Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal Reacting to Bharatiya Janata Party’s announcement of contesting the 2027 elections, it said on Saturday that every political party has the right to take its own decision on alliance. punjab assembly elections On his own.Speaking in Ludhiana, Badal said his party had also contested the 2024 parliamentary elections independently.“For us the interests of Punjab and Punjabis are supreme, sovereign and above everything else,” he said.His comments came hours after Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that the BJP will contest the 2027 assembly elections alone.Badal said the SAD will continue to fight for the rights of Punjab and its people and expressed confidence that the party will achieve a massive victory in the next state elections.He also said that SAD is different from what he described as Delhi-based parties which want power in the state.“Earlier, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was given many inducements, but he preferred to remain in jail for 16 years rather than compromise with the rights of the state. I will also continue to fight for the rights of Punjab.”He said, “I have full faith in the intelligence of Punjabis, who realize that Delhi parties have repeatedly cheated them. I am confident that they will give 100 seats to SAD in the upcoming assembly elections.”Earlier, while addressing a gathering, Badal questioned whether the national leader could match the commitment of a regional party towards the state.“Is Amit Shah (Home Minister) or Modi ji as concerned about you as the Badal family or SAD?”He also alleged that Punjabis were abandoned during last year’s floods, blaming the Aam Aadmi Party-led state government as well as the Center for failing to support the affected residents.He said, “Many leaders left the party thinking it was over. Now the same leaders are coming back and breaking my doors to join again. But my question to them is why did you leave the party? People who change with the wind cannot be trusted.”Badal further claimed that the future Akali government will take strict steps against crime and drugs in the state.“We will bring a law to deny bail to gangsters and drug mafias and confiscate their entire assets,” he said.He also said that the party will take strict action against industrial pollution in the rivers of Punjab.“I will not allow even a single drop of industrial or sewerage effluent to enter the Sutlej and Beas rivers. Violators will be dealt with strictly. This is extremely important to tackle the cancer menace in the Malwa region.”Badal said that if voted to power, the Akali Dal would not allow water to flow into the Rajasthan canal, he accused the Indian National Congress of handing over Punjab’s water to Rajasthan.He said he was committed to correcting what he described as a “historic injustice.”

FOver the years, there have been frequent complaints over the Indian Railways’ ticketing interface, which is often accused of being slow, bug-infested and unreliable. So much so that the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), which powers e-ticketing through its website, regularly finds itself on the defensive in front of social media. “At the peak time of ticket booking, say 8 a.m., it is pure luck if the booking request is successful in the first attempt,” says Avik Banerjee, a medical representative from Kolkata who frequently travels by train in West Bengal. “The queues at the counter are slow, the server sometimes goes down, and by the time it restarts, the confirmed tickets are sold out.” This is a familiar problem to anyone who has ever tried to book a railway ticket in India. Finally, this is about to change.

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New Delhi: American far-right activist and staunch supporter of the US President. donald trumpLaura Loomer on Saturday apologized for some of her earlier “anti-India” social media posts after they sparked online backlash as being racist and offensive.Speaking at the India Today Conclave, Loomer criticized social media platforms. “I apologize if my comments offended people. I am here in India this week and will be spending several days traveling around the country,” she said.

However, Loomer claimed that she would not apologize for her stance against the H-1B visa program in the United States.She said, “I am not going to apologize for opposing the H-1B visa program, because my job is to stand up for American interests. Our immigration and labor laws have been exploited and abused. I will continue to fight for American workers who are struggling to find employment.”Controversy arose after Loomer arrived in India for the conclave, with many social media users highlighting her earlier posts that contained lewd stereotypes and derogatory comments about Indians, including comments about cleanliness and intelligence.As soon as he posted about his arrival, comments resurfaced and quickly went viral, triggering widespread criticism.Clarifying his position, Loomer said that he has no enmity towards India or Hindus. “There is no hatred in my heart for India or Hindu people,” he said.She said, “I don’t come from a place of hate; my comments come from a place of love for my people and my country.”Loomer also criticized Pakistan and accused it of supporting extremist networks. He said, “Pakistan’s biggest export to the world is Islamic terrorism, and I don’t think the United States should sympathize with the Pakistani government at all.”“Pakistan operates as an openly jihadist and pro-Sharia state, and when you look at many Islamic terrorist attacks around the world, there is often some connection to Pakistan,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday criticized the Congress during a public address in Silchar, Assam, saying it was working as a puppet of forces against India’s development.Speaking on the second day of his Assam visit, the Prime Minister said, “The Congress is fast becoming a puppet in the hands of the same forces across the world which are unable to digest India’s rapid growth.”

