Trump's plan to shut Job Corps - key underprivileged training programme - blocked by federal judge: All you need to know
A US judge on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump's administration from shutting down Job Corps, a major residential job training program for low-income youth.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter in Manhattan said the abrupt shuttering of the 60-year-old program by the U.S. Department of Labor without authorization from Congress was likely illegal.
The ruling came in a lawsuit by the National Job Corps Association, a trade group for contractors who operate Job Corps sites, and some of its members. Carter issued a preliminary injunction stopping the Labor Department from ending the program pending the outcome of the lawsuit, extending an emergency ruling he issued earlier in June.
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Mint
21 minutes ago
- Mint
Cong MP Manickam Tagore's ‘birds of prey' jibe at Shashi Tharoor – ‘hawks, vultures, and eagles are always hunting'
Congress leader Manickam Tagore took a swipe at his party colleague Shashi Tharoor amid a war of words over Kerala Member of Parliament's praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor. Tagore, a Lok Sabha MP from Virudhunagar in Tamil Nadu, used the 'bird' analogy to take a shot at Tharoor, a Lok Sabha MP from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram. 'Don't ask permission to fly. Birds don't need clearance to rise…But in today even a free bird must watch the skies—hawks, vultures, and 'eagles' are always hunting,' Tagore wrote in a post on X. Tagore's post came a day after Tharoor shared a popular motivational message about birds and their ability to fly, emphasising self-belief and the pursuit of dreams without limitations. 'Don't ask permission to wings are yours. And the sky belongs to no one,' read the post on a poster accompanying a bird," Tharoor said in a cryptic post often used by many to suggest that individuals possess the potential and freedom to achieve their goals without seeking approval from others. Tharoor's post came soon after Mallikarjun Kharge spoke about him and his praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor. 'Freedom isn't free, especially when the predators wear patriotism as feathers,' Tagore said in his post on June 26. Kharge, addressing a press conference on Wednesday, said Tharoor was a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) due to his good language (English) skills. Responding to Tharoor's recent praise of PM Modi, Kharge said that while the Congress puts the nation first, for some, it's Modi first. Tharoor's praise for Modi has not gone down well with Congress leadership. In an article published inThe Hinduearlier this week, Congress MP Tharoor said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's energy, dynamism and willingness to engage remain a 'prime asset' for India on the global stage but deserve greater backing. Tharoor said the diplomatic outreach following "Operation Sindoor" was a moment of national resolve and effective communication. The article was shared by the Prime Minister's Office on its social media handle too. Tharoor's praise for the prime minister comes at a time when the Congress has been consistently attacking the Modi government over its foreign policy. Freedom isn't free, especially when the predators wear patriotism as feathers. After India launched Operation Sindoor in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, Tharoor has been making comments on the India-Pakistan conflict and the diplomatic outreach that are at variance with the stand of the Congress. Tharoor took the India case post Operation Sindoor in foreign countries while heading an all-party delegation that returned earlier this month. Key Takeaways Political loyalty and individual expression can lead to conflicts within parties. Metaphors and analogies in political discourse can significantly enhance the impact of messages. Public figures must navigate their expressions carefully to avoid backlash from party leadership.
