Sayani Chakraborty, Author at Alive

There were two major conclusions from the recent G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. As a major development, India has presided over the G-20 in 2023. This increased Prime Minister Narendra Modi's credibility as an innovator. It is important to note that all of Prime Minister Modi's proposals and remarks made during his talk were prominently mentioned in the final joint declaration, signalling that India's voice can no longer be disregarded. As the two-day summit came to a close, it appeared that the world's leading economies agreed with India's stance on global concerns including the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. To that end, the final conclusion of the G-20 summit chimes with PM Modi's conviction that we are not living in a time of war. In this way, the importance of Indi...

ArticleBJPIndiaLatest NewsNewsPoliticsSocietyTrending

Gujarat Election: BJP Promises To Create Gujarat A $1 Trillion Economy

Sayani ChakrabortyNovember 30, 20220

With the long-awaited release of the BJP's election platform, it's time to take a closer look at the poll-promises fight taking place in the Gujarat assembly elections. With promises to create a Uniform Civil Code, a bill to seize the assets of rioters, a deradicalization cell within the police force, and stringent limitations on religious conversion, the manifesto plays to the Hindutva gallery. That's not just empty talk. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demonstrated that these kinds of promises resonate with a certain subset of Gujarat voters, and neither the Congress nor the occasional Hindutva-lite excursions by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have offered an effective response. Despite BJP's seeming dominance in shaping the terms of public debate across sectors, there is one a...

ArticleIndiaLatest NewsNewsPoliticsSocietyTrending

SC Upholding EWS Quota Shows Its Ignorance Of Socio-Economic Fairness And Equality

Sayani ChakrabortyNovember 24, 20220

In 1985, Justice Chinnappa Reddy ruled that quotas should be utilised for equality, not charity. His ruling explains the social justice goals of Indian reservations clearly and movingly. The fact that the judiciary, which had previously rejected such notions of social justice, finally accepted the view of politicians and the majority of Indians regarding the need for vertical reservations in jobs and education to create a truly equal India is a landmark decision that will continue to symbolise this. Consider the Supreme Court's ruling in Janhit Abhiyan v Union of India (2022), which upheld the 103rd amendment in the context of reservations for economically poorer sector (EWS). By upholding the 103rd amendment, the Court implied such reservations are for charity, not parity. All thre...

ArticleIndiaLatest NewsNewsPoliticsSocietyTrending

People Want To Sue Over Morbi Tragedy Can Do So In Gujarat HC: Supreme Court

Sayani ChakrabortyNovember 22, 20220

Since a division bench led by the Chief Justice of the Gujarat high court had already taken suo motu note of the incident and issued many directives, the bench stated that it will not be hearing the applications at this time. On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to hear two petitions seeking independent inquiries into the bridge collapse in Morbi, Gujarat, that claimed the lives of more than 140 people. The court cited the fact that the Gujarat high court had already taken suo motu cognisance of the matter. The high court was ordered to keep an eye on the investigation and any other developments relating to it by a bench consisting of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli. The bench explained that it would not be hearing the petitions at this time since a division b...

ArticleBJPIndiaLatest NewsNewsPoliticsSocietyTrending

Congress Party Needs To Rethink Why Its Telangana Plan Hasn’t Worked

Sayani ChakrabortyNovember 21, 20220

The Congress party's low performance in the Munugode bypoll was expected. A sitting seat was lost in a byelection and the Congress candidate couldn't preserve the security deposit while Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra was in the state. In August, former Congress MLA Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy prompted another byelection. The BJP intends to show that BRS vs. Congress is giving way to BRS vs. BJP in Telangana by using byelections. The state's ruling party, Telangana Rashtra Samiti, has changed its name to Bhartiya Rashtra Samiti. This clever tactic recalls how the BJP used Congress leaders and cadre to oust the CPM in Tripura. The Congress is tumbling like a house of cards in Telangana as the BJP uses a systematic plan to destroy it. BRS, BJP have more resources and fighte...

BJPElectionsIndiaNewsPoliticsSocietyTrending

Underperforming MLAs Should Be Ousted, But Only In Strong-Led Parties

Sayani ChakrabortyNovember 16, 20220

The BJP's approach to elections is distinguished by its clinical evaluation of the likelihood of reelection for each existing lawmaker. Fear has spread among several of the BJP's Karnataka legislators after the party lost over 30 sitting MLAs in Gujarat. Only 149 out of 312 UP MLAs from BJP's 2017 triumph were re-elected earlier this year. In general, this is a decent method. As many MLAs run for office under the party's symbol, the party has a responsibility to the electorate not to re-nominate an underperforming member. Keeping the party at arm's length from any local anti-incumbency against the candidate is a plus as well. In most cases, this is possible only for parties with exceptional leadership. It was reported in 2021 that the CPM in Kerala has expelled 38 of its sitting MLA...

