New Delhi: Following PM Modi’s announcement in last year’s Independence Day speech, the government on Monday constituted a high-level committee to scientifically examine the nature, causes and impact of demographic changes across the country, including illegal immigration as well as abnormal population shifts at the level of religious and social communities, and recommend policy, administrative and legal framework to address the problem in a time-bound manner.The High Level Committee on Demographic Change (HLCDC), headed by retired Supreme Court judge Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar, has been formed amid an intensified campaign by the BJP governments in Assam, West Bengal and other states to curb illegal immigration, which they see as a conspiracy to bring about demographic change and drive out all infiltrators.Announcing the panel on Tuesday, Shah said on X, “Unnatural demographic changes caused by illegal immigration and other factors are a serious challenge to the present and future of any country… This is not only linked to our sovereignty, but also to national security, law and order, profound changes in the social structure and protection of tribal groups.” The panel was given one year to submit the final report. This follows the recent particularly intensive revision of voter lists by the Election Commission, including in the border state of Bengal, which led to the deletion of lakhs of ‘absentee’ and ‘other’ voters – their details are already in the public domain.The HLCDC – tasked with recommending a permanent operational system for legal, fair and timely identification, detention and deportation of illegal immigrants in the country – comes at a time when the BJP is in power in Assam, Tripura and Bengal.Sharing that Census Commissioner Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan, retired IAS officer Durga Shankar Mishra, former IPS officer Balaji Srivastava and economist Shamika Ravi will be members of the committee, Shah said it will “comprehensively assess the demographic changes occurring across India due to illegal immigration and other unnatural causes, analyze the patterns of abnormal population shifts at the level of religious and social communities and present a planned and time-bound solution for the same.” Will do”.The panel, which will be under the Home Ministry), has been given one year to submit its final report.Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has launched an aggressive campaign against the infiltrators and publicly vowed to push them back into Bangladesh. The newly elected BJP government in Bengal has got into work fast, with CM Suvendu Adhikari deciding to provide land to complete the fencing work on the border with Bangladesh.Informing the panel, the MHA said some areas are witnessing demographic changes that are not attributable to normal fertility or mortality trends but are emerging due to “external abnormal factors such as illegal immigration, irregular population dynamics and administrative laxity”.

Tamil Nadu political crisis: Rebel AIADMK MLA Balakrishna Reddy supports EPS, submits apology letter amid turmoil in party

New Delhi: Amid growing factionalism within the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and a series of resignations of rebel MLAs, Hosur MLA P Balakrishna Reddy on Tuesday extended support to party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, an indication that a truce may emerge within some sections of the party.According to news agency ANI, Balakrishna Reddy met the Assembly Secretary and submitted an apology letter saying that he should not be disqualified.His move comes a day after five AIADMK MLAs submitted similar apology letters to the Speaker’s office expressing support for the Palaniswami faction.The development comes as the AIADMK is facing a growing internal crisis following defection and resignations from the rival camp led by senior leaders C V Shanmugam and SP Velumani.

Rebel MLAs may be disqualified

MLAs from the Shanmugam faction had voted in favor of the ruling Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam government during the trust vote on May 13, triggering anti-defection proceedings.Under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, MLAs can face disqualification if they vote against their party’s instructions without prior permission.The AIADMK had earlier sought disqualification of 25 rebel MLAs for allegedly disobeying Palaniswami’s instructions during the trust motion.The party’s troubles further increased after Ambasamudram MLA Esakki Subaya resigned from the assembly on Tuesday. Speaker JCD Prabhakar initially rejected Subaya’s typed resignation letter and asked him to submit a handwritten copy, which was later accepted.With Subaya’s exit, the number of resignations from the AIADMK camp has increased to four in two days, reducing the party’s strength to 43 MLAs in the 234-member Assembly.

The issue of ‘horse-trading’ has intensified

On Monday, MLAs Maragatham Kumaravel, P Sathyabama and S Jayakumar resigned from the assembly and later joined the ruling TVK in the presence of minister Aadhav Arjun.The total number of vacant assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu has now increased to five, including Tiruchirapalli East, which was earlier vacated by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay after winning by two seats.27 AIADMK MLAs are now supporting Palaniswami, while 16 MLAs are aligned with the Velumani-Shanmugam camp.The resignations have triggered sharp political reactions, with Palaniswami accusing the ruling TVK of “horse-trading”.Meanwhile, former AIADMK leader and current Tamil Nadu minister KA Sengottaiyan held Palaniswami responsible for the exodus of party leaders.Sengottaiyan said, “AIADMK remained strong during the leadership of MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalitha. AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami cannot be compared with them; that is why people and party members are moving away from AIADMK.”

