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BJP national president JP Nadda, who was on a two-day visit to Bengal, on Thursday said that the saffron party would have come to power in the state in the Assembly election in 2021 but due to the rise in Covid they could not win the required seats.

“After the fourth phase of election due to the rise in Covid, BJP failed to campaign properly as done for the first four phases, for which BJP could not reach the magic number. But there are more elections to come and BJP will win,” said Nadda, giving a boost to the party workers.

According to party sources, in closed-door meetings with the party workers and leaders, Nadda has given certain instructions to the leaders ahead of the panchayat election due next year.

Full body truck scanners for Jammu and Kashmir could soon be in the offing. The security forces in J&K have been on a hunt for an effective truck scanner for over a decade.

Recently, a two-member team of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officials flew down to San Diego, US to look for "state of the art" truck scanners. The two member team spent time in a specialised company, which also included field trials.

The team led by a Special DG and IG rank officer who were sent to the US for the special assignment, on their return, sent a detailed report to the CRPF headquarters and home ministry.

The full body scanners are often deployed at entry ports at the International Border to scan trucks for illegal drugs, arms and ammunition, often smuggled for nefarious activities.

While IIT-Bombay has secured the second position in India on the 2023 edition of the QS World University Rankings, the Mumbai University has made no improvement compared to the past two years. The QS ranking list has 41 universities from India this year, and IIT-Bombay ranks second while the MU stood at the 36th position.

Nationally, the MU’s position stood at 33rd among the 36 Indian universities listed for the 22nd edition of the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings. In the 2021 edition, MU ranked 26 among the 28 listed Indian universities, and in 2020 edition, it was on the 23rd position among the 28 Indian universities.  

Globally, 1,500 institutions from around the world were listed on the QS World University Rankings. The MU remained in the 1,000-1,200 ranking range for the third year in a row. In 2019 and 2020, the varsity maintained its ranking positions in the 801-1,000 range globally. 

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's population swipe drew BJP's ire with Bihar unit chief Sanjay Jaiswal saying women's education couldn't solve the nagging problem that left the state a "fisaddi" (laggard).

Kumar's remark about population control entailing more than just a law to make compliance mandatory invited a retort from his principal ally BJP on Thursday.

In a social media post, Jaiswal said that Bihar's population density of 1,224 people per square km was nearly three times the national average of 464. "There is an urgent need for new schemes and incentives for population control in the state," he wrote.

Ahead of civic elections, including in Mumbai, Maharashtra BJP leader Kripashankar Singh has written to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath demanding the introduction of Marathi as an optional language in schools in the northern state. In a letter dated June 4, Singh said learning Marathi will improve the job prospects of UP students in Maharashtra, including in the state government.

"If Marathi is made an optional language in secondary and higher secondary schools then that may help students in getting better jobs in Maharashtra. I request you to include Marathi as an optional language in Uttar Pradesh schools," Singh, who is vice president of Maharashtra BJP, stated.

Singh had served as a cabinet minister in the erstwhile Congress government in Maharashtra in 2004.