Left, Right & Centre

Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) chief Adish C Aggarwala on Tuesday wrote to President Droupadi Murmu urging her to seek presidential reference of the top court judgement in the electoral bonds scheme case and not to give effect to it unless the top court has reheard the matter. Should a Presidential reference be invoked to stop the Supreme Court order on electoral bonds?

It is widely considered India's IT capital, and yet large parts of Bengaluru are parched and without a regular water supply. These areas mostly rely on borewell water, and the water table seems to have depleted significantly. On tonight's program, residents of those impacted areas, and environmentalists discuss just how grave this situation is.

The Supreme Court today dismissed the SBI's petition seeking more time to submit details on electoral bonds. A bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud has asked the bank to submit the information by tomorrow evening. The court added, "We place SBI on notice that this Court may be inclined to proceed against it for willful disobedience if SBI does not comply with the directions by the timelines indicated in this order." A huge order by the SC in the fight to ensure that there is more transparency in our election process.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced the development of "Mission Divyastra" -- an indigenously developed, landmark weapons system that alters the country's geopolitic and strategic position and significantly changes the situation in southeast Asia. The Agni-5 MIRV missile, developed by defence research centre DRDO for over a decade, took its first flight today. The new weapon system of DRDO (Defence Research Development Organisation) has Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology, which ensures that a single missile can deploy multiple war heads and hit targets at different locations simultaneously. This is technology that China has which India does now as well. On the show tonight, we have a very special guest, Former DRDO chief, Dr VK Saraswat, one of the finest minds in India's missile programme. Tune in to the full show on NDTV.

Does the trend of top bureaucrats joining politics soon after resigning their posts undermine the trust in democratic institutions and their neutrality? Watch the power-packed debate on Left, Right and Centre.

The Election Commission of India will visit Jammu and Kashmir from March 11 to March 13 to assess when polls can be held in the Union Territory and whether simultaneous elections are possible with the general elections. The dates for the Lok Sabha elections are likely to be revealed immediately after the election commission team returns. Watch Left Right and Centre.

 

Women in West Bengal are outraged and the storm that started in Sandeshkhali will not remain restricted to the island but reach every corner of West Bengal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today. The Prime Minister said the Bengal government is using all its might to save the "oppressor of women" - an apparent reference to Sandeshkhali strongman Sheikh Shahjahan. The Trinamool Congress countered PM's salvo by asking why no action has been taken on BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh who has been accused of sexual harassment by wrestlers. On the Left Right & Centre we ask is the Trinamool on the backfoot over the Sandeshkhali issue?

Several days after she was gang-raped and her husband assaulted, the 28-year-old Spanish woman left the area in Jharkhand where the horrific crime took place. The Deputy Commissioner of Dumka did a photo op handing over a compensation of 10 lakhs to the husband of the rape survivor.  A deep dive into the horror of the situation in Jharkhand and how government statistics now reveal that crimes against women have gone up.

The government of Maldives signed an agreement with China which will provide it free military aid. This comes at a time when the Maldivian President made it clear that not one Indian military personnel would be allowed to remain on the island. This is bad news for New Delhi amid a growing Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean region.  What are the implications?

Union Minister Rajiv Chandrashekar in an exclusive interview said that Google left itself open to possible criminal prosecution after the global internet giant's artificial intelligence tool Gemini provided an objectionable response to a question about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We follow up the interview with a debate on regulation versus free speech.