NEWS

Taking a stand in contrast with the opposition on India’s border row with China, former Tripura Chief Minister and CPM leader Manik Sarkar on Sunday said that there was not allegation anywhere that China had occupied any foreign nation’s soil.

“I saw a comrade speaking about the border standoff with China while speaking on the international scenario (in the conference). Stand-off happened… there is no allegation anywhere that China has occupied the land of any country and is sitting there. Both sides are discussing,” the Tripura Opposition leader said while speaking at the inaugural session of the 16th central conference of Tribal Youth Federation (TYF) – the tribal wing of the CPI(M)’s youth wing Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) – in Agartala. 

The Indian Army has initiated general court martial proceedings against the captain involved in the Amshipora fake encounter in July 2020, in which three locals hailing from the Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir were killed.

An official statement issued by the Army stated that the general court martial proceedings has been initiated after the Court of Inquiry and the Summary of Evidence indicated a need for disciplinary proceedings.

The statement added that the Indian Army is committed to the ethical conduct of operations.

Launching a scathing attack on the Centre over rising fuel prices, former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram claimed that the Modi government has collected over 26.5 lakh crore as fuel taxes. He also called on the people to ask themselves what an average family got in return for paying this huge amount as fuel tax.

Taking to Twitter, Chidambaram said that in the eight years of the Modi government, the central government collected Rs 26,51,919 crore as fuel taxes. "There are approximately 26 crore families in India. That means from every family the central government has collected, on average, Rs 1,00,000 as fuel tax!" the former Union finance minister said. "Ask yourself, what did an average family get in return for paying this huge amount as fuel tax?" Chidambaram tweeted.

There is no smoke without fire, certainly not in politics. One informal statement from Bihar’s longest-serving chief minister Nitish Kumar about his interest in going to the Rajya Sabha, the only House he has not represented in his over four-decade-long political career, has left the state’s political pot boiling.

While the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leaders have been quick to play down Kumar’s remark and maintained that he will be at the helm till 2024, experts view it differently, as the statement came from a man who is known for speaking in measured tone weighing all pros and cons.