderisce anche alla 19° Giornata del contemporaneo AMACI di sabato 7 ottobre 2023.... #notizie #news #breakingnews #cronaca #politica #eventi #sport #moda Read the full article

[timesnew7]

With Eyes On 5 States, Congress Top Panel To Meet In Hyderabad Today

The Congress will hold a mega rally in Hyderabad on Monday Hyderabad, New Delhi: The Congress Working Committee (CWC) will meet today to finalise the strategy for the upcoming assembly elections in five states. The three-day crucial meeting in Hyderabad is aimed at boosting the party's campaign in the poll-bound Telangana, officials said. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will chair the CWC meeting. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will also be there, they said. Party general secretary K C Venugopal said he is confident that Congress would form government in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram that go to polls later this year. There could also be a discussion on holding 'Bharat Jodo Yatra 2'. On Monday, the grand-old party will hold a mega rally in Hyderabad. "We will announce six guarantees for the people of Telangana. We hope that when the elections come, the party will get a clear mandate from the people," said senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh. Mr Ramesh termed the CWC meeting as historic that will be "transformative" for Telangana politics. Launching a scathing attack on the BRS government led by K Chandrasekhar Rao, he said, "Understand one thing that the Modi government and the KCR government are two sides of the same coin. There is no difference between them, in Delhi there is Narendra Modi and in Hyderabad there is KCR.". Telangana is set to witness a triangular contest between the BJP, the ruling BRS and the Congress. The Telangana election will serve as a litmus test for the INDIA alliance before the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress reconstituted the Congress Working Committee, and made some surprise additions last month. The committee was formed 10 months after Mallikarjun Kharge became the party chief. It has 39 regular members, 32 permanent invitees and 13 special invitees. With Eyes On 5 States, Congress Top Panel To Meet In Hyderabad Today Read the full article

[bolllywoodhungama]

EOW to interview Govinda in Rs. 1,000 crore online ponzi scheme probe: Report

EOW will question Govinda in connection with a probe into a 1,000 crore internet ponzi scheme.

The Odisha Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has announced plans to question Bollywood actor Govinda as part of an inquiry into a large Rs. 1,000 crore pandal.-Indian Ponzi Scheme. The investigation focuses on the actions of Solar Techno Alliance (STA-Token), a company with a substantial internet presence in various countries that is accused of running an illegal pyramid scheme disguised as a cryptocurrency investment endeavor.

While Govinda's name has been linked to the Online Ponzi Scam, authorities have stated that he is neither a suspect nor an accused in the case. His precise role will be revealed during the investigation. Govinda reportedly approved the company's operations in promotional films and attended a STA-Token event in Goa in July. "We will soon send a team to Mumbai to question film star Govinda, who attended STA's grand function in Goa in July and promoted the company in some videos," said EOW Inspector General J N Pankaj.

General Pankaj went on to say that if their investigation reveals that Govinda's involvement was restricted to endorsing the STAToken brand as part of a business deal, he may be deemed a witness rather than a participant in the scam. "If we find that his role was limited to only endorsing the product (STAToken brand) as per their business agreement, we will call him as a witness in our case," he stated. The fraudulent scam succeeded to earn a whopping Rs. 30 crore from over 10,000 people in Odisha, including Bhadrak, Keonjhar, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, and Bhubaneswar. According to reports, the scam reached investors in states including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Jharkhand, and others. On August 7, the EOW arrested the company's country head, Gurtej Singh Sidhu, and its Odisha head, Nirod Das, in connection with the matter. Ratnakar Palai, a Bhubaneswar-based financial adviser, was arrested on August 16 because of his ties to Sidhu. A watch list has been prepared for the company's CEO, Hungarian national David Gez.

