Across industries, job cuts are becoming harder to detect :::: one 6 am email, Oracle layoffs shock 12,000 in India :::: Globally 30,000 ::: Over 70 tech companies are diverting funds for AI and showing 'regular employees' the door !!

India is among the worst-hit by the Oracle decision of job sacking. 

Company chaired by Trump ally Larry Ellison seeks to reassure investors that bet on AI infrastructure will pay off. 

Pull up the sleeves ---- Amazon, Meta, Google and Microsoft are collectively planning to pour $650 bn 

(485 bn pounds) into AI in/by 2027. 

Demand for AI infrastructure, both GPU and CPU, continues to exceed supplies.

This becomes visible !! 

Nearly 12,000 employees in India have been laid off out of a workforce of around 30,000.

Globally, the number of job cuts is being pegged at close to 30,000, roughly 18% of Oracle’s total workforce. 

Oracle layoffs have triggered widespread panic, but the real story goes beyond one company. 

Across industries, job cuts are becoming harder to detect, often happening before employees even realise. 

They may be now need to gauge warning signs, understand invisible layoffs, and protect your role in an uncertain job market.

Meanwhile -- Mark Zuckerberg's Meta plans biggest layoffs in its history ...

Reports claim more than 70 tech companies have cut about 40,480 jobs so far in 2026.

This is largely because -- companies are increasingly 'reallocating resources towards artificial intelligence', heightening fears of AI-driven disruptions among workers.

THE JOB CUT WARNING SIGNS MOST PEOPLE MISS

Layoffs rarely begin on the day the email arrives. They start much earlier, just without a formal announcement.

The first signal is often a hiring freeze. Roles stay open but no one is brought in. Teams are told to “manage with existing resources”.

Then come silent projects. Work slows down or disappears, meetings get cancelled, priorities shift without clear direction.

Another sign is role overlap. If two people are doing similar work, one of those roles is already under question.

Subtle changes :: 

These include fewer one-on-one meetings with managers, feedback that feels vague or non-committal, or a sudden drop in visibility even if your performance has not changed.

The layoffs are believed to have impacted parts of Oracle’s computing business across regions, including India and Mexico.  

Many companies are reducing headcount without making announcements. Contracts are not renewed. Teams are restructured quietly. Performance reviews become stricter, pushing some employees out without calling it a layoff.

This is what many are now calling the invisible layoff.

It does not show up in headlines. But it shows up in smaller ways. 

A teammate leaving and not being replaced, a project shutting down without explanation, or a team slowly shrinking over months.  

Pointers:

Oracle, which employed 162,000 people as of May 2025, declined to comment. The company’s stock price is down 25% this year, dropping more than all of tech’s megacaps.

Oracle continues to sell its flagship database for storing and serving up corporate information. In recent years, alongside cloud rivals such as Amazon

, the company has ratcheted up capital expenditures as it builds data center infrastructure that can handle AI workloads. But Oracle is smaller than its cloud peers.

Oracle has been leaning on the debt market to fund its buildout.  

As of March 2026, reports indicate Meta is planning significant layoffs that could impact over 15,000 employees—20% or more of its ~79,000 workforce. 

Top tech bosses -- Zuckerberg, Bezos, Pichai and Musk were present at Trump's 2025 oath taking 


 

"I think that 2026 is going to be the year that AI starts to dramatically change the way that we work," Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg said in January. 

Tech CEOs suddenly love blaming AI for mass job cuts. Why? -- ran headline of a BBC story.  

Jack Dorsey, who leads financial technology firm Block, has been even more explicit about his aims. "This isn't just about efficiency," he told shareholders in February. 

He announced that his company, which operates platforms like CashApp, Square and Tidal, would be shedding almost half its workforce.

"Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company… A significantly smaller team, using the tools we're building, can do more and do it better."

AI is like a “nice, convenient story” -- most organisations use to dress up broader restructuring.

That could mean -- Shifting operating models, 

-- Correcting post‑Covid over‑hiring and responding to geopolitical shocks. 

Layoffs have been going on since 2022 .... and have not quite started only due to AI tech in the last one year or so.

ends 

China maintains Oil reserves for 180 days ::::: India only 74 days .... :::: Iran War means ... Central Govt facing uncomfortable dilemma ...

