Today in Politics: Modi government completes first year in third term, 11th overall
The Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre will mark its first anniversary in the third term and 11th overall on Monday.
In its 11th year in power, the BJP went back to the drawing board to recraft its political and governance outreach and regained momentum by notching up surprisingly big wins in a string of Assembly polls as the burst of fresh optimism in the main Opposition Congress and other INDIA bloc parties following last year's Lok Sabha polls fizzled out.
If the BJP turned the tide in Haryana and Maharashtra, two states where it suffered reverses in the Lok Sabha polls, on the back of its welfare measures and social engineering associated with regional leadership, it also finally wrested Delhi after 26 years, eclipsing its adversary Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on his home turf.
The BJP now appears set to make a fresh political charge after recouping the ground lost in the national polls a year back while the Opposition is back to its disjointed self, with the Congress searching for an elusive and emphatic state poll win in a state. BJP rivals like West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led TMC and Kejriwal have drifted away from the Congress and the likes of Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) stare at an uncertain future.
Despite the reduced majority, the Modi government has gone about with pushing ahead with the contentious part of its agenda. The support it received from the TDP, JD(U) and Chirag Paswan-led LJP (RV) in the passage of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in Parliament, despite some voices of concern among them over its provisions, underscored the BJP's unchallenged dominance following its assembly poll wins.
The government has also gone ahead with the push to its 'One Nation One Election' bills, which are being scrutinised by a Joint Committee of Parliament, despite lacking the two-thirds majority required for the approval of the constitutional amendment measure.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Telangana
Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan is scheduled to visit 'Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan' (VKSA) programme sites in Ranga Reddy district of Telangana on Monday.
The visit intends to facilitate interaction with farmers and provide strategic guidance to enhance the campaign's impact, an official release said.
During the visit, the minister will interact with the farmers in Mansanpally and Ramachandraguda villages of the district.
About 1,500 farmers and farm women from across Telangana are expected to participate in the scientist-farmer interaction session to gain insights into sustainable practices, improved technologies, and integrated approaches to agriculture and aquaculture, it said.
An exhibition will also be organised to showcase innovations and products by Telangana KVKs and ICAR institutes of Hyderabad.
– With PTI inputs
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
10 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Watch: PM Modi meets members of all-party delegations Salman Khurshid
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday evening met members of multi-party delegations who had travelled to world capitals to convey India's strong stand against Pakistan-linked terrorism following Operation Sindoor.
Indian Express
13 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Decode politics: In poll-bound Bihar, calls for domicile reservation grow. Why they are difficult to ignore
Ahead of the Bihar polls, an old issue has come to haunt the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government. On June 5, the Bihar Student Union, an umbrella body of several student organisations, led a protest in Patna demanding domicile reservation in government jobs. Bihar has an unemployment rate of 3.9% as per the latest NITI Aayog estimates, higher than the national average of 3.2%. Many young people in the state rely on government jobs, which have been marred with irregularities in the recent past. Hence, jobs are a politically sensitive issue, with resonance ahead of the polls. Those demanding domicile reservation argue that candidates from outside the state are taking away jobs that belong to youths of Bihar. Their slogan 'Vote de Bihari, naukari le bahri (Biharis vote, outsiders take jobs)' is fast gaining momentum as the elections draw closer. Under domicile reservation, the government of a particular state reserves a portion of government jobs or educational seats for its residents, the idea being to prioritise local candidates or protect local interests in competitive job markets. While Bihar does not have a general domicile-based reservation policy for government jobs, the NDA government claims that most of the recruits in recent government exams have been Bihar residents. Additionally, around a fortnight back, the Bihar government announced reservation of 4% of all government jobs for persons with disabilities from the state. In December 2020, following a series of protests, the state government had briefly introduced a domicile rule for school teacher recruitment. But it was withdrawn in June 2023 by the short-lived Mahagathbandhan alliance that subsequently came to power, allowing candidates from any Indian state to apply for the teaching positions. Then Bihar education minister Chandrashekar Yadav had cited 'vacant seats for quality mathematics and science teachers' as the reason, while bureaucrats had mentioned 'constitutional provisions and Supreme Court rulings' for the decision. The demand for domicile reservation flows from Bihar's economic and social challenges. As per a NITI Aayog report titled 'Macro and Fiscal Landscape of the State of Bihar', published in March 2025, Bihar's economy is predominantly agrarian, with 49.6% its workforce engaged in agriculture between 2022-23. Only 5.7% of the state has manufacturing jobs — one of the lowest shares in India. Service