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Messy Battle

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The tug of war between the L-G and the CM is a barrier to Delhi's development ambitions   The Lieutenant-Governor, also the close hand of the BJP has turmoil with the Delhi Government of the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP). Just like his peers, Najeeb Jung and Anil Baijal, L-G Vanai Kumar Saxena has been accused of undermining "constitutional sanctity" by the Delhi Jal board's officials, by issuing orders that bypass the Council of Ministers. Over a year the Modi Government has expanded the powers of L-G through an amendment, which was earlier limited to the control of land, public order, and police. Through these amendments, the center reorganized the powers and responsibilities of the Delhi Assembly and L-G which favored the latter. The center has been persistent to control AAP's attempt to implement its government model over the capital. The central government seems to be ready to take measures of any length to clip the wings of AAP. The CM of Delhi himself contributes to...
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Inflation's long shadow

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 The Reserve Bank of India is finally acting to rein in galloping prices The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is now serious about controlling inflation. Just a month after the off-cycle meeting of the Monetary Policy Commission (MPC) to raise the interest rate, the panel has decided to increase the policy repo rate by 50 basis points making it clear that MPC no longer intends to be accommodative. The commission focuses to anchor the inflation in the 2-6% band. The MPC now projects the inflation rate to be 6.7%, 1% more than it forecast for 5.7% earlier. Prices are now expected to accelerate at 7.5% in the April-June quarter, 120 basis points more than estimated earlier. The MPC listed the factor clouding inflation: the Ukraine war, elevated commodity prices, heat waves destroying crop output, increasing fuel prices, and more. Inflation looms over the economy worldwide. Growing stagflation is causing volatility in the global financial market. The RBI has cited an ongoing recovery and ex...
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Chancellor conundrum

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 The time may have come to reconsider having Governors as university Chancellors The WB government's decision to make the CM of the state the chancellor of state-run universities, instead of the Governor, has recently got friction due to strained relations between CM Mamta Banerjee and Governor Jagdeep Dhankar. Mr. Dhankhar has alleged the appointments of VCs without the approval of the chancellor and their absence in meeting with the Governo-Chancellor. A Similar conflict has been seen in Tamil Nadu. The state has passed bills to empower CM for the appointment of VCs instead of the Governor and to establish a new university with CM as Chancellor. Both bills are still to get please from the Governor. In Kerela, it goes the other way as Governor Arif Mohammad asks CM Mr. Stalin to take over the role of Chancellor in allegation of interfering with politics in functioning universities.  Originally, Governors were appointed as chancellors to avoid state-related politics in univers...
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Delayed response

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  The Government could have avoided the hate speech issue if the BJP had acted early  Recently, the case of hate speech has emerged from the BJP spokesperson, Nupur Sharma, while she was in a News television debate. She targeted Prophet Muhammad which was offensive to the Muslim community. When the news spread abroad, several middle east countries and members of OIC (Organisation of Islamic Corporation) summoned Indian envoy for apologies. The Indian government took action against Nupur Sharma and Navin Kumar Jindal, Delhi BJP Media InCharge, by suspending them from their position. Also, GoI replied to OIC by calling them narrow-minded for spreading agenda against harmony in India. However, unsatisfied with this move of India, OIC members demanded the arrest of the offender. In her remarks on Prophet Muhammed, Nupur Sharma has also received death threats. She did get security from government. Recently, US issued a report on religious freedom in India which Indian Government ca...
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