The Malayalam film industry woke up to sad news on Sunday night with the passing away of actor and production controller Kannan Pattambi. He was 62 and had been undergoing treatment for a kidney-related illness.

Kannan Pattambi breathed his last at around 11:40 pm at a private hospital in Kozhikode. The news was confirmed by his elder brother, filmmaker Major Ravi.

Funeral to be held at home town

The funeral of Kannan Pattambi will take place on Monday at 4 pm. The last rites will be held at his residence in Njanganthiri, Pattambi.

Relatives, well-wishers, and members of the film fraternity are expected to attend and pay their final respects.

Major Ravi’s emotional note

Major Ravi shared the news through a Facebook post written in Malayalam. Along with a photograph of his younger brother, he informed followers about the time of death and funeral details.

Kannan shared a close professional bond with his brother Major Ravi, a former Indian Army officer who later became a filmmaker. He was actively involved in the production of films directed or produced by Major Ravi.

One of the most talked-about projects was Mission 90 Days. It is a film based on Major Ravi’s experiences during the investigation into Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

Kannan Pattambi: Long journey in Malayalam cinema

Kannan Pattambi was familiar and respected name behind the scenes of Malayalam cinema. For many years, he worked as production controller. This role is crucial in managing film shoots, schedules, budgets.

Apart from his behind-the-camera work, Kannan also appeared as an actor in several films mostly in supporting roles.

Kannan Pattambi also worked on several films starring Mohanlal. Among them was Pulimurugan, a historic film that became the first Malayalam movie to cross the Rs 100 crore mark at the box office.

Also Read: Mohanlal’s mother Santhakumari passes away at 90 after prolonged illness; see rare photos with the actor

The son of Venezuela’s former leader has warned of betrayal from within the ruling camp, hours after a US-led operation resulted in the arrest of his father and the country’s first lady and their transfer to the United States.

In an audio message shared online, Nicolás Maduro Guerra said history would eventually expose those responsible. His remarks appeared to point towards possible internal dissent inside Chavismo, the political movement built around his father.

“History will tell who the traitors were,” he said. “History will reveal it.”

Unity call inside ruling party after arrests

Maduro Guerra, a lawmaker from La Guaira state and a senior figure in the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), urged supporters to remain united. He said the party would not fracture despite what he described as an external attack.

He called on party workers and supporters to mobilise on January 4 and 5, stressing the need to regroup politically and maintain morale. He also spoke of tighter political and military coordination to counter what he termed “external aggression”.

In the audio message, he confirmed that Nicolás Maduro is currently in US custody. His tone shifted between defiance and emotion. “They want to see us weak,” he said, adding that the movement would continue to take to the streets despite anger and pain.

“We are fine, we are calm. You will see us in the streets, alongside these people. They want to see us weak; we are going to raise the banners of dignity. Does it hurt us? Of course it hurts us, of course it makes us angry, but they won’t be able to, damn it! I swear to you on my life, on my mother, on Cilia: they won’t be able to,” El-cooperative reported him as saying in the audio recording.

What US authorities say about the operation

Meanwhile, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, remain detained in the United States. They are expected to appear before a federal court in New York on Monday for the first time since their arrest.

Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores to appear before US federal court in New York

According to CBS News, US authorities confirmed that the couple will be produced before a federal judge in the Southern District of New York at noon local time. The charges include alleged narco-terrorism and conspiracy to traffic drugs.

Washington has described the operation as a large-scale strike involving US intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Officials said the couple were detained in Caracas, moved to the USS Iwo Jima, and later flown to New York, where they arrived on Saturday to face criminal proceedings.

Large parts of north and western India witnessed a foggy start on Monday. Cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Guwahati woke up to reduced visibility and deteriorating air quality. In the national capital, a thick layer of fog mixed with smog covered several areas during the early morning hours. Pollution levels slipped into the ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ categories. Overall, the smog blanket impacted flight operations at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.

As per data released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 260 by 8 am, placing it in the ‘poor’ category. Pollution levels varied across the city, with several hotspots recording significantly higher readings.

At Akshardham, the AQI was recorded at 294, categorised as ‘poor’, while ITO registered an AQI of 256. Anand Vihar witnessed a sharper decline in air quality, with the AQI touching 320, pushing the area into the ‘very poor’ bracket.

Chandni Chowk remained among the most polluted areas in the capital, recording an AQI of 337, also under the ‘very poor’ category.