and construction jobs make up the rest of the jobs pie and constitute 26% and 18.4% of the workforce respectively. The lack of private-sector jobs makes government positions highly coveted, as they offer stability and benefits. Though the government has tried to expand hiring in recent years, demand far outstrips supply. They are demanding an official domicile quota with 100% reservation for Bihar natives in primary teacher recruitment and at least 90% reservation in other state jobs for candidates with valid long-term Bihar domicile certificates. The protesters argue that neighbouring states already protect the opportunities of their locals and that the youth of Bihar is competing unfairly with outsiders for limited opportunities. This, they argue, results in a vicious cycle of unemployment and migration from Bihar. State policies on domicile reservation vary. Uttarakhand reserves all Class III and IV jobs for candidates who have lived in the state for at least 15 years. Maharashtra also requires a similar 15-year domicile and fluency in Marathi for many government posts, effectively prioritising locals. Nagaland, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh have special constitutional provisions that reserve large fractions of local government jobs for indigenous tribes. Jammu and Kashmir had similar reservations before the abrogation of its special status in 2019. On June 2, the Central government notified 85% reservation for the residents of Ladakh. In 2023, the Jharkhand Assembly passed a Bill to reserve all government jobs in the Class III and IV category for domiciles based on the 1932 land record. But the governor returned it, citing constitutional issues, and it has not yet been implemented. Article 16(2) of the Constitution guarantees equality of opportunity in public employment and prohibits discrimination based on place of birth or residence. Article 16(3) allows only Parliament, not state governments, to prescribe residency requirements for specific posts. Besides, the Supreme Court has consistently ruled against state-level domicile reservations, emphasising national unity. In the Pradeep Jain vs Union of India case (1984), the Court held that 'sons-of-the-soil' policies are unconstitutional as they undermine equal opportunity. Exceptions exist under Article 371 for states like Nagaland to protect interests of the tribal population of the state. The Nitish Kumar-led NDA government has not yet given a direct public statement on the domicile protests. However, it has spoken out against this earlier. Last month, JD(U) leader Manish Kumar Verma said a domicile reservation policy would 'go against the Constitution', and could prompt retaliatory measures from other states and affect the millions of Bihari migrants working elsewhere. Instead, Verma said, the government was focusing on large-scale recruitment drives to address unemployment. Both RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and Jan Suraaj head Prashant Kishor have, however, backed the demand. Yadav has even promised 100% reservation across all jobs if the RJD comes to power in the coming polls.
United News of India
13 minutes ago
- United News of India
BJP walkout in the Bengal assembly over Anubrata
Kolkata, June 11 (UNI) Opposition BJP on Wednesday staged a walkout in the West Bengal Assembly after Speaker Biman Banerjee refused to allow the saffron legislators to raise a resolution against the Birbhum's TMC leader Anubrata Mondal's alleged foul language against the Bolpur police station officer-in-charge and against his family members. All BJP MLAs walked out of the Assembly after the chair on Tuesday evening accepted a privilege motion against Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari brought by four senior TMC ministers. BJP legislator Shankar Ghosh told media outside the Assembly on Wednesday that the acceptance of the privilege motion was illegitimate since Adhikari had not said anything against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the floor of the House on Tuesday. Speaker Biman Banerjee took exception to Adhikari's version as the Chief Minister "batted for Pakistan in the assembly" while speaking on a resolution brought by the Speaker appreciating the Indian armed forces for retaliation against terrorists in PoK and in Pakistan after the gunmen shot dead 25 tourists and a local at Pahalgam on April 26 in Jammu and Kashmir. Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women (NCW) on Tuesday sought a " review action taken report" from the Superintendent of Police, Bolpur, as to what action the law enforcing agency took against Mondal after he allegedly abused the Bolpur IC. A purported audio clip, which went viral revealed that Mondal, also known as the strongman of Birbhum district, used abusive language against the police officer and his family members. The NCW, before seeking the review action taken by the SP, had written to Director General of Police (DGP) Rajeev Kumar about the purported verbal abuse of a cop in Birbhum by TMC leader Mondal. However, the NWC was unhappy about the reply and expressed dissatisfaction with police not attaching the copy of the FIR and not even seizing the mobile phone from which Mondal had called the police officer. The NCW in its second letter to the Bolpur SP on Tuesday demanded the review action taken report to be returned within five days. NCW member Archana Majumdar said 'The National Commission for Women expresses deep concern over the apparent inaction by the state police in this matter, despite clear and widespread public outrage. This inaction not only emboldens such repeat offenders but also deeply undermines the morale of the police force and shakes public confidence in the neutrality and responsiveness of law enforcement agencies.' A week after the audio conversation between Mondal and the police officer went viral, Mondal appeared before the sub-divisional police officer and recorded his statement. The TMC condemned Mondal's remarks and sought an apology from him, which he promptly complied with.
