New Delhi: Worker Sonam Wangchuk The Congress on Thursday doubled its support for the CPI(M) Janata Party (CJP) and rejected Ladakh Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena’s claim that he was unsure about the origins of the online movement. Wangchuk also questioned the LG’s publicizing of their recent meeting and said the tone of Saxena’s social media posts was in stark contrast to the cordial discussions he and his wife had with her.Recalling the meeting, Wangchuk said he was surprised by the message conveyed through Saxena’s post on X, which he described as a friendly and constructive discussion.He said, “I thought it was probably to please some boss somewhere in Delhi, who had instructed me to call and say such things, but there was no meeting like that, there was only a tweet.”The academic said he decided not to respond immediately and waited for several days before addressing the matter publicly.He said he deliberately avoided reacting to what he described as “childish behavior” and responded only after the comments were published by several newspapers.The exchange followed a post by Saxena on Tuesday after he met Wangchuk and his wife, HIAL co-founder Gitanjali J Angmo. In the post, the lieutenant governor said he had cautioned the activist against “weaving a misleading and provocative narrative” and claimed that Wangchuk had admitted that comparing Ladakh to Manipur was an “error of judgment.”Saxena also said that Wangchuk was unsure about the origins of the Cockroach Janata Party and had agreed to study the motivations of its founders before reconsidering his position if necessary.Rejecting those claims, Wangchuk said the meeting took place over tea and lasted for about an hour, in what he described as a warm and cordial atmosphere.“LG Ladakh invited us for a meeting over a cup of tea. We spent about an hour in a cordial and friendly atmosphere discussing his initiative, our work and possibilities of cooperation,” Wangchuk told news agency PTI.According to him, the Lieutenant Governor did talk about comparing Ladakh with Manipur and supporting the cockroach Janata Party, but no warning or reprimand was given during the discussion.“An hour after we left, we were surprised, and not a very pleasant one, to see that he had tweeted as if he had condemned us or cautioned us,” he said.Wangchuk also refuted Saxena’s claim that he had made the Manipur comparison a mistake.He said, “I don’t think it’s an error in my judgment. I still stand by it completely.” He also said that he had merely commented that using the example “could have been avoided” in these circumstances.“An avoidable error is very different from an error of judgment,” Wangchuk said.He also rejected suggestions that he had distanced himself from the cockroach Janata Party. According to Wangchuk, Saxena had described the movement as influenced by foreign powers and external funding sources, claims he neither accepted nor supported.He insisted, “I never said I was unsure about the origins and that I would reconsider my stance.”Wangchuk said the lieutenant governor had described the movement as “unfortunate” and accused it of being linked to organizations such as the Soros Foundation as well as countries including Pakistan and Bangladesh.He said, “Inwardly I was laughing at the story that he was telling to a person who was in jail under the NSA. You’re giving the same story to the person to whom it all happened,” he said.The Magsaysay Award winner reiterated his support for the online movement and described himself as a fan of its campaign.He said, “I’m a big fan of the Cockroach Party and I will remain so… I stand by what I said, I’m an honorary cockroach and I support it.”Wangchuk said that he had only expressed his willingness to review any evidence presented regarding the group’s origins and that such openness should not be interpreted as a withdrawal of support.In a direct appeal to the movement’s founder Abhijit Dipke, whom he called the ‘cockroach-in-chief’, Wangchuk said, “I am formally asking Mr Dipke to give me the figures.”Dipke, who founded the satirical social media platform that later grew into an online movement, has previously denied allegations of substantial foreign support. He shared audience data on X, claiming that more than 94 percent of the group’s followers are from India and rejected suggestions that its support base is dominated by foreign or Pakistani users.Wangchuk said making such data public would help resolve the debate.He commented, “If it is an Indian youth initiative with foreign followers, I become an even bigger fan and supporter… Even if 70 per cent are from India and the rest are spread across many countries, it at least makes India the world leader in constructive protest.”In his first post, Saxena said both sides had agreed that an “atmosphere of positivity” should prevail in Ladakh and cautioned that the protests seen in the Union Territory last year could harm tourism and economic activities.The exchange came soon after discussions between representatives of Ladakh and a sub-committee of the Home Ministry. In previous interviews, Wangchuk had expressed concern that Ladakh risked moving towards a division similar to Manipur, though he later said recent talks had helped improve the atmosphere.