The dense fog and smog led to reduced visibility across Delhi, resulting in delays to multiple flights at IGI Airport during the early hours, airport officials said.

Cold weather conditions in other cities

Mumbai, too, reported hazy conditions on Monday morning. Visuals from the Bandra Kurla Complex and Bandra Reclamation showed a visible layer of smog hovering over parts of the city. The AQI in these areas stood at 132, which falls under the ‘moderate’ category, according to CPCB data.

In the Northeast, Assam’s capital Guwahati experienced a cold and foggy morning as a cold wave continued to grip the region. The city’s AQI was recorded at 72, categorised as ‘satisfactory’. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast a minimum temperature of 14 degrees Celsius for Guwahati.

Pollution control measures to improve air quality

In Delhi, the Sub-Committee on the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) under the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in the National Capital Region (NCR) and adjoining areas revoked Stage-III restrictions last week.

Despite the relaxation, authorities have urged residents to strictly adhere to measures prescribed under Stages I and II of the GRAP to prevent a further decline in air quality. The government clarified that construction and demolition sites shut due to violations or non-compliance with statutory norms will not be allowed to resume work without explicit approval from the Commission.

The GRAP Sub-Committee said it will continue to closely monitor air quality levels and review the situation periodically, taking further action based on forecasts issued by the IMD and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM).

The killing of Anjel Chakma in Dehradun is not merely a story of one violent night. It is a mirror held up to a society that has long normalised racial prejudice against its own people. What began as verbal abuse reportedly laced with racial slurs ended in fatal violence, exposing uncomfortable truths about how ‘Northeast Indians’ are treated in our cities. Reports tell us that on the night of 9 December, Angel Chakma, a young MBA student from Tripura, was attacked in Selaqui, on the outskirts of Dehradun. According to police records and eyewitness accounts, a confrontation escalated rapidly over racial remarks. Within minutes of the verbal abuse, Angel was reportedly stabbed.

He succumbed to his injuries, while his brother Michael Chakma, who was with him, survived with serious physical, and psychological trauma. Witnesses to the Selaqui incident reportedly heard racial slurs before the assault turned physical. The police have arrested five individuals so far. While the arrests are being projected as swift action, many questions remain unanswered. What makes the killing of Angel Chakma particularly disturbing is how familiar the sequence feels to students from the Northeast. Verbal abuse – being called “chinki,” “Chinese,” or reduced to stereotypes like “momos” and “chowmein” – which even people outside the Northeastern states relish to eat – has long been dismissed as casual banter or ignorance. The effort to dehumanize and belittle someone merely because of their appearance is shocking in this millennium when India is progressively moving towards the 2047 goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’.

The general perception of being an outsider lingers in the society outside Northeast India. While many states in the Northeast are xenophobic, in mainstream society, the situation is different. Young people from the Northeast have migrated to cities like Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Maharashtra, Kolkata, and Dehradun in search of education and employment. But, what they often encounter is suspicion, mockery, and vulnerability. From landlords refusing accommodation to employers making racist remarks, discrimination is woven into daily life. Data on hate crimes against Northeasterners remains fragmented, partly because such incidents are underreported and under-recorded.

Also, racial abuse is rarely treated as a serious offence. Moreover, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) does not maintain a separate category for racial crimes against people from the Northeast, making the scale of the problem easier to deny. One would recall the 2014 death of Nido Tania, a 19-year-old Arunachali student beaten in Delhi for his dyed hair, perceived as ‘Chinki arrogance’ that sparked national outrage, leading to the Bezbaruah Committee. That panel documented 62 attacks in Delhi from 2012-2014, including acid attacks and assaults, recommending a special police unit (SPUNER), implemented in 2015. Other cases like the 2017 lynching of Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand echoed similar mob fury, but Northeast-specific violence peaked with 2020’s Manipur students thrashed in Kerala for ‘Chinese features.’

In 2023, a Mizoram woman was gang-raped in Haryana, with slurs cited in FIRs. Angel Chakma is unfortunately the latest victim. The key findings of the Bezbaruah Committee included the urgent need for new or amended laws, specifically by inserting new sections into the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (e.g. Section 153C and 509A) to make racial insults and violence a cognizable and non-bailable offense punishable by up to three or five years imprisonment, along with the creation of fast-track courts and a dedicated panel of lawyers and public prosecutors. The committee also stressed the importance of strengthening law enforcement through the creation of Special Police Units for North Eastern people; the appointment of nodal officers; the establishment of a dedicated 24/7 helpline (1093); and the recruitment and sensitization of police personnel from the region and dedicated (Northeast) helplines.