The Prime Minister accused the Congress of neglecting the Barak Valley for decades after independence. PM Modi said that this region once played an important role in trade, but it lost its strength after the country’s borders were drawn in such a way that it lost contact with the sea.

He said, “The Congress party had left the North East to its fate. When the country got independence, the Congress allowed the border line to be drawn in such a way that the vital connection of the Barak Valley with the sea was completely severed.”The Prime Minister said the BJP’s double engine government is now working to change the situation by improving infrastructure and connectivity in the region.PM Modi inaugurated projects worth about Rs 24,000 crore in Silchar, including the Shillong-Silchar high-speed corridor.“Just ask Congress leaders about this. Give them a pen and paper and ask them to write Rs 24,000 crore, and they won’t even be able to do that,” he said.The 166 km long corridor with an investment of approximately Rs 22,860 crore is expected to significantly improve connectivity between Meghalaya and Assam. Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister of the poll-bound state Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “Elections are round the corner in Assam. On behalf of the people of Barak Valley and Assam, I want to convey this message to the Prime Minister: The people of Assam will bring back the Modi government.” The Prime Minister is scheduled to hold a rally in Bengal in the afternoon.

New Delhi: Center revoked climate activist’s custody on Saturday Sonam Wangchuk The Home Ministry said, with immediate effect by exercising powers under the National Security Act.In a statement issued, the ministry said that “the government is committed to promoting an environment of peace, stability and mutual trust in Ladakh to facilitate constructive and meaningful dialogue with all stakeholders.”“In furtherance of this objective, and after due deliberations, the government has decided to revoke the detention of Shri Sonam Wangchuk with immediate effect, in exercise of the powers available under the National Security Act,” it said.

“Wangchuk has already served almost half the period of detention under the said Act,” the ministry said in announcing his immediate release.The government said it is actively engaging with stakeholders and community leaders in Ladakh to address the aspirations and concerns of the people of the region.

“The government is actively engaging with various stakeholders and community leaders in Ladakh with a view to address the aspirations and concerns of the people of the region. However, the prevailing atmosphere of bandh and protests is detrimental to the peace-loving character of the society and has adversely impacted various sections of the community including students, job seekers, businesses, tour operators and tourists and the overall economy,” the statement said.This decision of the government comes a few days after the Supreme Court adjourned till March 17 the hearing on the petition challenging the detention of Sonam Wangchuk. The bench of Justices Arvind Kumar and PB Varale made it clear that no further arguments would be heard after that date.The court had also asked the Center whether it could reconsider or review the activist’s detention, noting that “his medical condition is not that good.”During the proceedings, government officials told the court that Wangchuk’s comments had encouraged youth to organize protests similar to the movements seen in Nepal and Bangladesh, and even made reference to uprisings similar to the Arab Spring.The government argued that such statements could lead to instability in the strategically sensitive border area. Authorities also linked him to the violence in Leh on September 24 last year, in which four people were killed and over 160 were injured.Wangchuk was detained under the provisions of the National Security Act following an order issued by the District Magistrate of Leh on September 26, 2025, two days after violent protests broke out in the city demanding statehood for Ladakh and its inclusion under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.He was taken into preventive custody under the NSA for “maintaining public order” and later shifted to Jodhpur jail.His wife Gitanjali Angmo had approached the Supreme Court challenging the detention. The court first heard the petition on October 6 last year and issued notice to the authorities.

New Delhi: A parliamentary panel has recommended the Finance Ministry to allocate funds for fertilizer subsidy at the Budget Estimates (BE) stage to ensure that the allocation is as close as possible to the actual requirements.The practice of factoring subsidies into next year’s liabilities also distorts the true picture of government subsidies, the Standing Committee on Fertilizers said in its report tabled in Parliament on Friday. Considering the high subsidy expenditure for imported urea and other soil nutrients, the panel has recommended increasing domestic production.“The committee finds that the per bag subsidy burden on imported urea, at about Rs 2,100 per 45 kg bag, is significantly higher than the subsidy for domestically produced urea, at about Rs 1,397 per bag. The significant difference arises from the volatility of international urea prices, freight and insurance costs, port handling charges and exchange rate fluctuations,” the report said.Similarly, in the case of phosphatic and potash fertilizers (NPK), the subsidy for imported varieties is higher than for domestically produced soil nutrients.On Friday, the Department of Fertilizers informed the Lok Sabha that urea imports from Russia increased from 9.2 lakh tonnes in 2024-25 to 14 lakh tonnes by February, while imports from China increased by 1 lakh tonnes to 21.2 lakh tonnes. NPK imports from China also increased from less than 1 lakh tonnes in 2024-25 to 9.6 lakh tonnes in the current financial year.Seeking realistic, upfront budgetary allocation for subsidies, the panel said that in FY24, against the BE (Budget Estimate) of Rs 1.8 lakh crore, the final allocation was revised to about Rs 2 lakh crore, and in FY26, the BE of Rs 1.8 lakh crore for fertilizer subsidies was revised to Rs 2.2 lakh crore.

