Left, Right & Centre

Its Dalit vs Dalit in the race to be India's next President. The opposition announces that former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar will be their candidate to take on the NDA's choice Ram Nath Kovind. Has the presidential election turned into a caste war, tokenism of the worst kind?

In the race to Raisina Hill, Nitish Kumar deals a big blow to the opposition, announces support for BJP's candidate Ram Nath Kovind. Is this setting the tone for the 2019 elections? Is opposition unity a non-starter? We debate on Left, Right and Centre.

The Income Tax Department has charged six members of Bihar politician Lalu Yadav's family including his wife Rabri Devi, daughter Misa Bharti and son Tejashwi Yadav with corruption under the tough Benami Transactions Act. Rabri Devi is a former chief minister, Misa Bharti is a member of Parliament and Tejashwi Yadav is the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar. Is this political vendetta or is it justified?

Where are the women in India's startup scenario? There are barely any women founders, not just in India but in top startup economies globally. Now, a new study in the US has found that startups with at least one female founder build companies where nearly half the staff is women. In fact women-led firms, the study found, have nearly twice the industry average and outpace some of America's largest tech companies in gender diversity - including Google, Facebook and Uber.

Ram Nath Kovind who has been governor of Bihar for three years and looks like will be moving from Raj Bhavan to Rashtrapati Bhavan very soon. He is the BJP's choice to succeed President Pranab Mukherjee. We debate a move that has put the 71-year-old Dalit leader in the spotlight, brought the focus on Dalit politics and broken opposition unity on the choice of India's next president.

The government has formally begun its outreach with the opposition on the presidential election. Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and CPM leader Sitaram Yechury today. So is there a consensus on a candidate? Well, the Congress says that since the government came for discussions but placed no name of its nominee, there's no question of consensus. But does the Modi government even need the Congress or the Left in order to get its candidate elected as the successor to President Pranab Mukherjee?

A group of 65 former bureaucrats have written a letter urging the Modi government to take corrective measures to tackle growing "hyper-nationalism" in the country in the light of recent developments - from cow vigilantism and religious intolerance to trolling and intimidation. In the letter, they said the disquiet had prompted them "to chronicle their reservations and misgivings" about the developments.

The government's Ayush Ministry published a new booklet for pregnant women which said for a healthy baby, women should stay away from "desire and hatred", avoid bad company, focus on spiritual thoughts and surround themselves with beautiful pictures.

After Rahul Gandhi's dramatically cut short tour of Madhya Pradesh, today it was the turn of Patidar leader Hardik Patel and the Congress's Jyotiraditya Scindia to be arrested before they could touch down in Mandsaur - ground zero of the Madhya Pradesh farmer protests. As farm distress holds centrestage, are parties eyeing a political harvest? But equally is the Madhya Pradesh government overreacting as it refuses to let anyone enter Mandsaur?

As the Information and Broadcasting Ministry refuses clearances to three documentaries on Rohit Vemula, the JNU protests, and Kashmir students - to be screened at Kerala Film Festival - has banning these films had the opposite effect and is this selective outrage justified?