By Nirendra Dev

For now, India watches the Strait of Hormuz with a concern it can no longer afford to disguise.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has sought to reassure markets, saying there is no cause for alarm. But economists argue that the scale of the challenge demands more than reassurance.

The Fiscal Squeeze

The government faces an uncomfortable dilemma. Controlling fuel prices through excise duty cuts or expanded subsidies would protect consumers — but would widen an already stressed fiscal deficit. Passing costs on to consumers would stoke inflation and dampen demand.

“Keeping things manageable will require burden-sharing between the government, via fiscal absorption, and households and businesses".

Iran War: A Perfect Storm for India’s Economy 

Supply disruptions, stock market fallout and a weakening rupee are battering India’s growth story  

The US-Israel war on Iran has emerged as a severe economic storm for India, disrupting oil supplies, battering stock markets and weakening the rupee — threatening the country’s enviable growth trajectory just as it was closing in on becoming the world’s fourth-largest economy.

India’s Chief Economic Advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran has warned that the country’s growth forecast of 7.0%–7.4% for the financial year ending March 2027 now faces “considerable downside risk” — a remarkably candid admission from within government ranks.

A Perfect Storm, At the Worst Possible Time

Only weeks ago, the stars seemed to be aligning for India. Prior to the war — which erupted on February 28, 2026 — India was one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world, consistently outpacing its powerful neighbour China. It had surpassed Britain to become the world’s fifth-largest economy and was within striking distance of overtaking Japan for fourth place.

India had what economists rarely see together: moderate inflation and strong growth. 

Its skilled labour force, fiscal discipline and healthy currency reserves made it a safe harbour in a world already beset by risks — from the Russia-Ukraine war to Donald Trump’s unpredictable tariff moves.

That advantage may no longer hold. The Oil Dependency Problem

At the heart of India’s vulnerability lies a structural dependence on Middle Eastern energy. 

India relies on supplies flowing through the Strait of Hormuz for approximately 50% of its crude oil needs and for most of its LPG imports — the primary cooking fuel for hundreds of millions of households.

The Middle East accounts for roughly 40% of India’s oil imports and 80% of its gas. The conflict has severely disrupted goods movement through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow but critical waterway that carries 20% of global oil traded worldwide.

Since the energy crisis of the 1970s, India has relied heavily on this corridor. Today, that dependence has become its single greatest economic vulnerability.

In a formal assessment, CEA Nageswaran has identified four distinct channels through which the Iran war will damage India’s economy:

Supply Disruptions — Oil, gas and fertiliser supplies are being disrupted, directly impacting India’s agricultural sector, which depends heavily on imported fertilisers and urea.

Higher Import Prices — Soaring energy costs are pushing up prices across the economy. Every rupee spent on costlier oil is a rupee not spent on growth.

Higher Logistics Costs — Freight and insurance costs have risen sharply, squeezing exporters and adding to the burden on supply chains.

Declining Remittances — India is the world’s largest recipient of remittances from workers abroad, with approximately 40% coming from the Middle East. Any hit to the earnings or employment of the estimated one crore Indians working in 

Gulf countries will directly weaken an already softening rupee and reduce household incomes across several states.  

The 74-Day Warning

Perhaps the starkest indicator of India’s exposure is its strategic petroleum reserve capacity — sufficient for only 74 days of demand, including both Strategic Petroleum Reserves and commercial crude stocks held by Oil Marketing Companies.

China, by contrast, maintains reserves for 180 days.

That gap — 74 days versus 180 — tells the story of a critical preparedness deficit that now leaves India with limited buffer against prolonged supply disruptions. Markets React Sharply

Financial markets have already delivered their verdict. India’s stock markets have fallen approximately 10% over the past month, with Foreign Institutional Investors recording massive selling — estimated at nearly $20 million in March alone. 

The rupee, which stood at ₹73 to the dollar when Prime Minister Narendra Modi first took office, has now touched ₹95 — a depreciation of nearly 30%.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has sought to reassure markets, saying there is no cause for alarm. But economists argue that the scale of the challenge demands more than reassurance.

The Fiscal Squeeze

The government faces an uncomfortable dilemma. Controlling fuel prices through excise duty cuts or expanded subsidies would protect consumers — but would widen an already stressed fiscal deficit. Passing costs on to consumers would stoke inflation and dampen demand.

