Heena Sharma Blog

Jawli village in Ghaziabad district is about 34 km to the east of Delhi and Khanupur in Muzaffarnagar district is 133 km away. The distance is a signifier at least in one aspect: closer to Delhi, the inhabitants of the rural pockets had the “national” picture in mind when they discussed elections. Pulwama, the air strikes and Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s ‘valour’ occupied the mind space. Further away from the National Capital Region (NCR), the issues were basic, impinging on people’s livelihoods and quotidian concerns. Although both the districts -- Jat-dominated Muzaffarnagar more so -- have families with historical links to the military and one or more members working in the armed forces, the perceptions about the India-Pakistan conflicts varied. If Jawli celebrated Modi’s “courage”, at Shahpur Badoli, nearly 50 kms away, the students of Baghpat colleges asked tough questions. Amit Tomar, a 21-year Commerce student, said, “Till today, the government has not showed proof tha...

Some, including the NITI Aayog chief, have slammed the Congress party of fiscal imprudence in proposing minimum income guarantee, or NYAY , of Rs 6,000 per month to 20 per cent poorest households. The estimated Rs 3.6 trillion payout looks prohibitive. However, a closer inspection of the proposed scheme and current political dynamics make it eminently workable. To begin with, Congress does not intend to implement it as soon as it comes to power, that is if it does, on May 23, 2019. Experts in the party, which include Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram, who were helped by its data analytics chief Praveen Chakravarty in putting together the scheme, have proposed a new committee that would be constituted to steer the implementation of the scheme. It is likely that former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian could head such a committee. Subramanian, as Chakravarty has acknowledged in his interviews, is closely involved in helping Congress with the details of the scheme. In the...

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Tuesday targeted the Modi government, adding she was saddened by what was happening in the country. She was addressing her first political rally in Gujarat after assuming charge as Congress general secretary. Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi were present at the rally near Adalaj village of Gandhinagar district. Priyanka said the Modi government did not fulfil its promises of providing jobs to crores of people in the country. The Congress held a rally in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state to sound its poll bugle for the crucial Lok Sabha elections. Article Source -> Business Standard

An advertising blitz by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi 's administration, which saw more than 150 newspaper ads exulting over its performance in 10 days, stopped on Monday, a day after the schedule for the next general election was announced. The election will be held over seven stages from April 11 in what will be the world's biggest democratic exercise, the Election Commission said on Sunday, when a code of conduct over election campaigning came into force. Citing the code, the commission said "no advertisements shall be issued in electronic and print media highlighting the achievements of the govt. at the cost of public exchequer". Leading English-language national dailies including the Times of India, the Hindustan Times and the Indian Express carried no government ads on Monday. The New Delhi editions of the same three newspapers had 162 government ads between March 1 and March 10, according to Reuters calculations. Of those, 93 were full page....