To combat the underlying prejudice, the report advocated for mandatory education about the North East in school curriculums, using media to promote awareness, organizing cultural exchange programs, and utilizing sports events to foster better integration and understanding between the communities. NGOs like NESO (North East Students’ Organization), track 500 plus annual incidents, echoing a similar sentiment for curriculum reforms to teach Northeast history beyond textbooks’ tokenism. Northeastern India’s population traces its Mongoloid origins to ancient migrations from East and Southeast Asia, beginning around 2000 BCE. Anthropological evidence links Tibeto-Burman, Austroasiatic, and Tai groups to proto-Mongoloid waves that settled the Brahmaputra Valley and hills, blending with indigenous Australoid and Negrito populations. British colonial ethnographers like Herbert Risley classified them as “Mongoloid” in the 19th-century Census of India, a term derived from facial features such as epicanthic folds, straight black hair, and lighter skin tones shared with populations in Mongolia, Tibet, and Myanmar.

Post-independence, this ‘othering’ (meaning treating a people or region as fundamentally different, distant, or not fully part of the mainstream) persisted through maps portraying the Northeast as a peripheral ‘frontier,’ ignoring its role in Ahom Kingdom ) resistance against Mughals from the 13th century. This historical framing fuels modern perceptions of Northeasterners as perpetual ‘outsiders,’ despite their contributions to India’s freedom struggle, such as Rani Gaidinliu’s Naga rebellion against British rule or U-Tirot Singh’s contribution from Meghalaya and even the present dispensation recognizing the tangible and intangible heritage of the Northeastern states. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, serves as the primary recourse since many Northeastern communities qualify as Scheduled Tribes.

Calling someone “Chinki” or similar slurs can trigger penalties under this Act, including up to five years’ imprisonment, as it prohibits insults based on caste or tribe. However, it excludes non-ST Northeasterners, like some Meitei or Bengali groups from Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura, limiting its scope. The Delhi High Court in 2014, responding to Nido Tania’s case, directed legislation against inter-state harassment and formed a monitoring committee for racial attacks. The Supreme Court in Court on its ‘Own Motion v. Union of India’ (2014) labeled such discrimination ‘a threat to national integrity’, violating Articles 14, 15, 19(1), and 301 of the Constitution, which guarantee equality, non-discrimination, free movement, and trade. Last but not the least, Anjel Chakma’s death has sent waves of grief through the Chakma community.

Anjel was not just a statistic, he was a young man with ambitions, a family’s hope, whose future has been cut short. While law enforcement agencies are probing the incident for action against the perpetrators of this heinous crime, addressing such a situation requires mandatory sensitivity training for police and employers, curriculum intervention and most importantly, Article 15 enforcement against appearance-based bias. Justice delayed, should not be justice denied.

(VIEWS ARE PERSONAL. THE WRITER IS PROGRAMME EXECUTIVE, GANDHI SMRITI AND DARSHAN SAMITI )

Who could have imagined, back in August 2023, that a plea for help delivered in a Surrey gurdwara would plant the seeds for something as audacious and as sinister as Trump Land? Yet that is precisely what has unfolded. The provocative map unveiled on 27 December, 2025, by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the designated terrorist and chief of the banned Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), proposing a separate Christian-majority state carved out of India’s Northeast, has its roots in those early diaspora overtures. What once looked like opportunistic victimhood has hardened into a full-blown separatist blueprint.

The defining moment came when Lien Gangte, Canada chapter chief of the North American Manipur Tribal Association (NAMTA), addressed the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey. This was no ordinary religious venue. Until his assassination just two months earlier, it had been led by Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Khalistani separatist. From that pulpit, Gangte spoke of alleged “attacks on minorities in India,” openly appealed for “all possible help” from Canada, and highlighted the unfolding ethnic violence in Manipur. NAMTA proudly shared videos of the event on 7 August, 2023 only to quietly delete them months later, once the diplomatic fallout following Nijjar’s killing made such associations inconvenient. In retrospect, that deletion speaks volumes.