“Keeping it manageable will require burden-sharing between the government, via fiscal absorption, and households and businesses,” Nageswaran noted, adding that higher import prices passed on to end-users “will also moderate demand growth.”  The current account deficit is expected to widen significantly as import costs rise and export revenues from Gulf markets come under pressure.

Pain will not Vanish

Analysts warn that even when the conflict ends, normalisation of supply chains and energy markets will take several months. The next twelve months, they caution, could be among the most difficult for the Indian economy in recent years — particularly if fertiliser shortages begin to affect the agricultural sector and food production.

One proposal gaining traction within government circles is a significant expansion of strategic fuel storage infrastructure — to move India’s reserve capacity closer to the international benchmark and reduce future vulnerability.

courtesy - The Raisina Hilla

ends 

"Verdict and sentence imposed against Sheikh Hasina be immediately set aside" - demands a letter from ex Bangladesh PM's Team in a letter to Dhaka's International Crimes Tribunal

The letter dated March 30, 2026 made available by informed sources say --

 • The verdict and sentence imposed against Sheikh Hasina be immediately set aside as legally void

• No steps be taken to execute the death sentence, which would constitute summary execution in violation of international law; 

The letter addressed to International Crimes Tribunal 

Old High Court Building 

says --- among other things

 "Any further proceedings against Sheikh Hasina be conducted only in full compliance with international fair trial standards, including proper notification, disclosure of all allegations and evidence, the opportunity for Sheikh Hasina to participate meaningfully in her defence with legal representation of her choosing, and trial before an independent and impartial tribunal; 

It also demands that -- "The government of Bangladesh take immediate steps to ensure the safety and security of lawyers and others associated with the Awami League who face intimidation and violence". 

 

Analysts say the 'letter' has a special significance as it comes post-Bangladesh elections 2026 and the change of regime under BNP leadership.

  

In security term they suggest - the "cooling of relations" with India has also created a new regional balance. 

The Role of Paramilitary Forces also perhaps highlights the central role of the new system to play a genuine stabilizing force. 

The letter from Team Sheikh Hasina says - "We write to formally object to the unlawful conduct of proceedings that have resulted in the prosecution and sentencing of Sheikh Hasina by the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal". 

It objected that the former Bangladesh PM Ms Hasina was "prosecuted and sentenced in absentia for capital offences in proceedings that are fundamentally incompatible with basic international standards for fairness and due process and violate her fundamental rights under international law". 

This correspondence does not constitute acceptance of, submission to, or recognition of the legitimacy of these proceedings as currently constituted. Sheikh Hasina expressly reserves the right to challenge the jurisdiction, composition, conduct and outcomes of these proceedings in all available fora." 

The letter says the verdict and sentence arising from the proceedings is "without legal validity and constitutes a grave violation of Sheikh Hasina’s fundamental rights, in particular, her right to a fair trial and right to life."  

The communique says : 

The alleged conduct, arising from law enforcement responses to civil unrest in 2024, falls squarely within the jurisdiction of Bangladesh’s criminal law courts, which have jurisdiction to prosecute offences including homicide, excessive use of force, and other criminal conduct. 

The retrospective application of these amendments raises grave concern under the principle of legality. International law prohibits the retrospective criminalisation of conduct and the retrospective extension of tribunal jurisdiction in a manner that prejudices the accused. 

Indeed, Bangladesh’s constitution, at Article 35 (1) guarantees that no one shall be punished except in accordance with law. The amendments purport to have retrospective effect from 2009, yet are being applied to prosecute conduct from 2024: a legal impossibility that violates fundamental principles of fair notice and legal certainty".  

The missive also says the proper forum for any legitimate prosecution of the alleged conduct (crackdown during July-August 2024 protest) is Bangladesh’s ordinary criminal justice system, not a specialised tribunal created for historical war crimes.

The letter says in Sheikh Hasina's case, the proceedings before the International Crimes Tribunal demonstrate multiple and serious failures to meet these fundamental standards of judicial independence and impartiality.  

Moreover, it said the tribunal "failed to satisfy" the requirements of independence and impartiality, thereby violating Sheikh Hasina's right to a fair trial under Article 14(1) ICCPR. 

 

Blogger - Dhaka - 2017

ends 

 

 

 

Fake News .... Hyped Media power :::: Limitation of Intellectualism :::: A film in 1980s and -- what the life looks like from inside ??

