News and Views

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The temperature and Indian politics is heating up as the country gears up for the sixth phase of elections on 12 May. Hey guys, I’m Sonal and you’re listening to the My Vote 2019 Podcast, your one stop shop for daily election related developments.  As you know, AAP held a press conference over the distribution of pamphlets with extremely derogatory and casteist language against its East Delhi cand...

A millennial review of the 2001 classic Gadar: Ek Prem Katha starring Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Following PM Modi's claim that late PM Rajiv Gandhi had used INS Viraat as his 'personal taxi' for a vacation in the Lakshadweep islands, another claim on similar lines has emerged, this time targetting Rajiv Gandhi's grandfather and India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Listen in! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently alleged at a poll rally in West Bengal, that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had not come out in support of the UN declaration of Masood Azhar as a ‘global terrorist’. “Why Didi, because this will upset your vote banks,” Modi had thundered with a mischievous smile. For more podcasts from The Quint, check out our Podcasts section. Learn more about your ad choice...

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off a controversy on Wednesday, 8 May, claiming that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi used INS Viraat a ‘personal taxi’ in 1988, several senior naval officers and experts, who were in the know at the time, have weighed in and are divided on the matter. Listen in! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pragya Singh Thakur avoided questions when The Quint’s reporter went on a campaign trail with the leader. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Chair of the Election Commission of India (ECI), SY Quraishi, writing in The Hindu on 7 May 2019, cited a 1977 Supreme Court ruling, in which it was observed: “Where these (the existing laws) are absent, and yet a situation has to be tackled, the Chief Election Commissioner has not to fold his hands and pray to God... to enable him... to perform his duties, or to look to any external author...

Dear Mr Khan, On 5 May 2019, you laid the foundation stone of Al-Qadir University in Sohawa near Jhelum in the Punjab province. You emphatically, albeit with some difficulty, announced that “we will convert spirituality into a super science”. The government of Pakistan’s Twitter account wrote, “Al-Qadir University would provide both Islamic and scientific education to the students and help them be...

China has never been an expansionist power. On the contrary, it has been a victim of expansionism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Turkish currency Lira fell nearly 40 percent in 2018. The currency has been in free fall yet again, following the announcement of results of municipal elections in Turkey last month. But why should a country’s sovereign currency fall because of municipal election results? What has happened in Turkey - both in its municipal elections and how its 'supreme leader' Recep Erdogan has controlled institu...

The US suddenly made an announcement on 22 April 2019, that it will end all Iran sanction waivers after 2 May 2019. These waivers were granted to eight countries for an initial period of 180 days, after the US had imposed sanctions against Iran’s oil export on 5 November 2018. For more podcasts from The Quint, check out our Podcasts section. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adc...

Just four years ago, high prices had put pulses beyond the reach of the poor, and the middle-classes were skimping on it. In mid-2015, at the height of the price shock in pulses, I accosted people at Delhi’s Khari Baoli spice market, for a TV programme on the issue. Ira Shukla, a former school teacher had said, “Instead of twice a day, we are eating watery dal once a day, because rates have almost...

With the BJP leadership tom-tomming their hawkish national security credentials by repeatedly invoking the 28/29 September 2016 ‘surgical strike’, former Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, in an interview on 2 May to Hindustan Times, asserted that “multiple surgical strikes took place during our tenure too. For us, military operations were meant for strategic deterrence, and giving a befitting rep...

After the mammoth security and intelligence blunder that led to the Easter Sunday massacre, both President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe have been backed into a corner. They were forced to say they ‘failed’, and that too with reluctance. Sri Lankan politicians are almost all liars, corrupt, thieves and rogues, some are even accused of murder and assault. These politicians are reluctan...

Is the Election Commission of India scared of doing its job? On the evidence of its orders refusing to take action against Narendra Modi for flagrant and wilful breaches of the Model Code of Conduct, it is either that or it is in cahoots with him. The alternate theory, that they lack the most basic comprehension skills, can be safely ruled out because they had no difficulty in reading and understa...

Ever since my brief abduction on 5 June 2018, I have been dogged by questions like, ‘why were you abducted’, ‘why were you released’ and ‘why were you let go so quickly’. To be honest, only my abductors would have the definitive answers to these questions. But while everyone seems to know who my abductors were, they don’t shoot these questions at them. But they keep asking me, as if I ought to kno...

As I hit the campaign trail to support Raghav Chadha and Atishi of the Aam Aadmi Party, I can’t help but wonder, how in this day and age, candidates are still seeking votes for providing basics. I would also like to use this opportunity to exact revenge for the objectification I faced during my own campaign, by objectifying Raghav (albeit in jest!) – when I spoke of him being honest, upright, hard...

The Supreme Court dismissed a petition that sought to debar Congress President Rahul Gandhi from the elections over allegations that he holds dual citizenship. CJI Gogoi stated that "there was no merit to these claims. " While Rahul got a clean chit, former BSF jawan and Samajwadi Party candidate Tej Bahadur Yadav’s petition to contest elections was dismissed by the Supreme Court. If you remember,...

The seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi will vote in the sixth phase of polling on 12 May. Most pre-poll surveys predicted that if the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress fail to form an alliance, the state could witness a repeat of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in which the BJP won all seven seats with huge margins. While that may very well be the end result, a 7-0 sweep isn’t as much of a foregone conclu...

A two-part British comedy series written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (the woman behind BBC’s 'Killing Eve'), 'Fleabag' is the story of a 30-something woman who runs a guinea pig-themed cafe in London. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I will begin the probe into the affidavit filed by lawyer Utsav Bains in the Supreme Court (SC). My probe will be limited to his affidavit only. It will be totally independent of the sexual harassment complaint [against the CJI],” said former SC Justice (Retd) AK Patnaik to The Quint. The Supreme Court on 25 April 2019 constituted a one-man panel with former apex court judge, Justice (Retd) AK Pa...

Lok Sabha election results have always weighed on the share market. Like previous general elections, the anticipation of the outcome of this years’ elections is also affecting the stock prices. Over the last few days, the stock markets have been falling . The benchmark BSE Sensex extended its losing streak by falling over 250 points in early trade on Wednesday. Why is the stock market getting anxi...

The Bhojpuri music scene and election campaigns have collaborated since years. As election season begins, there is a rise in demand for singers for stage shows and campaigns for political parties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A 28-year-old female student at Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) has accused a member of the non-teaching staff of sexually harassing her, more than once. The accused continues to work on campus. “I access the admin building almost everyday, so I have to see him all the time. It makes me very uncomfortable. Sometimes, I feel really hopeless," she tells The Quint. Learn more about...