[newsrapido]

Lalu Prasad Yadav: 'No prime minister should be allowed to stay in PM house without wife'

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav arrived in Delhi on Thursday for a routine medical examination. During his interaction with the media, he took the opportunity to criticize Prime Minister Narendra Modi and express his confidence in the grand alliance of opposition parties for the upcoming general elections. Yadav also discussed the importance of having a wife for the prime…

[anantrajlimited1]

Is it beneficial to invest in property

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Under his cautious drive, Anant Raj Restricted has embraced a substitute degree of Respected Tasks, including DDA contracts, and the improvement of Private Plans, Retail courts, Reasonable Lodging, Business Properties, Kind disposition Experiences, IT Parks, and Server farms. with a solid traction in Delhi and NCR, the connection has set areas of strength for out for a for itself as a trusted and wonderful name in the business, setting new benchmarks with its extraordinary quality and imaginative plans. Shri Ashok Sarin was the proprietor of Anant Raj Restricted, and he had a gigantic point of view on market parts and a relentless obligation to importance that moved Anant Raj Bound higher than at later. His visionary framework has worked with the relationship as a central part in the dependably driving Public Capital Region (NCR), which is encountering a striking flood in land and foundation improvement.

Coordinate with the assessments of Shri Ashok Sarin, the pioneer head of Anant Raj Bound. The endeavor stays fixed on trim the progressing and future distinction in the NCR. With a solid upgrade for conveying first in class improvement and current solaces, the connection endeavors to beat client questions and add to the district's advancement. The visionary boss had in like manner been essential in charting the coalition's new turn of events and expansion in the land area. His sharp affinity and capacity to see making business region strategies have been instrumental in driving the affiliation's improvement heading.

Under Shri Sarin's course, Anant Raj Bound has truly executed an other strategy of experiences, conveying magnificent gathered plans, business spaces, legitimacy tasks, and IT stops that take remarkable thought of the making necessities and fundamentals of clients. Plus, Shri Ashok Sarin plays had a focal impact in driving the connection's business improvement and market entrance structures. Through huge acquisitions and affiliations, Anant Raj Bound has extended its presence across different metropolitan affiliations, setting what's going on as a significant part in the business. Shri Ashok Sarin put grand part serious solid areas for on for supporting with accomplices, including cash related upholds, government showed arranged specialists, and embellishments. His capacity to connect with joint undertakings and remain mindful of clear correspondence diverts has been essential in gaining backing and building unselfishness for the association.

He was ceaselessly shooting in his obligation to staying aware of the best hypotheses for corporate relationship inside Anant Raj Bound. He guaranteed that the coalition works morally, sticks to legitimate plans, and stays mindful of straightforwardness in the completely out of its activities. Shri Ashok Sarin's fundamental commitments have started Anant Raj Restricted to accomplish various achievements. The alliance's strategy of encounters of shocking undertaking execution, market drive, steady client vigor, fundamental cash related execution, and industry underwriting stand as shows of his splendid impact and head sense.

With his stimulated mission for importance, Shri Ashok Sarin, the organizer head of Anant Raj Bound, spread out serious strong regions for enormous for a point for the endeavor's occurred with progress. His shut spotlight on buyer responsibility moved it higher than at later. By focusing in on client basics and affinities, the association got a tending to conveying endeavors and spaces that crushed solicitations, making dependable affiliations and client loyal quality.

[scienza-magia]