Editor Vikas Pandey played by Shashi Kapoor believes Ajay Singh is responsible for the riots. In reality, it is the chief minister who orchestrates them—planting people to make Vikas believe that Ajay Singh is behind it all. 

‘I Have Been Used’: How a 1986 Gulzar Film Predicted Fake News 

Shashi Kapoor, Om Puri, Sharmila Tagore, directed by Romesh Sharma and written by Gulzar — saw the weaponisation of journalism four decades before algorithms did the job automatically.

By Nirendra Dev 

Long before fake news and algorithms, this film saw how truth could be shaped and weaponised. Forty years on, the diagnosis looks more accurate than ever.

There is a line near the end of New Delhi Times — the 1986 film written by Gulzar — that has stayed with me across four decades of journalism. The protagonist, editor Vikas Pandey, played by Shashi Kapoor, discovers that the two warring politicians whose battle he has been reporting have quietly buried their differences. He has filed the stories, chased the leads, and believed himself a pursuer of truth. And now, standing at the end of that chase, he says simply: “I have been used.”

Every journalist who has practiced the craft long enough will recognise that moment. Not from one story. From many. 

The Film Nobody Should Have Been Surprised By  

'New Delhi Times' was directed by Romesh Sharma and written by Gulzar. Its surface narrative is simple enough: a political murder, a web of intrigue, and a newspaper editor’s pursuit of the truth. But Vikas Pandey does not know — and this is the film’s entire argument — that he is being drawn into a specific scheme of plots. 

The story he thinks is chasing is itself being authored by others.

Critic Touseful Islam, writing in Dhaka-based The Daily Star, captured the film’s internal architecture with precision: 

“Vikas Pandey’s journey is not a heroic ascent but a gradual descent into the murky underbelly of statecraft. 

Each revelation corrodes his certainty, each lead implicates him further in a system he believed he could outmanoeuvre. Journalism, here, is not a profession; it is a perilous calling that exacts a multifaceted toll.”

The film’s politics operate through detail rather than polemic. 

Om Puri plays Ajay Singh, a politician pitted against a shrewd chief minister, who at one point turns on Vikas and demands: 

“How much politics do you know?” 

It is not a question. It is a diagnosis of the intellectual’s permanent helplessness — the gap between what the journalist believes he understands and what is actually being done around him.

Vikas Pandey believes Ajay Singh is responsible for the riots. In reality, it is the chief minister who orchestrates them—planting people to make Vikas believe Ajay Singh is behind it all. 

There is a quieter domestic scene that lands differently for anyone who has lived the profession. The editor comes home around 2 a.m. His wife, played by Sharmila Tagore, is asleep. He wakes her. 

She says: “Have some milk". 

He says something about wanting to cause trouble —Goonda gardi — and by the time she returns from the kitchen with the glass, he is fast asleep.

It is, almost exactly, what the life looks like from the inside.  

I first saw the film when I was just beginning journalism in Nagaland — watching it on Doordarshan in Kohima, in the early 1990s. My brother had already identified my life’s weakness, and he was not kind about it.

“This film is about your ism,” he said — he meant journalism, adding: “See how a politician has made a fool out of him.”

It took me years to accept that he was right. 

Journalism gives you a false ego and some fame — most of it hyped and self-generated. 

In reality, we are made fools at every turn and every traffic junction on the road. We write the stories we are given to write, frame the questions we are pointed toward, and call it the pursuit of truth.

Years later, my PTI colleague Ranvijay Yadav — a junior — watched the film from my PTI guesthouse cot while I slept. My contribution to his education was to say:

“Enough of bloody journalism — you please continue watching it.”  

And then there was Anosh Malekar of The Week, who summed up the profession’s particular grief more precisely than most media critics ever have: “I wrote a cover story on who led the flames in Godhra Train. Even my wife did not read it.”

He lamented this. I was a bachelor then and did not fully understand his pain. But reading had already been declining by 2002.

The Modi Lesson: What Journalists Missed, and Why It Mattered

Note the coincidence of timing. Around 2002 — the year Malekar’s wife did not read the cover story — Narendra Modi began his ascent in Gujarat. Television channels believed, with the confidence of the casually powerful, that they could decide who should be the chief minister of Gujarat.

