SAR-IM TERON

What is wrong with the Congress? For one last time, I thought of asking that question just as the party had to bite the dust in yet another election – the panchayat polls in Odisha. According of the unofficial results, the Congress won just 66 of the 849 zilla parishad seats where elections were held, while the BJP saw its tally grow nearly 9-fold from 36 in the last elections to 306, riding on the growing dissatisfaction against chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal. The BJD still won the majority of seats, but with a narrower margin compared to 2012 when it had won 651 seats. Last week, I wrote about how the BJP catapulted itself from a marginal player in Odisha’s politics to taking the effective space of principal opposition. In this edition of Deep Cut, I look at why and how the Congress not only missed the opportunity, but also precipitated its decline in the state that it once ruled for decades. There can be no better example than Odisha to demonstrate the 3D sy...

BENGALURU: The fate of nearly 10,000  dalit government employees  hangs in the balance as they face the threat of being demoted, with the  Supreme Court  recently  scrapping reservation in promotions . The  Congress government is gearing up to challenge the apex court order +  and is taking great pains to work out a please-all formula to prevent political damage ahead of the 2018 assembly polls. "We are in a sensitive and tricky situation. If we fail to stand by the dalits, they will brand our party anti-dalit, which could have a huge impact on our election prospects.And if we decide to fight for them, the other backward and upward communities will view us with contempt," said a worried senior minister. Law and parliamentary affairs minister TB Jayachandra said the government is in the process of seeking the opinion of the accountant general (AG) on what best can be done."Based on his inputs, we will take a final call," he added. On Februa...

NEW DELHI: Gujarat's  Anti-Terrorism Squad  has on Sunday arrested two suspected  ISIS  terrorists, who were allegedly planning to carry out serial blasts at some religious places in  Gujarat  in the next couple of days. The two, who are brothers, were in touch with ISIS operatives overseas through social media, police said, adding they have recovered bomb-making material from the two. The two, arrested from Rajkot and  Bhavnagar  were allegedly planning to carry out blasts at religious places like Chotila. "Acting on specific information, the Gujarat ATS team has nabbed two suspected terrorists having links with ISIS," Anti-Terrorism Squad's Deputy Superintendent of Police K K Patel said. "They are siblings, identified as Waseem and Naeem Ramodiya. While Waseem was arrested from Rajkot, his brother was arrested from Bhavnagar," he said. "The ATS formed two teams last night and nabbed them," he further said. "They were ready with all mate...

he Gauhati High Court on Wednesday directed the Assam government and civic authorities to file affidavits on protection and conservation of wetlands in the city. A division bench of justices Hrishikesh Roy and Nelson Sailo, after hearing a public interest litigation filed by eminent journalist and author Homen Borgohain and three others, asked the state government, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation and the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority to file their affidavits and fixed the next date for hearing on March 23. The PIL was filed for protection and conservation of wetlands in Guwahati city. The director of the National River Conservation Department, Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change, has filed an affidavit. The Union Ministry has suggested to the state and Union Territories to accord high priority on their specified recommendations to constitute wetland authority on the integrated management on lakes and wetlands in each state. After hearing the P...

Nine new Passport Seva Kendras would be set up in Assam soon, this was announced by Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh. V K Singh has informed this during a discussion with Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. On request from Sonowal, Singh assured him that the External Affairs Ministry will set up Passport Seva Kendras at Dibrugarh, Silchar, Tezpur, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Goalpara, Lakhimpur, Nagaon and Diphu soon. “External Affairs Ministry will extend all required support to maximise the presence of PSKs in Assam and accordingly such centres will be opened at District Head Post Offices initially,” Singh stated, adding, “Besides, MEA personnel, such centres will be manned by staff of the Postal department with technical support from TCS.” Keeping in view of the hardship faced by the people of Northeast while availing visas for travelling abroad, Sonowal requested the Union Minister to take measures for setting up of consulates in Assam. The duo also discussed about...

Australian Instagram star, Pia Muehlenbeck, hit out at a tea company on Tuesday The 26-year-old said that Skinny Mint had taken and photoshopped her images The company had inserted their product into snaps from her Instagram page Since Pia tweeted about it, other Instagram stars have leapt to her defence 'What! That is so dodgy!,' beauty vlogger, Chloe Morello, tweeted 'We are sorry, we didn't properly think through the consequences,' company said In the murky world of #ad and #sponsored content, it can be hard to know when a celebrity is really endorsing a product and when they are simply being paid to advertise it. This situation is made hugely more confusing when the company in question photoshops their product into the photographs of a digital influencer. Just ask Pia Muehlenbeck. The Australian Law graduate turned social media star took to Twitter on Tuesday to hit back at tea company, Skinny Mint. The tea business had taken her Instagram snaps, ...