Un grande paese alle soglie del nazionalismo religioso

In India con l’ascesa di Modi fra crescita, nazionalismo e tentazioni autoritarie. Il presidente è inebriato da tassi di consenso elevatissimi, ma il suo partito Bharatiya Janata Party oscilla verso l’autoritarismo. Quando Jawaharlal Nehru dichiarò che L’India indipendente non avrebbe avuto «nient’altro che la democrazia», il più scettico fu Clement Attlee. Nel 1947 il premier laburista inglese incaricato di separare il “gioiello più prezioso” dal morente impero britannico, era convinto che l’India come i nuovi Paesi indipendenti, «tende a degenerare in dittatura». Attlee si sbagliava. Nonostante guerre, povertà, le grandi diversità etniche, linguistiche e religiose, per la sua demografia l’India sarebbe diventata la più vasta democrazia del mondo. Ancora lo è, sebbene i dubbi sulla sua tenuta siano crescenti. A febbraio il New York Times sosteneva che «l’orgogliosa tradizione della libertà di stampa indiana è a rischio». Secondo il quotidiano, il premier Narendra Modi e il suo governo nazional-induista minano «lo status di più grande democrazia al mondo». Nell’ultima indagine sulla libertà di stampa di Reporter Senza Frontiere, l’India è precipitata al 150° posto su 180 Paesi. La Russia di Vladimir Putin è dietro di cinque posizioni. Ma il problema non riguarda solo i giornalisti. Nelle università c’è una sistematica discriminazione verso docenti e intellettuali che si oppongono al potere dilagante del Bjp. Così nel sistema giudiziario, nella polizia. In molti casi il diritto di critica si è trasformato in un reato. Il partito di Modi «inebriato» dal successo Anche ai tempi del Congress della famiglia Nehru- Gandhi, c’era la tradizione di diffondere i ritratti dei leader. A Delhi tuttavia, l’immagine di Modi appare ovunque, anche più dei tradizionali canoni indiani. C’è perfino all’ingresso del Gandhi Smriti, il luogo ora diventato museo dove il Mahatma fu ucciso da un nazionalista hindu nel 1948. Oggi in Parlamento siedono deputati del Bjp che hanno riabilitato come eroe l’assassino di Gandhi. Con un eufemismo, un ambasciatore europeo a Delhi sostiene che il partito nazional-religioso di Modi «è inebriato dal suo successo». Il premier si avvicina alla fine del suo secondo mandato e il terzo, dopo le elezioni dell’anno prossimo, è dato per scontato: la vittoria sarà ancora più grande della precedente.

Nell’attuale Parlamento di 543 deputati, il Bjp ha 301 seggi: potrebbe governare da solo ma ha aperto a un’ alleanza di governo, la National democratic alliance, che arriva a 329 deputati. L’anno prossimo l’obiettivo raggiungibile secondo i sondaggi, è superare quota 400. Come dice Pratap Bhanu Mehta, accademico e scienziato della politica, epurato dalle università indiane, «il nazionalismo hindu è nato con il progetto democratico dell’India moderna: non è un’aberrazione ma lo accompagna come un’ombra. Il dubbio è in quali condizioni l’ombra diventi tanto lunga da oscurare l’orizzonte della democrazia». L’ombra si trasforma in spettro, secondo Mehta, quando un eccessivo consenso popolare spinge all’autoritarismo. Il boom di consenso di Modi e l’assenza di alternative Il consenso per Narendra Modi è fenomenale: supera costantemente il 70%, grazie anche a una importante e perdurante crescita economica. Tradizionalmente il Bjp era il partito delle caste più alte; quelle più basse e la massa dei poveri sostenevano il Congress socialista. Modi ha ribaltato la consuetudine. Viene da una casta fra le più basse, le O.B.C., acronimo di “altre caste arretrate”. Con i suoi programmi sociali la percentuale dei poveri è calata dal 28 al 16%. Il Bjp vince e va a vincere anche per l’assenza di un’alternativa nazionale pan-indiana. Il suo successo è stato facilitato dal declino del Congress, incapace di liberarsi dal controllo della famiglia Gandhi: ora ha solo 50 seggi in Parlamento. Se il Bjp governa 10 stati dell’Unione indiana e altri cinque con alleati, il Congress controlla ormai solo quattro stati più tre in coalizione. B.R. Ambedkar, il giurista che scrisse la Costituzione, la più lunga al mondo, sosteneva che l’India è una collezione di minoranze: un insieme di caste, religioni, etnie, lingue. Forse è questa la singolarità dalla quale Narendra Modi non potrà prescindere; il tratto caratteristico destinato a ridimensionare il pericolo dell’ Hindutva, l’ideologia nazionalista dell’induismo, ad una forma di nativismo come altrove: Israele, l’America di Donald Trump, Ungheria e Polonia. Fenomeni preoccupanti ma correggibili. Il federalismo indiano, cioè la singolarità descritta da Ambedkar, sarà forse il baluardo della democrazia indiana. Il Bjp governa da solo in 10 dei 28 stati dell’Unione. I partiti regionali vincono in otto; in altrettanti Congress e Bjp non governerebbero senza di loro. Il Center for Political Research, un think tank di Delhi, ha contato l’esistenza di 3.892 partiti: statisticamente 139 per ogni Stato. L’Uttar Pradesh, con 250 milioni di abitanti, ne ha 618, il Bihar 431. Le caste continuano ad avere un ruolo importante. Come la religione. In India il laicismo non è un’ideologia che prevede la separazione fra stato e chiesa, ma tratta tutte le religioni come uguali davanti allo stato. Il contrario di ciò che vuole il Bjp. Spiega il Center for Political Research: «Gli Stati sono differenti nella loro composizione geografica, demografica e culturale. Non solo producono la domanda per uno stile distinto di governo ma anche permettono ai partiti dalle posizioni diverse, di avere successo». Sarà questo a fermare le tentazioni autoritarie del Bjp? Read the full article