Modi in Lok Sabha : 2014 -- Sonia taking oath as MP 

They were wrong. Not because their coverage was neutral, or because the electorate was not watching. But because a different media was already being built — one they had not yet understood.  

Modi used social media. He was among the first Indian political leaders to sense its structural advantage: direct communication, no editorial filter, no dependence on journalists who believed themselves the arbiters of political fate. No pampering, no foreign junkets. He did not need to court the press. He built an audience that did not need the press to reach him.

The Congress leaders laughed at this. By May 16, 2014 — when the mandate came — they understood that the bird had left the nest. As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government had, around 2012, brought in an expert from a television channel to handle social media strategy, and the mistakes had followed. 

Rahul Gandhi’s press conference at the Press Club of India — every word of it recorded — did its own damage. 

What went on social media defined the UPA’s image more lastingly than any editorial or panel discussion. The image of a “spineless, shaky PM” easily overridden by a crown prince became the story, and no amount of print journalism could unseal it.

In Nagaland: The Politician Who Understood the Journalists

In Nagaland, former Chief Minister Vamuzo — a committed Indian nationalist who had himself once served as a Naga underground brigadier — had a particular gift for this. He knew how to befriend journalists without appearing to cultivate them. He would place a hand on a 20-something reporter’s shoulder, and that small gesture — delivered in the presence of senior IAS officers standing nearby — was enough to create the feeling of being seen.

It is a small thing. It is also not a small thing.

During the Gulf War of the 1990s, Vamuzo addressed a National Integration Council meeting convened by Prime Minister Chandrashekhar and said: “The country is united and we all are with the leadership.” That is what opposition and minority-region politicians were once expected to say at moments of national emergency. Whether today’s political leaders from Nagaland have said anything comparable in the context of Operation Sindoor is a question the record will eventually answer.

Blogger in Vamuzo's Kohima residence 

Long before fish-fry journalism became the standard critique of a certain Bengal media culture, the Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury made a more honest observation about the press. To a group of us at Delhi’s Ajoy Bhavan, he said: 

“You journalists go where there is good dinner and good coffee. We offer only chai and biscuit.”

It was a joke with an edge. 

Journalists are not generally motivated by ideology. They are motivated by access, by story, by the metabolism of the news cycle. The politician who provides the best material wins the coverage — not always the one who is right.

New Delhi Times understood this in 1986. Vikas Pandey is not corrupt, not lazy, not ideologically captured. He is simply working within a system that is smarter about itself than he is about it.

What the Film Knew That We Are Still Learning

Not all films, as the saying goes, emerge from their moment only to outgrow it. Fewer still, read decades later, look like dispatches from tomorrow.

New Delhi Times is the second kind. 

It was made before fake news had a name, before social media existed, before algorithms decided what counted as truth. It was made when PTI was still the wire service of record and a liquor tragedy in Ghazipur was the kind of routine, necessary news that filled the bulletin.

And yet it already knew: the journalist is not chasing the story. The story is, quite often, chasing the journalist — because someone else has decided what that story should be, and has arranged the facts accordingly.

“I have been used,” says Vikas Pandey.

We still say it. We just say it in different newsrooms, about different politicians, with different platforms carrying the result. The film’s diagnosis has not aged. Only the machinery of manipulation has been updated.

ends 

Courtesy - The Raisina Hills 

Amit Shah credits -- "Naxalism-free India" achievement to Central Armed Police Forces, CAPF, CoBRA and CRPF, police of Chhattisgarh ::: What is Maoist ideology? What is their guiding slogan? Their guiding slogan is “Power flows from the barrel of the gun.”

On March 30, 2026

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the credit for the major development of a Naxalism-free India, which is about to take shape in the country, goes entirely to our Central Armed Police Forces, especially the jawans of CoBRA and CRPF, the state police — particularly the jawans of Chhattisgarh State Police and DRG — and the local tribals. 

He said that the people have also made a significant contribution to the elimination of Left-Wing Extremism.

Shah said that this ideology has nothing to do with development or the demand for development. 

He questioned that what is this ideology? What is Maoist ideology? What is their guiding slogan? 

Their guiding slogan is “Power flows from the barrel of the gun.” 

He said these people are not fighting for development, but for the survival and victory of their ideology, and to capture power by spreading their ideology among innocent tribals. They have no faith in democracy. He said that some people have gone to the extent of comparing them with Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Bhagwan Birsa Munda. 