NDTV
23 minutes ago
- NDTV
In Shashi Tharoor vs Congress, Now A "Birds Of Prey" Retort
New Delhi: Shashi Tharoor's journey with the Congress is becoming more awkward with each passing day. A day after Mr Tharoor put up a post on birds, ostensibly sending a message to his critics within the Congress, a party MP has hit back with a 'birds of prey' retort. Hours after a snub from party chief Mallikarjun Kharge over his recent praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Tharoor yesterday posted a bird's photograph with a message. "Don't ask permission to fly. The wings are yours. And the sky belongs to no one," read the message that was seen as his response to detractors within the Congress. Today, Congress MP M Manickam Tagore, seen as close to the party leadership, posted what seemed like a message to Mr Tharoor. "Don't ask permission to fly. Birds don't need clearance to rise... But in today even a free bird must watch the skies-hawks, vultures, and 'eagles' are always hunting. Freedom isn't free, especially when the predators wear patriotism as feathers," he said. Don't ask permission to fly. Birds don't need clearance to rise… But in today even a free bird must watch the skies—hawks, vultures, and 'eagles' are always hunting. Freedom isn't free, especially when the predators wear patriotism as feathers. 🦅🕊️ #DemocracyInDanger … — Manickam Tagore .B🇮🇳மாணிக்கம் தாகூர்.ப (@manickamtagore) June 26, 2025 The post featured six predatory birds: Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Osprey, American Kestrel, Turkey Vulture and Great Horned Owl. The 'predator' reference is unmissable amid a buzz on whether Mr Tharoor would exit the Congress amid the widening rift and switch to the BJP, leaders of which have been praising him for a while. The former diplomat, who has a gift of the gab and a vocabulary that makes headlines, has trashed such speculation. Days back, amid the chatter over his praise for the Prime Minister in a newspaper article, Mr Tharoor had said he had only described the success of India's global outreach in the wake of the Pahalgam attack and India's counterstrike Operation Sindoor. The praise, he said, is "not a sign of my leaping to join the prime minister's party (the BJP) as some people unfortunately have been implying". Mr Tharoor has been articulating the Indian position in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor. The Congress, which assured full support to the Centre after the Pahalgam attack, later changed tack and asked the government to come clean on what led to the ceasefire and questioned what role the US played in it. Mr Tharoor's remarks, some of them endorsing the government's response, did not sit well with the Congress leadership. What widened the rift was the government choosing Mr Tharoor to lead one of the Indian delegations travelling abroad to convey New Delhi's stern message on terror. The Congress had not pushed Mr Tharoor's name for the delegation despite his experience as a diplomat. During his trip as head of the delegation, Congress leaders kept firing barbs at Mr Tharoor, prompting a response in which he said he had no time for this. Yesterday, in what was seen as the strongest snub at Mr Tharoor from the Congress leadership, Mr Kharge said it's "country first for us, but for some people, it's Modi first". "I can't read English well. His language is very good. That's why we have made him a Congress Working Committee member," the Congress president said. He added that in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack, which left 26 innocents dead, the whole Opposition said it stands with the Army. "We said the country comes first, party later. Some people feel 'Modi first, country later'. What can we do?"
Indian Express
24 minutes ago
- Indian Express
When the Sangh became part of Janata Parivar – and was never again the ‘outcast'
On a rainy night in late 1974 in Patna, under flickering street lamps, a small group of university students was on the move as they scrawled with chalk on college walls: 'Indira Hatao, Janata Bachao'. Different party flags fluttered amidst the agitators, with some of them bearing the socialist and Left emblems and others marked with the saffron of the Sangh Parivar. It was here, on the fringes of the Bihar student protests – which ignited Jayaprakash Narayan (JP)'s 'Sampoorna Kranti (Total Revolution)' Movement – that the RSS first entered the anti-Emergency stir. As historian Rajni Kothari later observed in his memoirs, this student uprising 'mainstreamed the RSS and gave it political legitimacy'. This legitimacy, for most part, was earned by RSS volunteers who faced jail for mobilising people, organising protests and engineering what was then called the 'underground resistance'. The JP Movement began in March 1974, when Bihar students first rose in protest against 'corruption and misgovernance' of the then Congress-led state government. This snowballed into a revolt against 'misrule and authoritarianism' of the Indira Gandhi-led Congress dispensation at the Centre, which got moral and organisational support from JP as well as diverse Opposition outfits, including the socialists, Congress (O), CPI(M), Jana Sangh, and RSS volunteers. Christophe Jaffrelot and Pratinav Anil explain in their book India's First Dictatorship: The Emergency 1975-77 that the RSS's grassroots networks 'provided JP's movement with the discipline and rural penetration it so sorely needed'. It was, perhaps, in appreciation of this organisational strength that JP, when cornered by Left-leaning critics on his alliance with the Sangh, said: 'If RSS is fascist, I am a fascist.' In their book The Brotherhood in Saffron: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Revivalism, Walter Andersen and Sridhar Damle, drawing from archival correspondence, paint the RSS not as a passive outfit but as an active force integrating into the umbrella resistance organisation Lok Sangharsh Samiti (LSS) against the Emergency: 'The grassroots structure of the LSS included many