RIVANCH

The year was 1963. The country was just recovering from the defeat of the 1962 India-China war. The popularity of the ruling Congress was eroding. Then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru was ageing. The party had lost several Lok Sabha by-polls. It was at that time, then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu K Kamaraj — who was considered one of the strongest regional leaders of that era — had chalked out a formula to revitalise the Congress. On 2 October 1963, the day of Gandhi Jayanti, Kamraj had stepped down as Tamil Nadu chief minister and proposed that other Congress chief ministers and Union ministers should resign to take up organisational assignment. As many as six Union ministers — including Lal Bahadur Shastri, Jagjivan Ram and Morarji Desai — had resigned from their posts. Similarly, six Congress Chief Ministers, including Biju Patnaik, SK Patil and Kamaraj himself, had quit. This plan, which came to be known as the Kamraj plan, had really helped the eroding Congress that time. Time

Sri Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji, the sixth Sikh Guru was born on 19 June, 1595. He was the son of Guru Arjan Dev Ji and Mata Ganga Ji. Guru Hargobind is known for his important role in providing a new direction to the Sikh religion. His focus was on building a strong military to strengthen the community after the death of Guru Arjan Dev Ji as it was clear that Sikhs were in need of armed and martial training in order to defend themselves from persecution. Guru Hargobind became a Sikh Guru at the age of 11, after the martyrdom of his father Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji by Emperor Jahangir. On the occasion of his 427th birth anniversary, let’s have a look at some of the important facts about the Guru: - It is said that Guru Hargobind carried two swords at his succession ceremony. One of the swords symbolised his authority as temporal (miri) and the other one as spiritual (piri) head of the community. - The Guru personally fought alongside the army when the Mughal forces, during the reign of Sh

Bihar under Nitish Kumar is literally walking on ‘Agnipath’. At least 12 trains have been set on fire and several railway stations vandalised across the country since protests erupted over the new military recruitment policy on Wednesday. Most incidents of train-burning, vandalism and violence, however, have been reported from Bihar. But why Bihar? Even if one discounts the role of the Opposition in pursuing a nihilistic scorched earth policy, hoping this might bring them back to power after a series of electoral disasters since 2014, and the anti-India forces perfecting their respective toolkits to keep the country on boil, Bihar has been waiting to explode, especially in the last one decade. The reasons, apparently, lie with Nitish Kumar’s unfettered ambition after his great rise between 2005 and 2010. Nitish Kumar, without doubt, deserves credit for bringing Bihar out of decades of morass. A year before he took over the reins of the state,  The Economist  did a scathing story on h

At a park in an isolated township, around 15 km from Jammu city, Kashmiri Pandits called for a meeting. It comprised all the PM and non-PM job package employees who recently migrated from the Valley after the targeted killings. Employees belonging to the minority community, particularly Kashmiri Pandits placed in the Valley under the PM's employment package, have begun returning to their respective homes in Jammu after a series of targeted killings. The Jagti township is a culmination of blocks and lanes where Kashmiri migrants reside after their exodus in the 1990s. Around 50 families have made a comeback to this township, which was specifically made for the migrant Pandits. As hundreds of Pandits huddled up in one corner of the park to discuss the recent killings, one man from the crowd took the lead to pump up the crowd which looked lethargic and distracted. “Only solution, relocation,” echoed amid other slogans as many more joined the meeting. One after another eminent faces

Dhanachuli, Uttarakhand: With an aim to enhance livelihood opportunities for over 500,000 farmers, Coca-Cola launched 'Apple Unnati' project in Uttarakhand in 2018. The company started this program in the Himalayan state with an aim of enabling farmers to increase their productivity by five times. In order to ensure well-being of farming communities, improve yields and propagate judicious use of natural resources, the company partnered with Indo Dutch Horticulture Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (IDHT) as its implementation partner. Speaking to Firstpost , a beneficiary farmer said that the project changed her life as her land was barren for years until she was approached by the IDHT team and made aware of the potential. Another farmer, Vijendra Rana said, "This is a miracle, Coca-Cola and IDTH's miracle!" The method Under the project, the farmers are provided hands-on training on apple cultivation and are facilitated with single-point access to enabling infrastru