"Are you comparing Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Bhagwan Birsa Munda — who fought against the British — with those who break the Constitution, pick up arms and kill innocent people? He said this ideology believes that only a prolonged war can spread their ideology. They have no hesitation even in shedding the blood of their own people." 

The supporters of this ideology have not taken Bhagwan Birsa Munda, Shaheed Bhagat Singh or Subhas Chandra Bose as their ideals, but have instead chosen Mao as their ideal.

He said that the truth is that they had deliberately chosen the entire Red Corridor because the reach of the state was weak there. 

Innocent tribals were misled and weapons were placed in their hands. 

He said that the tribals who, since before 15 August 1947, had considered Bhagwan Birsa Munda, TilkaManjhi, Rani Durgavati and the Murmu brothers as their heroes — how did those same tribals start considering Mao as their hero by the time 1970 arrived? 

Shah said that it was not because of development or injustice, but because of the difficult geography and the absence of the state that the Leftists chose this area to spread their ideology and began misleading the innocent tribals. 

He said that the Left-wing extremists did not allow development to reach that area for years, but now under the governance of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji, development is reaching every household there. 

The Home Minister said that Naxalism did not spread because of poverty; rather, poverty remained in the entire region for years because of Naxalism. 

He said that the roots of Naxalism are not linked to poverty and lack of development, but are ideological.

Amit Shah said that the literacy rate in Naxalbari was 32%, in Bastar it was 23%, in Saharsa, Bihar it was 33%, and in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh it was 31%. 

Similarly, the per capita income in Naxalbari was ₹500, in Bastar it was ₹190, in Saharsa₹299, and in Ballia ₹374. He said that the per capita income in all four regions was more or less similar, yet Left-wing extremism flourished in Naxalbari and Bastar, but not in Saharsa and Ballia. 

This happened because the geography of Saharsa and Ballia was not favourable to them. There were no dense forests, rivers and streams, or hills to hide in. 

There was no favourable condition to carry weapons, conduct their movement, suppress the tribals, or forcibly link them with their ideology.He said that if development were the criterion, if per capita income were the criterion, then there were many parts of the country where development had not reached in 1970, but why did Naxalism not spread there?

Union Home Minister said that this is not a government that gets scared, but one that delivers justice to everyone. He said that the Naxalite movement began in the 1970s from Naxalbari and Bengal. In the single year of 1971, there were 3,620 incidents of violence there. 

By the 1980s, the People's War Group was formed and the movement spread to the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha. 

In the 1990s, the Left-wing ideology began to shrink and mergers started between extremist groups and Left-wing parties. In 2004, two major groups merged and formed the CPI (Maoist). From 1970 to 2004, except for four years, the entire period was under the rule of the main opposition party.

Naxalism did not spread because of poverty; rather, 

... poverty spread because of Naxalism

Communist Party was not formed to oppose injustice, but to oppose our parliamentary system

Days of those who indulge in Naxalite violence are now over

Root cause of Naxalism is not lack of development but Left-wing ideology, which was accepted by the leader of then ruling party to win the Presidential electionin 1969

Left-wing ideology has lost its base, which is why all Leftists are busy inventing different theories to save their existence 

While replying to the discussion, Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah said that the Left-wing extremists and their supporters had presented a false narrative before innocent tribals that they were fighting for their rights and to deliver justice to them. He said that Naxalism has now been almost completely eradicated from Bastar, and a campaign has begun to build schools and open ration shops in every village there. 

The Home Minister said that those who advocate for Naxalism should explain why all this did not happen from 1970 till now. He added that after the government of Shri Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, every poor person across the country received a house, gas connection, drinking water, insurance up to ₹5 lakh, and 5 kg of free food grains. 

However, the people of Bastar were left out because the truth was denied and due to the shadow of Red Terror, development could not reach there. 

Shah said that Red Terror was not there because there was no development; rather, development could not happen there because of Red Terror. But today, the shadow of Red Terror has been removed, and Bastar is developing.

He said that this is the government of Narendra Modi Ji, and whoever picks up arms will have to face the consequences. The Home Minister said that the government is sensitive and wants to listen to all problems and resolve them. He said that the government has made schemes, but the Left-wing extremists and their supporters will not allow their implementation because they want their ideology — that is, their illegal rule — to continue there. Shri Shah said that even after 75 years of independence, the main opposition party ruled the country for 60 years, yet how did the tribals remain deprived of development? He added that it is now Narendra Modi Ji who is bringing development. He said that the opposition party should introspect and see who is really at fault.