New Delhi: To prevent paper leaks in NEET-UG, the Center is actively exploring the use of IAF aircraft to transport question papers for the June 21 re-examination, as part of a comprehensive “whole of government” security strategy involving the Home Ministry, central agencies and state police networks, reports Manas Gohain.The proposal was discussed at a high-level meeting on Thursday led by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, senior PMO officials, NTA DG Abhishek Singh and top bureaucrats from several ministries. According to Education Ministry sources, the government is considering deploying the Indian Air Force only for transport logistics “due to time constraints and does not want to take any risks this time”.Sources stressed that no final decision has been taken yet and the proposal will be placed before PM Narendra Modi before any formal approval.However, the move acknowledges the ever-evolving tactics used by those determined to leak entrance exam papers for prestigious seats in medical colleges and the importance of the government to ensure the integrity of the upcoming NEET. “The approach this time is that each vulnerable point in the examination chain should be secured with maximum redundancies and supervision. The government is leaving no stone unturned,” a source said.Sources said that if the Indian Air Force’s plan is implemented, its aircraft will deliver exam papers for the upcoming NEET to select locations in the state, such as Lucknow, Agra and Gorakhpur and Varanasi in UP; Patna and Darbhanga in Bihar; Kolkata and Bagdogra in Bengal. From then on, state agencies will handle the work of delivering the papers to the districts and keeping them in safe custody and transporting them to the examination centres. At present, the delivery of papers is done by the Department of Posts.Officials said the meeting took a detailed review of the entire examination cycle – from the panel of paper setters and printing protocols to the transport routes, storage facilities, distribution network and last-mile security arrangements at the examination centres.Apart from exploring the use of the Indian Air Force, deeper coordination with the Home Ministry and state home departments for safe movement and monitoring of question papers was also discussed. Sources said the district administration and police units are likely to be more closely integrated into the transportation and custody chain.The Prime Minister is understood to be personally monitoring preparations for the June 21 re-examination and is being regularly briefed on operational and security measures related to the examination process, officials said. NEET-UG 2026 was canceled on May 12 following allegations of question paper leak. CBI has arrested 13 people from different cities.

New Delhi: Despite a steep decline over the past decade, Indians are still spending more out of pocket on health care than people in many neighboring and developing countries, according to the National Health Accounts (NHA) Estimates 2022-23 released by the Health Ministry.The report’s international comparison of out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) showed that India’s per capita expenditure out of personal pocket in 2022 was $121 international dollars (PPP), ranking the country 64th globally. Data show that despite the expansion of public health care schemes and insurance coverage, families in India continue to bear a large portion of the treatment costs themselves. In neighboring countries, the OOPE burden was 85 international dollars in Pakistan, 180 in Nepal, 130 in Bangladesh and 246 international dollars in Sri Lanka.

However, the report points to a major long-term improvement within India. Out-of-pocket expenditure as a share of total health expenditure declined sharply from 64.2% in 2013-14 to 43.4% in 2022-23. Government officials attributed the decline to rising public health expenditure, expansion of Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY, free medicine schemes, wider access to primary health services through Jan Aushadhi shops and Ayushman Arogya Mandirs.Government health expenditure has almost tripled in the last decade, from Rs 1.3 lakh crore in 2013-14 to Rs 3.8 lakh crore in 2022-23, the report showed. Health economists say that despite recent reforms, India’s health care financing system remains largely dependent on domestic spending.According to the report, drugs and pharmaceutical purchases remain the largest driver of personal health care spending in India. International comparisons also showed huge contradictions at the global level. Switzerland reported the highest per capita out-of-pocket spending in the world at 2,302 international dollars, followed by Malta at 1,729 and Singapore at 1,647.Among major developed economies, the US reported an OOPE of 1,380 international dollars, while the UK stood at 857 and Canada at 1,038.At the low end of the global ranking, Kiribati recorded the world’s lowest OOPE at just 2 international dollars, followed by Tuvalu and Solomon Islands at 4 international dollars each.Public health experts say low out-of-pocket spending is considered a leading indicator of strong public health care systems because it reduces the risk of families falling into poverty due to medical expenses.

Gandhinagar: BJP Union Home Minister said Bengal government will not press charges against Bangladeshis living illegally in the state, if they decide to return voluntarily Amit Shah It said on Thursday the Centre’s commitment to detect, detain and deport illegal immigrants from the country.“Today, newspapers are saying that illegal immigrants are returning voluntarily. The Bengal government has created detention centres. But we all want those who have entered illegally to go back voluntarily. If they do, the state government will not register any case against them. Instead, it will help them return,” Shah said, accusing the previous Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government of allowing uncontrolled infiltration into West Bengal.“Hopefully, most of the people will leave before the operation to identify infiltrators begins. Our government is committed to expel every infiltrator from the country,” Shah said during a public event in Sonipur in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar district.Shah said the BJP had promised during its assembly election campaign in West Bengal that if people voted for the party, fencing would be installed on the India-Bangladesh border.Congratulating Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari, Shah said the new state government has handed over 600 hectares of land to the BSF for border fencing within seven days of assuming charge. He also transferred 121 hectares of land in the strategically important Siliguri Corridor – or ‘chicken neck’ in north Bengal, which connects the north-east to the rest of India – to the central government.Shah said that PM Narendra Modi had constituted a high-powered committee to investigate the reasons behind the “unnatural demographic changes”. The panel will submit its report within a year.“The committee will study the circumstances and suggest solutions, including whether a legal framework is needed to address illegal immigrants,” Shah said.The Home Minister said Modi has extended Gujarat’s development model across India in the last 12 years and claimed that the BJP has ruled almost 80% of the country’s geographical area. He said, “From Gangasagar in Uttarakhand to Gangasagar in Bengal, BJP has influence in the Ganga region.”Shah also paid tribute to Veer Savarkar on his birth anniversary and described him as a patriot whose contribution to India’s freedom struggle did not need any official recognition.