India will never allow China to make unilateral changes to the Line of Actual Control, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said at a town hall organised by CNN-News18 on Saturday. #CNNNews18TownHall | EAM S Jaishankar ( @DrSJaishankar ) answers question from audience on China, Taiwan and where QUAD nations stand Watch Live: https://t.co/mgmiRJcAZ1 Watch on FB: https://t.co/Cf3kFtVOpk ( @MEAIndia ) #SJaishankar #EAM pic.twitter.com/61apa0r9AK — News18 (@CNNnews18) June 18, 2022 Upon being asked why the 15 rounds of talks with China have not borne results, the external affairs minister said that while the answer would depend on what one means by ‘expected results’ but he disagrees that they have not been fruitful. “We have negotiated on the friction points and many of the friction points have been resolved. We are very clear on one thing, we won’t allow any unilateral changes to the LAC. People in the country trust our PM, he will never compromise on it,” Jaishankar sai

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday met his mother Heeraben Modi at her residence in Gandhinagar in Gujarat on the occasion of her birthday. On this occasion, puja will be held in Vadnagar's Hatkeshwar temple. The Prime Minister sought his mother's blessings and washed her feet. Born on 18 June, 1923, Heeraben Modi entered the 100th year of her life today. Modi also penned an emotional blog for his mother. Maa…this isn’t a mere word but it captures a range of emotions. Today, 18th June is the day my Mother Heeraba enters her 100th year. On this special day, I have penned a few thoughts expressing joy and gratitude. https://t.co/KnhBmUp2se — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 18, 2022 For her age, Heeraben Modi is fit and healthy. She lives in Gandhinagar with her younger son Pankaj (Narendra Modi’s Brother). To mark the occasion, a "bhandaro" (community meal) has been organised at the city's Jagannath temple. Hatkeshwar temple at Modi's hometown

Kuppalli Sitaramayya Sudarshan, the fifth Sarsanghchalak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), was much ahead of his times. He was a visionary who could foresee future challenges and flag them much in advance. He was instrumental in reviving the concept of ‘Swadeshi’ in the 1990s much before the bubble of globalisation had burst. He also played an instrumental role in bringing up the issue of illegal migration of Bangladeshi Muslims and how it would alter the demographic profile and destabilise the socio-political structure in several states in India, especially in the northeastern part. He was known as a ‘perfectionist’ among his colleagues. A few hours before he passed away, he had corrected the pronunciation of “Ekatmata Mantra” by a swayamsevak (volunteer) at the RSS office in Raipur. The swayamsevaks had gathered at the Raipur head office of the RSS for the daily  shakha  and Sudarshan was participating in it as a swayamsevak. One of the swayamsevaks was reciting “ Ekatmata Mantr

Reacting to the ongoing violence over the Agnipath recruitment scheme, the Indian Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar on Friday said that he "did not anticipate any protests like this." "Protests are happening due to misinformation & misunderstanding of the scheme," he added. #WATCH I didn't anticipate any protests like this. We worked on Agnipath scheme for almost a year & half...It's single biggest Human Resources Management transformation in Indian military...Protests are happening due to misinformation & misunderstanding of the scheme: Navy Chief pic.twitter.com/ek2KiK25iB — ANI (@ANI) June 17, 2022 Admiral Kumar said that Agnipath is the result of work lasting almost a year and a half and that the scheme is the single biggest transformation in the Indian military. The remarks came as anti-Agnipath protests entered the third day across multiple states. At least one person has been killed as the protests spread to Telangana. Earlier, th

The sub divisional magistrate and police officials raided an area near Batla House in Delhi after they got reports of child labourers in the area. The child labourers who were working in that area were freed by the officials. According to reports, Amanatullah Khan of the Aam Aadmi Party along with some social workers had tried to stop the shops, which had child labourers, from being sealed. Priyank Kanoongo, the chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), tweeted that MLA Amanatullah tried to to strong-arm the rescue team and that pressure can also be exerted on the families of the rescued children to save the protected criminals. दिल्ली के बाटला हाउस जामिया नगर में बाल मज़दूरों के रेस्क्यू में SDM व पुलिसकर्मीयों ने बेहद कुशलता का परिचय दिया,विधायक अमानतुल्ला द्वारा रेस्क्यू दल को रोब दिखाने का प्रयास किया गया। संरक्षित अपराधियों को बचाने हेतु रेस्क्यू किए गए बच्चों के परिवार पर भी दबाव बनाया जा सकता है। — प्रियंक कानूनगो Priyank Kanoongo (@Ka

