"On 15 May, just 24 hours before the historic counting day that confirmed Narendra Modi’s victory, a group of young men and women gathered at an upscale resort here in Sanand, some 60 km from Ahmedabad.
They wore smart casuals and carried iPhones and looked like they were at a corporate offsite In reality, most of them had put on hold their corporate careers to join the Citizens for Accountable Governance, a new kind of animal in India’s political landscape.
'Prime Minister Narendra Modi's slip in his address to the Bhutan Parliament, where he said "Nepal" while praising the nation's royal family, became prime fodder for Twitter on Monday. Mr Modi, who is on his first foreign visit since taking charge as prime minister, said, "I want to begin with a tribute to the Nepal...Bhutan royal family that ensured democratic values and protected people's rights..." Later, he said "Ladakh" instead of Bhutan. The faux pas did not go unnoticed on social media, where hash-tags like #Bhutan #Nepal and #TravelTipstoModi started trending.
"...On Friday police on registered a case against the Principal and 11 students of the Sree Krishnan College at Guruvayur after its campus magazine was found to have used "objectionable and unsavoury" language against Modi, garbed in the guise of a cross-word puzzle... The incident comes close on the heels of the arrest of the principal and six students of the Government polytechnic at Kunnamkulam.
'...The attack on women protesting against rape at Jantar Mantar is worrying. It signifies rubbing of salt on wounds of marginalised people – Dalits, women– and sends a clear message that protest and dissent will not be tolerated and forcefully curbed. First it’s a message to women to expect no real support from this government on issues of violence against them. The second is that Dalits who seemed to find hope in the larger Hindu identity will still continue to be discriminated and as Dalit women, they will be at the bottom of the pile.
'Braving the wind and rain that lashed aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya as it sailed off Goa, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his first outing from the capital since he took charge, underlined Saturday that Indian arms and ammunition should be exported across the world and used by smaller nations to protect themselves.
"The German political idea of “Decisionism” (and its contemporary avatars in present-day India) may be germane to understanding the enchantment of the middle classes and the subalterns with Narendra Modi, the new prime minister of the Indian Union. Decisionism is an outcome of a deep craving for firm decisions by the political authority in a situation where things are perceived to be adrift. It was one of the ideological resources mobilised by the German intelligentsia to defend the Third Reich in the 1930s.
'Is there a direct relationship between the latest Intelligence Bureau (IB) report calling powerful environmental international NGO Greenpeace “as threat to national economic security” and the recent campaign by Greenpeace against Adani Group? It would seem so, if one has a closer look at a new report titled “Research Briefing: Adani’s Record of Environmental Destruction and Non-compliance with Regulations”, which has been released alongside a fact sheet.
'In its 21-page classified report, Impact of NGOs on Development, first reported by The Indian Express, that identifies certain foreign-funded NGOs as threat to India’s national economic security and the Gujarat model of development, the Intelligence Bureau has cut and pasted from a published speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to describe the modus operandi of certain organizations.
"Over the past couple of days, the alleged misdeeds of NGOs have been hotly debated in television studios and on the social media. The storm was set off by a series in The Indian Express, revealing that a 21-page Intelligence Bureau report has claimed that foreign-funded non-governmental organisations have been “negatively impacting economic development”.
"A rape complaint filed some time back has returned to haunt Union minister of state Nihal Chand, the lone MP from Rajasthan to get a berth in Narendra Modi's council of ministers. A lower court on Thursday issued summons to 17 people, including him in a sexual assault case. The court order came following a revision petition by a 20-year-old woman at the metropolitan magistrate's court (11) who accused her husband and his friends of sexually exploiting her. The court has asked all 17 of them to appear on August 20..."
