The Economic Survey for 2025-26, tabled in Parliament by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Thursday, reported a significant increase in cultivated area in Telangana since 2014. According to the survey, Telangana’s cultivable land increased by 70% in the last decade because of major irrigation projects, including the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project and Mission Kakatiya, which…
With the Supreme Court staying the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, on the ground that it has a “vague” language and could “divide” society, the BJP-led Centre’s move to bring the OBCs among vulnerable groups that face caste-based discrimination has run into rough weather. The OBC category was…
Two months after losing the Anta Assembly bypoll, BJP candidate Morpal Suman has alleged a conspiracy by party leaders, including Lok Sabha Speaker and Kota MP Om Birla and several others, claiming they worked against him. In a letter to BJP’s Baran district president Naresh Singh Sikarwar, Suman cited “internal sabotage” as well as delay…
Coming at a time when the BJP is preparing for five Assembly polls, and is battling palpable “upper caste” angst over the now-stayed UGC equity regulations 2026, the Union Budget did not seem to have a clear political message, and did not visibly focus on either poll-bound states or allies, or the middle classes, which…
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s ninth Budget presentation in the Lok Sabha on Sunday saw sporadic protests from the Opposition during specific announcements while the Treasury Benches cheered her on in the House, thumping their desks at regular intervals. Draped in a purple Kattam Kanjivaran saree with a maroon border, Sitharaman began her speech by invoking…
Although enumeration for the National Population Register (NPR) has not been notified yet, the Union Budget 2026-27 has allocated Rs 6,000 crore for NPR and Census 2027. The NPR, under the Census rules, is supposed to be conducted with the Houselisting phase of the Census. The Houselisting phase has been notified to be carried out…
Ahead of Assembly elections in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, the Union Budget made little to no mention of these poll-bound states, in a departure from five years ago, when they had received major allocations. The previous two Budgets had triggered political rows for their special emphasis on Bihar, which went to the…
(Each week, Deputy Editor Liz Mathew maps the changing political landscape from New Delhi, focusing on power equations, policy moves, and shifts in alliances.) “Portraying something as a true threat before a population even if it does not directly threaten them has always been a political strategy in electoral politics … And so we are…
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s reference to China in the unpublished memoirs of former Chief of Army Staff General M M Naravane (Retd) triggered a political firestorm on Monday, leading to repeated disruptions in the Lok Sabha. Citing House rules, senior ministers including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and Kiren Rijiju objected to Gandhi reading from…
While tensions between Swami Avimukteshwaranad Saraswati and the BJP have now flared up, he had also been at odds with the past Uttar Pradesh governments led by the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as well as the previous Congress-led UPA government at the Centre. Last week, Swami Saraswati returned to his…