India has reported 12,847 new cases of COVID-19 and 14 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) informed on Friday morning. The new cases reported today are 5.19 per cent higher than 12,213 fresh infections logged on Thursday. It is for the second consecutive day that India has been reporting more than 12,000 new cases in a single day. India's tally of COVID-19 cases has now risen to 4,32,70,577 (4 crore 32 lakh 70 thousand 5 hundred and 77). The daily positivity rate has now risen to 2.47 per cent from 2.35 per cent yesterday, while the weekly positivity rate is at 2.41 per cent. The maximum number of new COVID-19 cases were reported by Maharashtra - 4,255, followed by Kerala with 3,419 cases, Delhi with 1,323 cases, Karnataka 833 cases and Haryana with 625 cases. West Bengal too has been witnessing a rise in new COVID-19 cases with the state logging 198 new infections in the last 24 hours. Tamil Nadu reported 552 new cases of coronaviru

The sub divisional magistrate and police officials raided an area near Batla House in Delhi after they got reports of child labourers in the area. The child labourers who were working in that area were freed by the officials. According to reports, Amanatullah Khan of the Aam Aadmi Party along with some social workers had tried to stop the shops, which had child labourers, from being sealed. Priyank Kanoongo, the chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), tweeted that MLA Amanatullah tried to rob the rescue team and that pressure can also be exerted on the families of the rescued children to save the protected criminals. दिल्ली के बाटला हाउस जामिया नगर में बाल मज़दूरों के रेस्क्यू में SDM व पुलिसकर्मीयों ने बेहद कुशलता का परिचय दिया,विधायक अमानतुल्ला द्वारा रेस्क्यू दल को रोब दिखाने का प्रयास किया गया। संरक्षित अपराधियों को बचाने हेतु रेस्क्यू किए गए बच्चों के परिवार पर भी दबाव बनाया जा सकता है। — प्रियंक कानूनगो Priyank Kanoongo (@KanoongoPriy

he Gautam Budh Nagar Police seems to have stumbled upon what could be a Chinese spy ring operating from an ordinary village of the district. The wires of this ring run deep into India’s North-East, apart from Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and West Bengal. The lid was blown off the matter late on Tuesday when the Noida Police raided a building at Gharbara village that turned out to be a Chinese-only club. This club was being used as a safe-house and meeting spot by almost 20 Chinese nationals living illegally in India, the police said. The raid came in response to a tip-off from the Sashatra Seema Bal (SSB) that had nabbed two Chinese nationals on the India-Nepal border last Saturday. The interrogation of this duo revealed that they were staying with friends in a Noida suburb. On Monday, Chinese national Xue Fei (36) aka Kelay-a resident of Xinji, Hebei, and Petekhrinuo (22), a native of Kohima, Nagaland were arrested by the Gautam Budh Nagar Police from a Gurugram hotel after the two were

Thirty hours over three days and there’s still more to come for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. After his gruelling questioning for three days — which began on Monday — the Congress MP has finally received a breather after Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials acceded to his request to defer his questioning in the National Herald money-laundering case from 17 June (today) to 20 June (Monday) owing to his mother’s hospitalisation. The MP from Wayanad had written to ED, asking them to exempt him from questioning on Friday as he wanted to remain with his mother — Sonia Gandhi, who has been admitted to hospital owing to COVID-19 issues. The ED is seeking answers about Rahul’s “personal role” in taking decisions with regard to National Herald and its owner Young Indian. On Monday, he was questioned for nearly 10 hours, following which he went through another round of enquiry on Tuesday for over 11 hours. On Wednesday, the questions lasted for almost eight hours. The three days of questi