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New data from the poll carried out by CVoter-HuffPost-BW survey reveals shrinking numbers for support of the government's decision to demonetise high-value currency notes. While the majority still supports the move, the sentiment is shifting. The share of those who rated the implementation of demonetisation as "poor" or "worst" rose to its highest level of the last four weeks.
Less than 48 hours after Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Income Tax sleuths raided the residence of Tamil Nadu chief secretary P Ramamohana Rao on Wednesday morning and 12 other locations in Andhra Pradesh, Chennai and Bengaluru. This move, TS Sudhir argues, is likely to make the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) reconsider its relationship with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the centre.
When two alleged "Maoists" were shot dead under mysterious circumstances in a forest in the Western Ghats of Kerala last month, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan made a mistake, writes G Pramod Kumar. He kept quiet for a few days instead of condemning police excesses, a move that is bound to prove costly in days to come.
Allegations and rebuttals continue to fly thick and fast between the Congress and the BJP over PM Modi's decision to demonetise high-value currency notes. However, the Supreme Court has dismissed the papers seized by the income tax department -- Rahul Gandhi referred to these documents, while accusing Modi of corruption -- saying they were "fictitious" and "not authentic".
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was never known for being restrained about her opinions but her outburst at the current dispensation since demonetisation has hit a new high. Keeping with her recent mood, on Tuesday, she called the Narendra Modi government the "biggest thief" and the BJP under Amit Shah the "biggest robber" the country has seen at the Centre since Independence.
While an increase in the number of transactions involving swipe-cards since demonetisation has been reported, there has also been a sharp decline in the total value of these transactions. The use of debit and credit cards at point of sale (PoS) terminals fell to a nine-month low in terms of value in November and witnessed a sharp decline of 31% over that last month, both indicators of low consumption trends.
In a move to appease the local population, the Karnataka government plans to provide Kannadigas 100% reservation in blue-collar jobs in private sector industries across the state. If businesses do not follow these new guidelines, the government will cancel all concessions given to them.
Tata Steel shareholders voted to remove Nusli Wadia from the company's board with an overwhelming majority. Nine out of 10 shareholders who voted favoured the resolution to remove him. Overall, 64.4% of shareholders voted. Wadia didn't find much favour with both institutional and retail investors. About 82.5% of institutions voted to remove him as did 84.5% of retail investors.
A five-year-old child was separated from his NRI parents by Norwegian authorities, who have accused them of beating him up. In the third of such incidents in five years, the child was taken away without informing the parents from his kindergarten school.
In The Indian Express, Sandeep Dwivedi argues that Virat Kohli and his generation of cricketers -- young stars like Karun Nair and Ravindra Jadeja -- deserve an apology from the purists of Test cricket for being unduly harsh on them. "They had tattoos, dishevelled hairstyles, scruffy beards and millions in their banks before they turned 21," he writes, "They were so different from India's long-time sweethearts, Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, Kumble." But they have now redefined the Test vs T20 debate.
Srinath Raghavan writes on the controversy surrounding the selection of Lieutenant General Bipin Rawat as India's next Army Chief in the Hindustan Times. An uproar has been made over the political hand involved in the appointment, though this concern, Raghavan says, "overlooks the important issue of effectiveness".
In The Hindu, Stanley Johny narrates a brief history of the struggles in Aleppo, charting its course of steady decline into the current state of war. "From the Syrian perspective, the regime has defeated armed gangs in Aleppo which they had been illegally occupying," he writes, clarifying that this is not the way the world looks at the crisis and much will depend on the international community's attitude to Bashar al-Assad.
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