BJPIndiaNewsPoliticsSocietyTrending

The Recent By Election Shows Early Sign Of 2024 Election For BJP And Congress

Sayani ChakrabortyNovember 13, 20220

Except for the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, all byelection parties appealed to Indian political dynasticism. In preparation for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections against the BJP, the opposition parties showed their strength in seven by-elections in six states. With a few exceptions, the results were predictable, assuring that legislatures would not alter. BJP retaining Gopalganj (Bihar), Gola Gokrannath (Uttar Pradesh), Dhamnagar (Odisha), and Adampur (Haryana) from the Congress. The RJD retained Bihar's Mokama constituency despite Anant Singh's resignation for corruption. After Congress MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy defected to the BJP, the Munugode byelection was won by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). The saffron party's candidate lost by more than 3 percentage points against the ...

InternationalNewsPoliticsTrending

This Is Why Elon Musk’s Two Weeks On Twitter Herald India’s Dalliance With Digital Demonetisation

Sayani ChakrabortyNovember 13, 20220

Musk reportedly sacked 90% of the Twitter India team this week, leaving the company with a skeleton crew. Twitter may or may not continue its legal action challenging the Union government's censorship efforts. Following his takeover of Twitter, billionaire Elon Musk proposed significant reforms that appear to be aimed at a small number of affluent Anglophone countries. However, their influence will be felt all around the world, and maybe more so in places like India, where Twitter has a special place in a young and dynamic public sphere. Journalists and activists have been arrested on the basis of tweets, and the Twitter India team has been accused of both working with the government and rejecting it. This week, Twitter in India has been virtually nonexistent due to rumours that ...

ArticleBJPIndiaLatest NewsNewsPoliticsSocietyTrending

Bureaucrats Ignore Calls, Meetings Amid AAP-Centre Dispute Over Delhi Services

Sayani ChakrabortyNovember 10, 20220

In an application to the Supreme Court, Delhi's deputy chief minister, Manish Sisodia, also claimed indifference on the part of the city's civil officials, saying that issues had become "more acute" after V.K. Saxena was named L-G. Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia has made new allegations of "indifference" on the part of civil servants in their interactions with leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the ongoing dispute between the Union government and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led Delhi government over control over services in the national capital. The Deputy Chief Minister filed an affidavit with the Supreme Court claiming that public officials often ignore ministerial orders, refuse to receive phone calls from ministers, and do not show up to meetings wit...

ArticleIndiaInternationalLatest NewsNewsPoliticsTrending

When It Comes To Defending, Democracy And Western Media Sounds Shady At Times

Sayani ChakrabortyNovember 10, 20220

Voting and democratic judgments are often final. Al Gore, a Democratic presidential candidate, branded George W. Bush's Florida triumph a "pregnant chad" in 2000 as per an article published by 'The Nation'. The vote-punching method was at issue. Dimpled or pregnant chads imply insufficient force. This was the most distinguished democracy's election procedure. Paper ballots were still used in USA Presidential election as per India Today, 2016 article. Western media and major NGOs and think institutes continue to defame India as a dictatorship despite its better voting processes and impartial Election Commission. The West accepted authoritarian governments that killed their own people in the name of democracy. China shows how Western democracies trade with tyrants that violate human r...

ArticleBJPIndiaLatest NewsNewsPoliticsSocietyTrending

Tossed Aside: Political Intervention Makes Mushroom Quotas A Mess, Courts Should Stay Out; Analysis

Sayani ChakrabortyNovember 9, 20220

Whatever their original motivation may have been, 70 years later reservations are not actually about alleviating poverty. The politics of caste allegations have grown rapidly in recent decades, fueling their aggressive development. As a result, the courts have compounded their actions in a way that follows the political flow, rather than defending the constitutional guardrails on the issue. Despite the high income cap of this quota and its high caste makeup, the highest court affirmed both an EWS quota and an arguable infringement of the 50% lakshman rekha this week. In sum, the four separate interpretations of the EWS ruling have only served to sow further confusion and uncertainty. A regulation passed in Maharashtra last year that favoured the Marathas while increasing the tota...

ArticleBJPIndiaLatest NewsNewsPoliticsTrendingUncategorized

Success BJP In Dhamnagar Bypoll Deals Blow To BJD’s Sense Of Invincibility

Sayani ChakrabortyNovember 9, 20220

Since losing the Dhamnagar assembly bypoll to the Bharatiya Janata Party, Naveen Patnaik and the BJD have gone winless in Odisha (BJP). Saffron won this coastal seat by 9,881 votes.The BJD hasn't lost a state by-election since the 2019 general elections, when it won a fifth straight term as the state's ruling party with a supermajority of 112 in the assembly of 147. Since 2019, it had won every byelection, including the 2020 Balasore Sadar seat from the BJP. The BJP lost Balasore Sadar, bringing its total assembly seats to 22, although it remains the state's main opposition, a distinction it acquired from the Congress in 2019. Despite the BJP fielding Suryabanshi Suraj, the son of former MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi, who had died, most BJD leaders were confident of regaining the seat ...