What seemed then like a cry for international attention has since evolved into a calculated effort to internationalise India’s internal challenges. SFJ has cynically exploited the very grievances highlighted by Gangte, repackaging a complex ethnic conflict into a simplistic narrative of religious persecution to justify its latest fantasy: a Christian “safe haven” dubbed Trump Land. The connection is unmistakable and deeply alarming. As 2025 draws to a close, India faces a brazen separatist provocation that demands unflinching national attention. Timed deliberately with Christmas, Pannun’s announcement alleges systematic persecution of Christians under the Modi government; burned churches, criminalised Bible preaching, assaults, and mass displacement.

His direct appeal to US President Donald Trump and invocation of United Nations “self-determination” principles are not rhetorical flourishes. They are a strategic attempt to invite foreign intervention and scrutiny, using faith as both shield and sword. This was never a spontaneous outburst. Intelligence trails show that by early 2023, even as violence erupted in Manipur, US-based Kuki leaders were already in touch with Pannun. Subsequent reports revealed NAMTA members engaging with Nijjar’s supporters, while the organisation’s US chapter publicly thanked the “Sikh family” for solidarity with the Kuki cause. Indian security agencies flagged these interactions early on as signs of Khalistani infiltration into Northeast grievances—an assessment that has since been vindicated.

By January 2025, when the Union Home Ministry extended the ban on SFJ for another five years, official inputs stated clearly that Pannun’s outfit was “inciting the Christian community in Manipur to raise their voices for a separate country,” alongside similarly absurd calls for “Dravidstan” and “Urduistan.” The Trump Land map is simply the most audacious manifestation yet of this scattershot strategy: identify fault lines, inflame identities, and push secession under the garb of human rights. Adding to the unease are developments from within the region itself. In September 2024, Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma, while addressing Zo (Chin-Kuki-Mizo) diaspora gatherings in the United States, spoke of a shared “nationhood” across India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh, lamenting colonial-era divisions and invoking a common destiny. Though he later clarified that such unity could exist within India, the religious undertones and talk of divine sanction were, at best, recklessly ambiguous.

At a time when hostile external forces were already fishing in troubled waters, such rhetoric only muddied the ground. The propaganda ecosystem around Trump Land is equally revealing. Stories amplifying the proposal have appeared prominently on websites with Pakistani-registered (.pk) domains, a familiar signature of hybrid warfare aimed at exploiting India’s internal fractures. This is not organic activism; it is coordinated information warfare. For Indians comfortably ensconced in the mainland, this must be a moment of reckoning. The Northeast is not a distant frontier to be remembered only during crises. It is the sentinel guarding our eastern borders with China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Bhutan. It holds immense strategic and economic value: Assam’s oil and gas, vast hydropower potential, and the connective spine of the Act East Policy. Allowing it to be portrayed globally as an oppressed Christian enclave awaiting “liberation” risks not just territorial loss, but a cascading security nightmare. Yet, we must also confront an uncomfortable truth. External actors like Pannun are exploiting a vacuum we ourselves created. In Manipur, prolonged failure to decisively tackle illegal immigration, curb narco-terrorism fuelled by cross-border drug and arms networks, and address governance issues such as the Hill Areas (Acquisition of Chiefs’ Rights) Act, 1967, allowed grievances to fester. What could have remained a difficult but manageable dispute over land and identity spiralled into a protracted ethnic crisis, claiming over 300 lives and displacing more than 70,000 people. This self-inflicted wound became the opening separatists were waiting for. History is unforgiving of such neglect.

The Khalistan insurgency of the 1980s thrived on unaddressed grievances. India’s failure to accommodate East Pakistan’s aspirations led to the birth of Bangladesh in 1971. We cannot afford to relearn these lessons at such cost. As citizens, rejecting the mainland–periphery mindset is not optional; it is imperative. Learn the Northeast’s history from the Battle of Kohima that halted the Japanese advance in World War II to the cultural legacy of Bhupen Hazarika and the sporting triumphs of Mary Kom. Support its economy, demand nuanced media coverage, and insist that governance there matches its strategic importance. The Trump Land map, and the Khalistani–Kuki links behind it, are more than a provocation. They are an indictment of our indifference. It began with NAMTA’s outreach in a Khalistani-linked gurdwara, gained momentum through Pannun’s systematic incitement, and now threatens India’s territorial integrity. We still have time to douse this tinder but only if we finally treat the Northeast not as a distant periphery, but as the vital limb it has always been.