[all-about-news24x7]

Kejriwal meets Mamata to ensure bill on Delhi services is not passed - News Today

[] As part of his ongoing efforts to cobble up a grand Opposition alliance to ensure that a bill related to the centre’s ordinance nullifying the Supreme Court order on services matters is not passed in the Rajya Sabha. Kejriwal was accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and party leaders including Raghav Chadha and Sanjay Singh. The Delhi chief Minister on Tuesday embarked on a…

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.8

217 – Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated and is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus. 876 – The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids. 1139 – Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated by Innocent II for supporting Anacletus II as pope for seven years, even though Roger had already publicly recognized Innocent's claim to the papacy. 1232 – Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols begin their siege on Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin dynasty. 1250 – Seventh Crusade: Ayyubids of Egypt capture King Louis IX of France in the Battle of Fariskur. 1271 – In Syria, sultan Baibars conquers the Krak des Chevaliers. 1605 – The city of Oulu, Finland, is founded by Charles IX of Sweden. 1730 – Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in continental North America, is dedicated. 1812 – Czar Alexander I, the Russian Emperor and the Grand Duke of Finland, officially announces the transfer of the status of the Finnish capital from Turku to Helsinki. 1820 – The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos. 1832 – Black Hawk War: Around 300 United States 6th Infantry troops leave St. Louis, Missouri to fight the Sauk Native Americans. 1866 – Austro-Prussian War: Italy and Prussia sign a secret alliance against the Austrian Empire. 1886 – William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons. 1895 – In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. the Supreme Court of the United States declares unapportioned income tax to be unconstitutional. 1904 – The French Third Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland sign the Entente cordiale. 1906 – Auguste Deter, the first person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, dies. 1908 – Harvard University votes to establish the Harvard Business School. 1911 – Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovers superconductivity. 1913 – The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, requiring direct election of Senators, becomes law. 1918 – World War I: Actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin sell war bonds on the streets of New York City's financial district. 1924 – Sharia courts are abolished in Turkey, as part of Atatürk's Reforms. 1929 – Indian independence movement: At the Delhi Central Assembly, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt throw handouts and bombs to court arrest. 1935 – The Works Progress Administration is formed when the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 becomes law. 1940 – The Central Committee of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party elects Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal as General Secretary, marking the beginning of his 44-year-long tenure as de facto leader of Mongolia. 1942 – World War II: The Japanese take Bataan in the Philippines. 1943 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in an attempt to check inflation, freezes wages and prices, prohibits workers from changing jobs unless the war effort would be aided thereby, and bars rate increases by common carriers and public utilities. 1943 – Otto and Elise Hampel are executed in Berlin for their anti-Nazi activities. 1945 – World War II: After an air raid accidentally destroys a train carrying about 4,000 Nazi concentration camp internees in Prussian Hanover, the survivors are massacred by Nazis. 1946 – Électricité de France, the world's largest utility company, is formed as a result of the nationalisation of a number of electricity producers, transporters and distributors. 1950 – India and Pakistan sign the Liaquat–Nehru Pact. 1952 – U.S. President Harry Truman calls for the seizure of all domestic steel mills in an attempt to prevent the 1952 steel strike. 1953 – Mau Mau leader Jomo Kenyatta is convicted by British Kenya's rulers. 1954 – A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people. 