He said that a complete Red Corridor had been created across 12 states, including Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Bengal, Kerala, parts of Karnataka, and 3 districts of Uttar Pradesh. 

In these areas, 12 crore people lived in poverty for years and 20,000 youths lost their lives, who is responsible for this. He said that the root cause of Naxalism is not the demand for development, but an ideology. 

Root cause of Naxalism is not lack of development but Left-wing ideology, which was accepted by the leader of then ruling party to win the Presidential election in 1969. 

Amit Shah said that former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had openly admitted before the entire country that the biggest internal security challenge facing the nation, compared to Kashmir and the Northeast, was the armed Maoists. He said that a change occurred in 2014, and under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi Ji, several long-standing problems have been resolved. 

Article 370 and 35A were removed, a grand temple has been built at Ram Janmabhoomi, GST has become a reality, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has been enacted, and 33% reservation has been provided for women in legislative bodies. Shri Shah said that all the major tasks that the people of this country had been aspiring for since the time of independence have been accomplished in the 12 years of Narendra Modi Ji’s government. And now, the creation of anNaxalism-free India will also happen under the rule of Narendra Modi Ji. Shri Shah said that the past 12 years have proved to be very auspicious for the country. 

In these 12 years, a lot has been done to free the country from poverty, to bring a new education system for the youth, to ensure internal and external security, and to set aside policies not connected with the country’s core values. 

He said that if one looks at the most historic and important decisions, then without any hesitation, a Naxalism-free India would rank at the top.

One Slovak, another Russian 'cyclist' nabbed in Mizoram ... without mandatory document ::: Bangladesh angle being probed

A 41-year-old Russian, identified as Igor Babko has been nabbed in Mizoram.

Reportedly, he entered the Rajiv Nagar village in Mamit district bordering Tripura and Bangladesh from Kanchanpur town of North Tripura District. 

Babko was not having the mandatory Protected Area Permits (PAPs) and was nabbed by the BSF personnel who handed him over to the Mamit district Police in Mizoram.

Police say they have no independent confirmation on the allegations of the Russian’s links with the Bangladeshi terror group, Parbattya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) headed by Santu Larma in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). "We deported him from Aizawl to Assam riding on his bicycle. He has a flight ticket to travel from Delhi to Tokyo on May 4,” a police source said.

Meanwhile, Mizoram police say the six Ukrainians and one American, arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) "did not enter Mizoram by flight". 

He said the foreigners entered the state from Assam via border Vairengte town in a car driven by a Mizo who told the Police personnel on duty that he was not carrying any non-tribal who require to have Inner Line Permits (ILPs).

The PAP is checked only at the Lengpui airport at Aizawl by officials of the central agencies and not in other entry points.

Even the Railway Station at Sairang in the western outskirts of Aizawl city do not have such facilities and this issue is being looked into.  

Sources maintain that inordinate  delays in issuance of Protected Area Permits (PAPs) to foreigners who want to visit Mizoram often create grey areas for a large number of foreigners entering the state without proper documents.

The PAP is required to be obtained by foreigners who want to visit sensitive border regions of the north-east - Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, and Nagaland. 

Non-Mizos or Non-Nagas but Indian citizens from other states need ILPs.

The Protected Area Regime (PAR) was relaxed for sometime but the central government re-imposed the regime from December 17, 2024 due to security concerns.

The PAP is issued by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) through online. 

Another individual - the 53-year-old Slovak who was nabbed at Laki village of south Mizoram’s Siaha district bordering Myanmar last week. 

Reportedly, the Slovak had landed in Aizawl and was proceeding towards the southern part of the state to enter Myanmar where he was invited to participate in a festival. 

He was deported by police via Lengpui airport, Aizawl. 

There is an apparent attempt to shift the 'blame' if any.

One source said - "If any foreigner is entering Mizoram by road via Assam, the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel guarding the Assam-Mizoram interstate border should check whether they are having PAP or not".

Meanwhile, on March 29th, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has stated that the six Ukrainians and the lone American arrested by the NIA sleuths were 'not security threats' to India per se. 

