Author: Sayantika Shikari
In a major move to streamline the democratic process ahead of the next elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to conduct the Systematic Identification and Revision (SIR) exercise in 12 states. The action is designed to ensure that every eligible voter is registered in the electoral rolls and gaps or duplication are removed well before time ahead of the next major elections.
In a major decision that could redefine India’s media scenario, the central government is set to raise advertisement prices for print media by 26 percent. This is to be complemented with key changes in the Television Rating Point (TRP) system, a much-discussed metric for gauging the popularity of television shows and fueling advertising revenue.
In a holiday-season flavored but hard-sounding telephone conversation, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was called by former US President Donald Trump earlier this week, wishing him Diwali greetings and discussing some serious matters like how the two nations trade and why India imports oil from Russia.
A behemoth pre-poll exercise, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has rolled out the highly-touted State-wise Situational Implementation Report (SIR), setting serious deliberations with Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) in top gear at the national capital.
In the high-profile surrenders that augur well for a less bloody future, some prominent Maoist cadres on Thursday surrendered to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Gadchiroli. The surrender, which officials described as a “major breakthrough,” is yet another blow for the dissolving Maoist movement in the state’s red corridor.
The recent observation by West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose *”I can’t say Bengal is safe for women”* has raised a storm of concern and debate across the state. His statement, made in reply to journalists, has thrown open new debates on women’s safety, governance, and ground reality for women across rural and urban Bengal.
The highly awaited School Innovation and Reform (SIR) The project, which was supposed to be launched in West Bengal this October, has suddenly taken a stunted start. Despite initial enthusiasm on the part of teachers and students, the Education Department has now officially denied that the program would commence this month as scheduled, owing to “administrative and logistical reasons.
In Afghanistan, the slim chance that women might find their voice in the media is rapidly disappearing. The Taliban, now ruling since 2021, have progressively reinforced restrictions on women and now their latest order has hit at the very core of freedom of expression. Women journalists, who were once the face of Afghan television and newspapers, are being muzzled, their faces removed from newsrooms and airwaves.
The rolling tea gardens of North Bengal normally a vision of serenity with mist swirling over green slopes now speak of desperation today. Flash floods have devastated this peaceful landscape within days, leaving it a vision of ruin behind them, with shattered bushes, flooded roads, and thousands of nervous workers speculating what the morning would bring.
Three physicists — John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis — have received the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics for research that has made the formerly ethereal realm of quantum mechanics tangible and accessible. Their work over several decades has demonstrated that quantum behavior, typically limited to particles and atoms, can be found in circuits big enough to observe — and even work on.