TOI correspondent from London: Save the tiger. Sell ​​the forest. Destroy people. to stop. Tribal communities from Karnataka, Kerala and forests spread across the country Tamil Nadu There has been a pushback against wildlife tourism and tiger reserve expansion, accusing forest officials and conservation groups of turning ancestral homelands into a commercial safari “spectacle”, while indigenous families are evicted and forced into marginalization.More than 35 tribal villages under the Nagarhole Adivasi Jamma Pale Hakku Sthapana Samiti of Kodagu and Mysuru in the forest region of Karnataka, about 220 km southwest of Bengaluru, on Thursday issued a joint “Nagarhole Declaration” demanding an immediate stop to all transfers from the forests, saying none were voluntary.The announcement came after a marathon community dialogue held at Balekavu village inside the Nagarhole forests from May 5 to 7, where tribal activists from Wayanad in northern Kerala, the Muthanga Wildlife Area near the Kerala-Karnataka border, the Sathyamangalam tiger landscape in western Tamil Nadu and the Mudumalai Reserve in the Nilgiris gathered to form a common front in the Western Ghats tiger belt.Their charge was clear: forests once visited, hunted, worshiped and buried by indigenous communities are being fenced, branded and monetized through tiger safaris and conservation projects without the forest dwellers’ consent.The manifesto accused the forest department and the National Tiger Conservation Authority of usurping customary land and turning it into a “commercial spectacle”. It says, “What the forest bureaucracy calls core areas or critical tiger habitat is our ancestral land, our sacred space.”It says the Forest Rights Act of 2006, designed to address historical injustice against forest communities, has failed to protect them on the ground. Instead, “the injustice continues” through safari jeeps driving on lands where “our ancestors walked and are buried”, through conservation schemes imposed on villages and through generations trapped in bonded labor on tea and coffee plantations.“It is unconscionable that in states like Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu that proclaim themselves as champions of social justice, thousands of tribal families remain trapped in conditions that can only honestly be described as slavery,” the manifesto said.The document portrays the conservation fight in historical contexts, arguing that the violence unleashed under colonial forest laws never ended after independence, but only “put on a green uniform under the mask of conservation”.Tribal people alleged that notifications declaring national parks and tiger reserves were put forward without following legal procedures. He demanded that the ancestral areas be recognized as “Scheduled Areas” under the Constitution, giving stronger self-governance rights to tribal communities.The declaration claimed that forest and tourism departments in the three states have “no legitimate authority” to operate, license or commercialize wildlife safaris on traditional tribal lands without the informed consent of village councils. It demanded immediate suspension of all safari operations until such consent was obtained.The sharpest words were aimed at wildlife NGOs supporting a fortress-style conservation model. “Conservation that requires us, the indigenous people, to be evicted from the land is not conservation. This is colonization,” the declaration said.Activists said the fight over forests is no longer just about wildlife conservation. It is about whether ancient indigenous footprints will survive under the tire tracks of rapidly expanding safari tourism. Jenu Kuruba activist JK Thimma said, “We are the first people of this land. We are not encroachers.” “There is no conflict between us and the animals in the forest.”The declaration said that the rights guaranteed under the Forest Rights Act – which recognizes forest dwellers as custodians of forest resources – have allegedly been ignored, rendering many tribal communities “constitutionally invisible”.