Singh isn't the only one to feature with Martin on the song though. In the 90S, Akasa Singh was one amongst the millions who fell in love with Ricky Martin's infectious voice. It was a time when the Puerto Rican singer was all over the TV space with hits like Maria and Livin la Vida Loca. Little did Singh know then, that one day she herself would get to sing on a track with the iconic singer. Released a few days ago, 'Vente Pa' Ca' features the vocals of both Martin and Singh, with the former singing in English and the latter in Hindi. "The collaboration," says Singh, "came about when Sony Music (who recently signed me) approached me with Vente Pa' Ca. The song was a huge Spanish hit last year, and now, Ricky Martin and the label were looking for someone who would voice a Hindi section in the song while he sang the lines in English. So, I sent out my vocals to them, they liked it and the song was complete." SINGH IS SINGING TO STARDOM ...

It all began when 55-year-old Ashwini Marwah, who had been steadily gaining weight over the last few years, considered getting a bariatric surgery. During investigations, the doctors an 11.5 kg adrenal tumour completely occupying the right side of the abdomen and also crossing over to the left side. They claim it is the world’s largest adrenal tumour. Bariatric surgery The patient, who was suffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and hypertension, had come in for evaluation for bariatric surgery. Anoop Mishra, the chairman of Fortis C-DOC, said: “During evaluation and investigations we found the abdominal tumour. The patient was unaware of the tumour. Except for increase in weight, a dragging sensation and heaviness on the right side of the abdomen, he was asymptomatic. The tumour was located adjacent to vital organs, particularly the kidney, inferior vena cava and intestines.” High-risk candidate The patient was shifted under the care of Randeep Wadhawan, the direc...

After Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone, now Bollywood actress Amy Jackson is heading towards West as she signs her first foreign film. She shared the good news through her social media. Take a look:

उत्तरप्रदेश में गुरुवार को विधानसभा चुनाव के चौथे चरण के लिए मतदान शुरू हो गया है। आज 12 जिलों की 53 विधानसभा सीटों पर वोट डाले जा रहे हैं। मतदान शाम पांच बजे तक होगा। आज बुंदेलखंड के सात जिलों झांसी, जालौन, ललितपुर, महोबा, हमीरपुर, बांदा और चित्रकूट के अतिरिक्त प्रतापगढ़, कौशाम्बी, इलाहाबाद, फतेहपुर व रायबरेली में वोट डाले जा रहे हैं। आज  53 विधानसभा सीटों में 680 प्रत्याशियों की किस्मत ईवीएम में कैद हो जाएगी। इन प्रत्याशियों की किस्मत का फैसला 1.84 करोड़ मतदाता करेंगे। इन क्षेत्रों में साल 2012 के विधानसभा चुनाव में 60.20 प्रतिशत मतदान हुआ था। Read Also यूपी : चौथे चरण में ये वोटर होंगे अहम, पढ़ें क्या है जातीय समीकरण यूपी चुनाव: इन महिला उम्मीदवारों का है हथियारों से खास लगाव इन जिलों में हो रहा है मतदान जालौन, झांसी, ललितपुर, महोबा, हमीरपुर, बांदा, फतेहपुर, रायबरेली व चित्रकूट,प्रतापगढ़, कौशाम्बी, इलाहाबाद LIVE UPDATE:- - इलाहाबाद में शंकरगढ़ राजकीय बालिका इण्टर कालेज में SSB जवान ने की बदतमीजी। कई लोगों को जड़ा थप्पड़, वोटरों में आक्रोश - रायबरेली में ईवीएम खराब होने...

Mangaluru:  Congress leader B Janardhana Poojary on Monday lashed out at PM Narendra Modi, saying that the PM's move to demonetise currency had done an "irreparable damage" to small businesses. Addressing media persons at the Press Club, Poojary said, "His [Modi's] demonetisation move has done irreparable damage to small businesses. It's time Modi steps down if he is unable to run the administration efficiently." "What are Modi's achievements so far?," questioned Poojary, adding that Modi had failed to deal with the problem of terrorism. "India needs a smart leader, not a "fool" like PM Modi," said Poojary.