New Delhi: Despite marathon meetings with the high command, the tussle between Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shiv Kumar over the state’s top post does not seem to be ending any time soon.As Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge met the two leaders in Delhi to decide the party’s candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, the issue of interest remained the long-running leadership struggle.News agency PTI, quoting sources, has reported that the Shivakumar camp is pressurizing Siddaramaiah to leave the top post and has been offered a formula to accommodate him in the central role, which he has not accepted. After the party meeting, Siddaramaiah once again held discussions in the evening with some ministers considered close to him.This comes after the Congress high command held several hours of deliberations with Siddaramaiah and DKS at the Indira Bhawan headquarters.After the meeting, Congress leader KC Venugopal, while talking to reporters, emphasized that there was no discussion on the issue of change of leadership in the meeting attended by Congress President Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.Venugopal, who was accompanied by Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, said, “Today, the entire discussion was focused only on the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections and the (Legislative) Council elections of Karnataka.”Venugopal told the media after the meeting, “Whatever speculations you people are making are only speculations, there is no reality. Today we discussed about Rajya Sabha seats and Legislative Council seats of Karnataka. This is what we have decided today, and nothing else was discussed.” The meetings took place against the backdrop of persistent tension between the Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar camps, almost three years after the Congress returned to power in Karnataka.Before leaving for Delhi from Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah said that he was not aware of the agenda of the meeting.“I have been invited to Delhi. There is a meeting tomorrow (May 26). I don’t know the topic of the meeting. They have called the meeting at 11 am.” Siddaramaiah said, AICC general secretary and MP KC Venugopal called me, told me about the meeting and invited me to attend it.The Congress leadership has intervened several times to manage tensions between the two leaders since the formation of the Karnataka government in 2023. Shivakumar’s supporters have repeatedly claimed that a rotational chief ministerial arrangement was agreed upon when the government was formed, although the Congress high command has never publicly confirmed such a formula.

A software engineer’s viral social media post criticizing life in large gated communities has triggered a widespread online debate on resident welfare associations (RWAs), housing society rules and generational differences in urban living.Shravan Venkataraman, in a thread posted on“At the slightest discomfort in their worldview caused by any person or any family in the society, they start imposing their views on how one should live in the house they are renting/in that society – who can come to visit, who can’t, who can complain, who can’t, etc. And these old people who are also in charge of power – in RWAs or society unions, whenever anyone challenges them on any real issue they go on a power trip,” he wrote.According to Venkataraman, young residents are often better off living in smaller G+3 or G+4 buildings with fewer than 25 apartments, where rules are less intrusive and community interaction is more relaxed.Sharing a personal experience from his housing society in Hyderabad, Venkataraman said there was a theft at his house and when he requested CCTV footage through a residents’ WhatsApp group, he was informed that the cameras were not working. Concerned about security, he advised residents to install personal security cameras.According to him, instead of addressing the security lapse, senior RWA members called him to the club house and reprimanded him for raising the issue publicly.“The next day the RWA president and vice-president called me to the club house. I went there thinking they would solve my problem and they found who had stolen the stuff. Instead they call me and start yelling at me how can I post such complaints on a group of residents and how can I post that there is no safety here and one should take care of oneself – that I am ruining the morale in the society,” he wrote.He further alleged that a committee member sarcastically dismissed the complaint, following which he left the residents’ WhatsApp group.“I mean what do these old people think in their minds? That they can order everyone around with arbitrary rules as per their convenience and everyone must follow it, and especially the tenants?” He added.His post resonated with many netizens, who shared similar experiences of excessive surveillance and micromanagement in the gated society. Many users complained about restrictions on visitors, screening of bachelors, moral policing, and profiling of guests by security guards. One user said that elderly residents of his society also objected to children playing outside, while some others dismissed Venkatraman’s post as merely a complaint against the apartment rules.One user wrote, “Exactly. It’s not just about rules or old ones, high rise clusters have high monthly maintenance, leading to severe water scarcity and severe traffic congestion and pollution. Why does the government encourage high rise clusters when we can develop horizontally.”