1954 – South African Airways Flight 201 A de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1 crashes into the sea during night killing 21 people. 1959 – A team of computer manufacturers, users, and university people led by Grace Hopper meets to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would be called COBOL. 1959 – The Organization of American States drafts an agreement to create the Inter-American Development Bank. 1960 – The Netherlands and West Germany sign an agreement to negotiate the return of German land annexed by the Dutch in return for 280 million German marks as Wiedergutmachung. 1968 – BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after takeoff. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime. 1970 – Bahr El-Baqar primary school bombing: Israeli bombers accidentally strike an Egyptian school. Forty-six children are killed. 1975 – Frank Robinson manages the Cleveland Indians in his first game as major league baseball's first African American manager. 1987 – Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigns amid controversy over racist remarks he had made while on Nightline. 1992 – Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces that he has AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries. 1993 – The Republic of North Macedonia joins the United Nations. 1993 – The Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on mission STS-56.[18] 2004 – War in Darfur: The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government, the Justice and Equality Movement, and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army. 2005 – A solar eclipse occurs, visible over areas of the Pacific Ocean and Latin American countries such as Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela.[19] 2006 – Shedden massacre: The bodies of eight men, all shot to death, are found in a field in Shedden, Elgin County, Ontario. The murders are soon linked to the Bandidos Motorcycle Club. 2008 – The construction of the world's first skyscraper to integrate wind turbines is completed in Bahrain. 2010 – U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign the New START Treaty. 2013 – The Islamic State of Iraq enters the Syrian Civil War and begins by declaring a merger with the Al-Nusra Front under the name Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham. 2014 – Windows XP reaches its standard End Of Life and is no longer supported. 2020 – Bernie Sanders ends his presidential campaign, leaving Joe Biden as the Democratic Party's nominee.

[werindialive]

Mamata Banerjee declared no partnership with Congress for upcoming elections

On Wednesday, the entire opposition INDIA bloc was shaken when Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee announced cutting off Congress from TMC's Lok Sabha poll plan for the state. Mamata said that the party has decided to go in alone while offering a small possibility for "post-poll adjustments" at the "all-India level". TMC would "do whatever is needed to defeat BJP", she added.

Mamata, criticized the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra by Rahul Gandhi and said that planning a route that passes through Bengal without discussing it with its INDIA ally Trinamool was "discourteous" of the grand old party.

The Bengal CM also said that Congress had been rejecting her proposals ‘from the very beginning” and there were no discussion meetings between the two parties for two weeks. "Whatever is being said (about seat-sharing) are blatant lies. I request everyone, including a section of the media, not to propagate that."

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh also called out Congress for its double standards. "They say in Delhi that TMC is a critical INDIA partner. In Kolkata, its leaders ridicule us. This cannot go on. The reality is that Congress did not win a single assembly seat in Bengal in the 2021 polls." Another TMC MP told the media that the party had always adhered to "alliance dharma and been courteous despite Bengal Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury's pathetic and nasty comments against TMC".

Mamta also emphasized that the INDIA bloc does not belong to any one party. The alliance (INDIA) does not belong to any one party. I said earlier that let them (Congress) contest 300 seats alone. The regional parties will fight the other seats, and they (Congress) should not interfere,” she said.

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