New Delhi: In a major departure from the existing law, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill 2026, introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday, proposes to remove the clause that allows “self-perceived gender identity” to be the basis for approval of transgender certificate by a district magistrate.Explaining the objects and reasons of the bill introduced by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Virendra Kumar, the existing vague definition of the term “transgender person” not only makes it impossible to identify the actual oppressed persons to whom the benefits of the Act are intended to reach.It outlines that a transgender person “does not, and never will, include individuals with diverse sexual orientations and self-perceived sexual identities”.It said, “The protections and benefits provided under the Act are comprehensive in nature, and, therefore, care has to be taken that such identity cannot be extended to an individual on the basis of acquired characteristics or personal choice or claimed self-perceived identity.”The government has justified the proposed changes. The statement of objects of the bill said, “The purpose of the Act was to protect a specified class of persons, socially and culturally known as transgender people, who face social discrimination of an excessive and oppressive nature.” It states, “The purpose was not and is not to protect every category of individuals with different gender identities, self-perceived genders, gender identities or gender fluidity.”The Bill also proposes to create specific offenses with graded penalties that reflect the seriousness of the harm, the irreversibility of the injury and the particular vulnerability of child victims.The Bill introduces a medical board headed by the Chief Medical Officer, and if passed in the present form, the District Magistrate will issue a certificate of transgender identity, after examining the recommendation of the medical board, cited as an “authority” constituted by the Central or State governments.As of now a person applies for a transgender certificate on the portal of the ministry and the application where the transgender person gives an affidavit of his/her self-identity is taken up by the District Magistrate for approval for verification and authentication of documents. Since the 2019 law was enacted and implemented in 2020 after the rules came out in September, around 32448 certificates have been issued as per the latest data on the national portal for transgender persons.The Bill defines a trans person as a person whose socio-cultural identity is ‘Kinnar’, ‘Hijra’, ‘Aravani’ and ‘Jogta’, or Hijra, or a person with intersex variation or a person who has a congenital variation in one or more of the sex characteristics at birth, as compared to male or female development: – Primary sex characteristics; External genitalia, chromosome patterns, gonadal development Endogenous hormone production or response.““Further, any person or child who has been forced, by force, inducement, enticement, deception or undue influence, either with or without consent, to undergo mutilation, castration, amputation, or any surgical, chemical, or hormonal procedure or otherwise to assume, adopt, or outwardly present a transgender identity, shall be included in the definition.The bill states that the existing law also prohibits discrimination and abuse against transgender persons but its penal provisions only address common wrongs and criminal offenses and provide for a maximum imprisonment of two years. The proposed amendments make room for stricter punishments and penalties.For example, there is a provision of imprisonment ranging from six months to two years for offenses ranging from forcing a transgender person to engage in forced or bonded labour, depriving them of the right to visit a public place, or forcing a transgender person to leave their home or village. Similar punishment has been prescribed for cases of physical, sexual, verbal, emotional and economic abuse of a trans person.If a trans person is abducted and subjected to mutilation, castration or any surgical, chemical or hormonal procedure; or causing permanent or grievous hurt with intent to compel the person to adopt or outwardly present a transgender identity against his or her will, an offense punishable with imprisonment for a term ranging from 10 years to life. Apart from this, a fine of at least Rs 2 lakh will be imposed. The punishment for a similar offense involving a child would be life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5 lakh.If anyone, by force or threat, compels any person, whether or not the person is a transgender person, to dress, present or outwardly conduct as a transgender person against the will of such person and makes them engage in begging or forced labour, the punishment will be between 5 to 10 years. In the case of a child, the punishment can be from 10 to 14 years.