He is a BAFTA winner, Golden Globe nominee and soon, if his luck helps him over Mahershala Ali in Moonlight, he could be the first proper Indian-origin actor to win an Academy Award for the Best Supporting Actor this year. Along with Dev Patel, we are also eager for February 26 to come soon and see if Patel can create an upset win over Ali and Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water). Though Dev Patel is born to Indian parents, he is essential a UK national, who perhaps might have only visited India when he was shooting for his movies like Slumdog Millionaire and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. When we talk about Dev Patel, we mostly talk of how he was in Slumdog Millionaire (considering the movie's Oscar sweep), the saccharine sweet The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its sequel ('cos of the Indian connection), M Night Shyamalan's derided blockbuster The Last Airbender (that earned Patel his only Razzie nomination) and of course, Lion. These below performances of his have perh...

Ezra, an Indian Malayalam horror thriller is a film both about black magic as well as the happenings of a Jewish family in the 1940s in Kerala; hence the name of the film which derives from the name of a murdered scion of that family. At the same time this film is about reincarnation as well and of how the soul of one dead individual gets transmogrified into another many, many years later. This happens through the setting of a young couple who migrate from Mumbai to Kochin. The husband Ranjan Mathew (Prithviraj) works for a company that processes nuclear waste. He is the reincarnation of the murdered Ezra. Events are set in motion when his wife Priya (Priya Anand) buys an antique box from an antiquities store. The box unknown to them contains the spirit of the dead Ezra, which then proceeds to wreak havoc in the bungalow in Cochin where they reside when Priya unwittingly opens the box and lets out the spirit. It's never quite explained why the couple choose to liv...

Reliance Jio has become a victim of hoax once again, triggered by its controversial data plan which offers free unlimited access to high-speed 4G data, HD voice call, HD video call, SMS, and Jio apps. A message claiming that Jio customers can upgrade voice call and Internet services till December 31, 2017, has been widely circulated on the social media but unfortunately, there isn't an iota of truth about it. It came a few months after rumours spread like wildfire on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp that a Reliance Jio customer received a bill of Rs 27,718 for using 554 GB. The fake bill also stated that Reliance Jio users would be charged Rs 1,100 in case of late payment. It was barely a month after the company announced free 4G data service when the hoax started but people still spread it on social media. [ READ:  Reliance Jio new development: Free video download video tip; 6-series phone number in the offing ] Now, a message asking Reliance Jio costumers to upgrade the 4G ...

A 15-year-old schoolgirl committed suicide after being bullied and gang raped when she was just 13. Before taking her own life however, Cassidy Trevan of Melbourne, Australia wrote this powerful and heartbreaking suicide note as a warning to other students at her school. Show Full Text “My name is Cassidy Trevan, and I was raped,” reads the letter. “I was a student at (school name omitted) and I was raped by some of the students who still attend that school. My aim is to warn other people (students mostly but also parents) about what happened because I'm worried if they could do it to me they could do it to other kids like me, or at least try to. If anyone every tries this on you trust me it's worth fighting! Fight! If you don't you'll regret it for the rest of your life like I do. You can do it. Be careful. Be warned. Be safe.” The gang rape was reported to Dandenong police, but Cassidy never made a formal statement as she was scared that the bullies would reta...

Everybody sleeps. Even these insanely busy celebrity-types who seem to be in one city in the morning and in a whole new one the same night. And since their schedules are crazy packed, they’re caught sleeping in the most bizarre places, in even more bizarre positions. But what’s most bizarre is that nobody knows who’s actually taking these pictures. But we’ve got to give it to them. Even in all those uncomfortable locations and positions, they manage to look like a million bucks. Here, take a look at our sleeping beauties. 1.Alia Bhatt sleeping with her awards. Not showing off at all. 2.Here’s Varun Dhawan turning his friend Jacqueline Fernandez into a meme. 3.Sonam Kapoor casually taking a nap at the edge of a bed. Like we all do. Totally normal. 4.Priyanka Chopra taking a nap on her yacht like a boss. NDB. 5.Parineeti Chopra sleeping. On a friend. #SFW 6.Sonakshi Sinha being cute as she lies about being aslee...