News and Views

On 24 April 2017, Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar had announced that 32 school education boards, including the CBSE, had taken a decision to stop the practice of unfairly increasing students’ marks in order to show higher-scoring results. Yet, just like in 2018, a data-driven investigation by The Quint shows how the CBSE has once again betrayed that promise made to all the other boards and in...

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After PepsiCo decided to withdraw cases filed against potato farmers in Gujarat, one would assume that dust has settled on the matter once and for all. Instead, potato farmers are still fuming because the state government did not consult them or the cultivators before meeting PepsiCo, to arrive at an amicable statement. A joint statement issued by the farmers rights group on Saturday, 4 May said,...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Bhadohi called out to his ‘Muslim sisters.’ He said, “I would like to tell the Muslim sisters of Bhadohi and across the nation, several countries don't have the provision for Triple Talaq. We want to give the same rights to our Muslim sisters which have been provided to the sisters in Muslim countries.” The remark leads to a...

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s roadshow in support of Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda on Tuesday, 7 May, is a clear indication that this is one of the seats the party hopes to win in Haryana. It is also an acknowledgement on the part of the Congress leadership that the Hoodas are the party’s best bet in the state. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a city like Mumbai, where life hangs by local trains and the din tires the soul, Yours Truly is the calm that needs to be felt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Supreme Court rejected a review plea filed by 21 opposition parties seeking an increase in random matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs in the ongoing elections. The Court had directed the Election Commission to increase random matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs from one to five polling booths per assembly segment, previously also on 8th April . Over 200 teachers from Delhi University issued a sign...

Punjab has been a bit of an enigma in Indian politics. It went against the Modi wave in 2014 as well as the Congress surge in 2009. Politics here is localised. And given that a handful of families - Badals, Kairons, Majithias, Brars and the Patiala royal family - wield disproportionate clout, there is a deep clamour for change in the state. But a common trend in Punjab’s politics, is the people’s...

In another low for Indian politics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday 5 May, while addressing a rally in Uttar Pradesh, attacked former PM Rajiv Gandhi in a statement. He said, “Your (Rahul) father was termed ‘Mr Clean’ by his courtiers, but his life ended as ‘Bhrastachari No 1’.” Many Opposition leaders condemned the statement and called it ‘shameful’ and ‘unfortunate’. Listen to the podcast...

51 constituencies has gone to polls on 6 May in the fifth phase of the elections. But a lot of new developments are taking place on the side and coalition seems to be the keyword of it all. In a recent interview to Bloomberg, the General Secretary of the BJP, Ram Madhav said that the BJP might need help of the allies to form the next government. Is the mood of the nation a coalition government be...

We are in the fifth phase of the elections now. 51 constituencies across 7 states went to polling on 6 May. Several political bigwigs like Mayawati, Jayant Sinha, Rajnath Singh and Yashwant Sinha came out to vote.  The seats to watch out for in this phase are the traditional strongholds of Congress, Rae Bareli and Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Minister Smriti Irani...

I am no admirer of Mr Modi, but I think that former BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav was not the ideal opponent to the prime minister, notwithstanding the media going ballistic over the rejection of his (Yadav’s) nomination papers. Yadav, in a surprise move, was made a joint candidate of the Mahagathbandhan, to fight the PM from Varanasi. Allotted the symbol of the Samajwadi Party, the fight is unlikel...

If Narendra Modi has largely usurped the centre-stage of India's parliamentary election this summer, his bitter battle with West Bengal's chief minister Mamata Banerjee has hogged the limelight, with every passing round in this long seven-phase election. After it emerged that a seemingly formidable Priyanka Gandhi wasn’t going to contest from Varanasi, BJP cried ‘cowardly retreat’. The real ‘Jhans...

After four phases of polling in Uttar Pradesh, BSP supremo Mayawati’s bold move to accept a pre-poll alliance with arch rival Samajwadi Party (SP), appears to be working smoothly. Reports from the ground suggest that the BSP’s core support base of Jatavs has collaborated surprisingly well with the SP’s Yadavs, who were not so long ago seen as oppressors. Supported in Western UP by a sizeable secti...

The United States has announced that it will no longer waive sanctions for nations buying crude oil from Iran. The waivers are due to expire in May. The announcement has elicited knee-jerk reactions from the nations affected, not least India, which imports more than 80% of its oil needs. Why is the US trying to cut off Iran’s oil revenue? What are the reasons behind this move and what is India pla...

Nearly half of Uttar Pradesh - 39 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats to be precise - has already voted. In 2014, the BJP won 35 of these seats and Samajwadi Party won four. Both the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress failed to win even one of these 39 constituencies. According to conservative estimates, this time the BJP could be down by around 15 seats in the first four phases alone. However, many other...

Our students continue to amaze us in their examination results, with so many of them scoring close to perfect marks in their board exams. These are the same cohorts of students that have been declared largely unemployable. Still, not just the highest scores continue to soar, but also the pass rates continue to rise. There is clearly something happening here that enables such incredible marks. Inte...

I’m Fathima Fazeela, I am 16-year-old and a student of St. Agnes PU College (in Mangaluru). This year, when I went to the college for my second year (II PU) admission, I was denied admission because I wear a headscarf in the class. They denied my admission without providing me with any official letter. I asked for it several times, I even went three days to the college for that letter but they nev...

The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC), a state unit of the Congress party, wrote to the Election Commission on Wednesday, 1 May, raising concern over the percentage of votes polled during the Lok Sabha elections after 5 pm. The letter, written by TPCC chairperson Marri Shashidhar Reddy, says there was an “unusual increase in the percentage of polling after 5 pm” on 11 April 2019, polling...

For many, the heart doesn't get ripped out of the chest anymore when you don't see them again. “Sex is cool, but have you ever heard of not making a big deal about it?” smirks 28-year-old Sneha* from Delhi. Sex has been afforded the choice of letting go of emotional reserves, she explains to me with a tinge of relief in her voice. “Dispensability is now a way of life, you know? Everyone can be don...

The Quint spoke to Harsh Mander about why he asked CJI Ranjan Gogoi to recuse himself in the Assam deportation case, and whether he thinks he made the right decision. “I would do it again,” he said, adding “I can act only according to my conscience and judgement.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Chinese student blogs on the success of Ayushmann Khurrana’s AndhaDhun in China. For starters, Sriram Raghavan’s Andhadhun (released as Piano Player in China) was widely publicised on WeChat and Weibo even before its release. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shanti Verma's is one of 17 sexual harassment cases that are currently pending action from AIR. In October 2018 – post the resurgence of the #MeToo movement in India – the AIRCACU sent a letter to the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) and to the National Commission for Women (NCW), to probe a series of sexual harassment complaints that had come in from AIR stations all across the count...

Elections in Tamil Nadu have always been a single phase affair. This year, the Assembly elections, and the bypolls to 18 (out of 22) constituencies were held on the same day, in Phase 2, on 18 April. The remaining four constituencies will go to polls on 19 May. Here are the names. Full marks if you can pronounce them in one go –Thiruparankundram, Sulur, Aravakurichi and Ottapidaram. The battle is...

Cyclone ‘Fani’, which had developed south-east of Sri Lanka, has been categorised as an Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm. According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), at 05:30 hrs, on 2 May, ‘Fani’ was about 450 km south-southwest of Puri (Odisha), 230 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), and 650 km south-southwest of Digha (West Bengal) – and is expected to make landf...