New Delhi: Issuing a stern warning to industrial consumers buying diesel from retail outlets due to differential pricing and creation of artificial shortage of fuel in some parts of the country, the government on Wednesday said there is “more than enough” supply of petrol and diesel to meet the demand.The government said industrial consumers are shifting their purchases to retail pumps, leading to local shortages at the expense of ordinary citizens, and urged industry associations to make them aware of the consequences of such violations. It also asked states and union territories to form special squads and take strict action against bulk consumers purchasing from retail shops, hoarders and black marketeers under relevant provisions of the Essential Commodities Act and control orders.According to the government, about 29% of the bulk diesel volume of public sector oil retailers shifted to retail outlets in the current month, while sales volumes at fuel stations run by private oil marketing companies declined by 38%.While the price of diesel for retail consumers in Delhi is Rs 95.2 per litre, bulk consumers like industries get it at Rs 134 per litre. Private oil retailers also sell diesel at more than Rs 130 per litre.Officials said there were continuous reports of shortage at retail outlets from different parts of the country, following which an assessment was conducted by both the petroleum ministry and oil marketing companies. The assessment found that wholesale consumers were purchasing from retail stores.While Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri was coordinating with public sector OMCs, states and industry bodies to ensure uninterrupted supply of petrol and diesel to all, Petroleum Secretary Neeraj Mittal also held a review meeting with Chief Secretaries of states and UTs, which was attended by industry bodies FICCI and CII.“The picture that emerges from the field is consistent. There is no shortage of any petroleum product. There is a pattern of arbitrage in pockets which is creating an appearance of disarray,” the petroleum ministry said in a statement.Amid the disruptions in West Asia, state-run OMCs have deliberately kept petrol and diesel prices low to protect retail customers – families, two-wheeler commuters and farmers at the pump – while incurring a loss of around Rs 550 crore per day on sales of petrol, diesel and domestic LPG. “This does not extend to industrial procurement, where pricing tracks international actual data as a matter of permanent policy,” the government said.

New Delhi: Outgoing Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah Looks like he left a ticking bomb as a farewell gift to his successor DK Shivakumar And Rahul Gandhi Before deciding to step down from his post on Thursday.A day before resigning as chief minister, Siddaramaiah on Wednesday accepted the long-delayed educational survey report of the Karnataka State Backward Classes Commission, known as the caste census.Read this also Siddaramaiah’s resignation, Shivakumar’s top post decided: Will Congress’ ‘drama’ end in Karnataka or will it continue as before?The report on Karnataka’s first caste survey has been prepared since 2017, during Siddaramaiah’s previous tenure as chief minister. After returning to power in 2023, Siddaramaiah ordered a fresh caste survey, the report of which was to be prepared in 2025.Siddaramaiah’s decision to accept the report just before leaving office is being seen as an important political message.Critics had alleged that successive governments refrained from acting on the first report due to fear of reaction from Lingayats and Vokkaligas, politically influential communities in the state.With the revised report now formally submitted, the focus turns to the next chief minister and cabinet, who will have to decide whether to implement its recommendations.why it mattersThe Karnataka government’s 2025 Caste Survey is one of the most comprehensive exercises conducted by the state to find out the socio-economic status of backward classes, other castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.Read this also Siddaramaiah rejects Congress high command’s Rajya Sabha proposal: Pressure strategy or long-term strategy?However, the report is politically sensitive as it has the potential to disrupt Karnataka’s carefully balanced caste equations. Reports suggest that the number of backward communities may exceed that of Lingayats and Vokkaligas – the two dominant communities that have traditionally shaped the state’s politics for decades.Siddaramaiah’s Ahinda politics – an alliance of minorities, backward classes and Dalits – was designed to challenge that dominance by uniting numerically strong but politically fragmented groups. The caste census report is now being seen as an empirical validation of the social strength of the AHINDA block and could restart that political battle on a larger scale.

Due to this DK Shivkumar is in a difficult situation. Shivakumar is not only the most prominent Vokkaliga leader of the Congress in Karnataka, but is also credited with rebuilding the organizational structure of the party in the state.If the government led by him goes ahead with presenting or implementing the report, it risks a backlash from the influential Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities. On the other hand, delaying the report or shelving it could erode AHINDA’s support base that Siddaramaiah has carefully built up over the years to the Congress.In fact, Siddaramaiah has pushed DKS into a difficult position.Rahul Gandhi’s credibility at stake?Karnataka’s caste census also poses a political challenge at the national level for Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha.Rahul Gandhi has made caste census a central pillar of the national politics of the Congress Party. He has argued that accurate caste data is essential to ensure social justice, fair representation and targeted welfare policies for OBCs, Dalits and minorities.It was Rahul Gandhi who strongly pressured Congress-ruled states to conduct caste surveys to show the party was serious about implementing its politically supported social justice agenda.Under Revanth Reddy, Karnataka and Telangana emerged as the biggest testing grounds for that strategy.If the next government led by Shivakumar refrains from implementing or presenting the report, it could undermine Rahul Gandhi’s larger national narrative on social justice. This will give the BJP an opportunity to accuse the Congress of demanding a caste census at the national level, while being hesitant to act on it in states where it faces political resistance.