RSS workers… presenting the RSS cadre with an unprecedented opportunity to gain political experience and … establish a working relationship with political leaders.' On November 4, 1974, JP and Nanaji Deshmukh, the seasoned Jana Sangh leader and ex-RSS pracharak, led a massive rally in Patna, demanding political accountability. As police descended on the peaceful gathering with batons, JP, then aged 72, was brutally hit – his collarbone, elbows, and legs shattered by the blows. Nanaji was said to have hurled himself over JP's unconscious body, shielding him from further assaults. Public admiration for JP and Nanaji soared, and for many, it marked the point where the Indira Gandhi government lost the moral mandate to rule the country. When Indira imposed Emergency on June 25, 1975, the RSS was among the first casualties. Four days after JP's arrest, then RSS chief Balasaheb Deoras was held at the Nagpur station. The RSS itself was banned on July 4. In subsequent crackdowns, many of the Sangh Parivar's prominent leaders such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani and Nanaji were put behind bars. Despite being outlawed, the Sangh chose resistance over retreat. Thousands of its swayamsevaks and ABVP cadres courted arrest by joining satyagrahas – protesting not just the organisation's ban, but also the government's broader strike on civil liberties and constitutional rights. As repression intensified, the resistance went underground. RSS volunteers built covert networks to print and circulate banned literature, raised funds to sustain the pushback, and established secret lines of communication between jailed leaders and overground activists. Reporting on the Emergency, The Economist wrote on January 24, 1976: 'In formal terms, the underground is an alliance of four Opposition parties …But the shock troops of the movement come largely from the Jana Sangh and its banned affiliate RSS … (of whom 80,000, including 6,000 full-time party workers, are in prison).' According to RSS publicity in-charge Sunil Ambekar, more than 25,000 Sangh workers were arrested under the MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act) alone. 'Over 44,000 more were arrested during the agitation. Some swayamsevaks even died during detention. But ultimately, democracy was re-established,' he told The Indian Express. Former RSS ideologue K N Govindacharya, who actively participated in the movement and was known to be close to JP, put the figure of arrested RSS workers at 1.3 lakh. RSS sources said volunteers took risks in city squares and village crossroads alike. In Meerut on August 9, 1975, satyagraha slogans erupted amid festive crowds. On August 15 that year, RSS cadres distributed pamphlets outside the Red Fort in Delhi. RSS activists circulated their underground newspapers – Motherland, Panchajanya – even though the press was tightly gagged. K R Malkani, the editor of Organiser and Motherland, was among the first few journalists arrested during the Emergency. At the same time, the Sangh also courted controversy. Observers point out that RSS chief Deoras wrote at least two letters to Mrs Gandhi from Yerwada jail, in August and November 1975, lauding her Red Fort address and pledging support for her 20-Point plan if the ban on the RSS was eased. There were also allegations that some RSS detainees wrote apology letters to the government even as a majority refused to buckle under pressure. Some critics like A G Noorani accused Sangh functionaries of 'grovelling before the Congress dispensation'. RSS sympathisers, however, claim it was a calculated strategy, aimed not at undermining democracy, but retrieving institutional legitimacy and securing the release of imprisoned volunteers. 'Sangh workers were in jail, yet they continued the struggle. Also, it would be a good thing to come out of jail and continue the agitation. Had Sangh been in a compromising mood, it would not have joined the movement itself,' Ambekar says. As regards Deoras's letters, many RSS sympathisers draw a parallel with Mahatma Gandhi's own letter to the Viceroy in his early days of defiance. 'It was an act of a guardian who was worried about his wards. Thousands of ordinary workers were rotting in jails and their families were suffering. The letters were an attempt to open dialogue,' Govindacharya told The Indian Express. He also points out that RSS critics never mention how Deoras rejected Mrs Gandhi's offer to revoke the ban on the RSS in exchange for the Jana Sangh not participating in the elections post-Emergency. Ambekar says, 'The letters of Deoras ji should be looked at comprehensively and in the right perspective… But did RSS withdraw from the movement? A decisive battle was waged and the Emergency was defeated – and a new government was formed.' However, these rows and the refusal of Jana Sangh leaders to dissociate from the RSS even as they joined the Janata Party government following the Emergency were said to have even changed JP's sympathetic approach towards the RSS. In his book The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics, Jaffrelot writes that JP felt 'used' and felt that the ideological divergence between his Gandhian socialism and Hindutva could not be papered over indefinitely. Ambekar, however, denies it. 'Jayaprakash ji always knew what the Jana Sangh was. These things had been discussed beforehand. If at all he was disappointed, he must have been so with the people who forced the Jana Sangh to walk out of the government,' he says. Yet, the Emergency altered the RSS's trajectory. The Sangh emerged with new-found credibility, its contributions finally recognised by broad swathes of Indian society and political class. Once ostracised in early years of the Republic for its association with Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse, the RSS now joined national discourse as a legitimate player. Barely three years after Emergency, its political wing BJP was born; the BJP under Narendra Modi is now into its third consecutive term in power.