Shah stated that the group was attempting to use India as a transit route to enter Myanmar via Mizoram for terror training at insurgent bases. 

“They were caught as they were planning to transit through Mizoram into Myanmar, where insurgent bases would be used to impart training to the Ukrainians. They did not take the necessary advance permit required by foreigners to enter Mizoram,” he said.

This was the first official confirmation that the foreign mercenaries' focus was Myanmar, with India serving only as a passage. 

“No threat was posed to India’s security. It is our policy that any foreigner who visits India for any wrong act will not be spared,” Shah said.

ends 

Violence erupts outside Kolkata CEO office after TMC alleges bulk submissions of Form 6 by BJP ::::: CEO Agarwal says “This is not my work. Should I conduct elections or keep doing this?”

Mamata Banerjee has written to CEC alleging that BJP is trying to smuggle outsiders into the State voter list, in a bid at “voter hijacking”; 

“We are now witnessing what appears to be another coordinated attempt by the BJP, in conjunction with the ECI, to interfere with the democratic rights of the people. 

Credible reports indicate that large numbers of Form 6 applications are being submitted by BJP agents at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer and across several districts,” Mamata Banerjee said in a letter to the poll panel.

CEO says it is not his job to check Form 6 submissions 

Did CM threatened Central forces ??

Trinamool Congress and BJP supporters clash outside the Election Commission office in Kolkata 

TMC supremo and chief Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar -- “The BJP agents have been caught red-handed flooding the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal with thousands of fraudulent Form 6 applications to smuggle non-residents and outsiders into Bengal’s electoral rolls. This is an attempt at voter hijacking".

Mamata called for the Election Commission to punish such actions which are “illegal, unconstitutional, and fundamentally undemocratic in nature.”

In response to the allegations, CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal said: “This is not my work. I cannot keep checking who is bringing what into my office. Should I conduct elections in the whole State or keep doing this?”

An organisation of booth level officers (BLOs) supported by the State’s ruling Trinamool Congress alleged that it had caught a BJP worker carrying over 400 Form 6 applications into the CEO, WB office in Kolkata. 

The BLOs and TMC workers staged a protest outside the CEO’s office, flagging this issue. 

The BJP workers also reached the spot and engaged with the TMC workers, leading to a heated exchange.  This is a crucial development. 

"Workers betrayal from one party to another takes place during elections. Sometime they are decisive. The new confidence found in the BJP Karyakartas to challenge TMC workers could be an indicator of things on ground," says analyst Ramakanto Shanyal.  

TMC protestors alleged that the BJP was trying to enrol voters from outside Bengal to influence the polls in its favour. 

A few BJP leaders said "these are indications that the carpet underneath Mamata Banerjee's feet is moving away" 

The Central forces and local police were both deployed to the spot to bring the tense situation under control. Police, armed with batons, charged protestors in a bid to de-escalate the heated scuffle between the party workers. 

Earlier in the day TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee sent a formal complaint to the CEO, WB alleging that the EC is changing the demography of Bengal by including voters from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the State’s electoral rolls. 

He claimed that the BJP had submitted at least 30,000 Form 6 applications in bulk. 

BJP MP and Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar disclaimed responsibility, saying that these complaints were a matter for the Election Commission. 

“I do not have any information if the BJP has made any such [Form 6] submissions,” Majumdar said. 

Mamata's bitter rival in Bhawanipore and Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari lodged a formal complaint against Mamata Banerjee for provoking voters against the Central forces. 

“She is asking the women to fight the Central forces. This is a direct attack against the officers engaged in election work,” Adhikari alleged. 

Meanwhile, the EC has repoetedly 'started accepting' online applications by voters who have been deleted from the final voter list but want to contest the decision in an appellate tribunal.

Of the 60 lakh voters who were placed under adjudication during the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, at least 13 lakh names have been deleted among the 32 lakh disposed cases, the CEO office says.

These people can appeal to the tribunal for reconsideration of their cases. Though multiple supplementary lists have been published, the complete supplementary list for the 60 lakh voters are yet to be made public. 

A few days back, TMC and BJP workers clashed over putting party flags in North Dinajpur. The BJP leaders alleged Trinamool workers attacked BJP karyakartas who were putting up party flags in support of their candidate at Kachakali Bazaar. Six people were injured.