(VIEWS ARE PERSONAL TO THE AUTHOR. THE AUTHOR IS A TECHNOCRAT, POLITICAL ANALYST, AND WRITER FROM ASSAM )

US President Donald Trump has praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying India reduced its purchases of Russian oil after understanding Washington’s concerns.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump described Modi as a “good man” and a “good guy”. He suggested New Delhi adjusted its policy after realising the White House was unhappy with India’s continued energy trade with Russia.

“They (Indians) wanted to make me happy, basically. (PM) Modi’s a very good man. Yes, he’s a good guy. He knew I was not happy, and it was important to make me happy. They do trade, and we can raise tariffs on that very quickly,” Trump said.

The remarks were also framed as a warning. Trump said tariff action could follow “very quickly” if countries continued trade practices Washington disapproved of, making clear that energy imports remained tied to broader trade consequences.

The comments come at a time when India and the United States are engaged in trade negotiations, with energy ties emerging as a sensitive point in the discussions.

How tariffs entered the India–Russia oil issue

The United States has already imposed punitive tariffs of up to 50 per cent on a range of Indian exports. These include textiles, chemicals and food products such as shrimp, underscoring Washington’s willingness to use trade pressure to influence policy choices.

US Senator Lindsey Graham, who was travelling with the President, said tariff pressure had already pushed India to buy significantly less Russian crude.

Graham argued that the move weakens Moscow’s ability to fund its war in Ukraine and shows how tariffs can influence foreign policy decisions.

He credited the 25 per cent tariff imposed by the Trump administration on India’s purchase of Russian oil for producing visible results.

“I really do believe what he did with India is the chief reason India is now buying substantially less Russian oil,” he said.

What Washington may do next

“If you’re buying cheap Russian oil keeping Putin’s war machine going, we’re trying to give the President the ability to make that a hard choice,” Graham said.

Graham said his proposed legislation would give the US President wide powers to impose tariffs on countries that continue buying discounted Russian energy.

The bill, backed by 85 co-sponsors, would allow tariffs ranging from zero to 500 per cent, depending on the President’s discretion.

Recalling a recent meeting with Indian officials, Graham said India’s reduced Russian oil purchases were already a key topic of discussion. “I was at the Indian ambassador’s house about a month ago, and all he wanted to talk about is how they’re buying less Russian oil…This works,” Graham claimed.

Trump also compared his approach to the Biden administration’s Ukraine policy. He accused it of spending heavily without securing returns. “Now we get paid,” Trump said.

The US President has also hinted at expanding tariff action beyond energy, accusing India of dumping rice in the US market. The remarks suggest trade pressure could widen even as talks between the two sides continue.

Somnath… hearing this word instils a sense of pride in our hearts and minds. It is the eternal proclamation of India’s soul. This majestic Temple is situated on the Western coast of India in Gujarat, at a place called Prabhas Patan. The Dwadasha Jyotirling Stotram mentions the 12 Jyotirlingas across India. The Stotram begins with ‘सौराष्ट्रे सोमनाथं च…’ (‘Saurashtre Somanatham cha…‘), symbolising the civilisational and spiritual importance of Somnath as the first Jyotirling. It is also said:

सोमलिङ्गं नरो दृष्ट्वा सर्वपापैः प्रमुच्यते ।
लभते फलं मनोवाञ्छितं मृतः स्वर्गं समाश्रयेत्॥

It means: Just the sight of Somnath Shivling ensures that a person is freed of sins, achieves their righteous desires and attains heaven after death. Tragically, this very Somnath, which drew the reverence and prayers of millions, was attacked by foreign invaders, whose agenda was demolition, not devotion. The year 2026 is significant for the Somnath Temple. It has been 1,000 years since the first attack on this great shrine. It was in January of 1026 that Mahmud of Ghazni attacked this Temple, seeking to destroy a great symbol of faith and civilisation through a violent and barbaric invasion. Yet, one thousand years later, the Temple stands as glorious as ever because of numerous efforts to restore Somnath to its grandeur. One such milestone completes 75 years in 2026.

It was during a ceremony on 11 May 1951, in the presence of the then President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, that the restored Temple opened its doors to devotees. The first invasion of Somnath a thousand years ago in 1026, the cruelty that was unleashed upon the people of the town and the devastation that was inflicted upon the shrine have been documented in great detail in various historical accounts. When you read them, the heart trembles. Each line carries the weight of grief, cruelty and a sorrow that refuses to fade with time. Imagine the impact it had on Bharat and the morale of the people. After all, Somnath had great spiritual significance.

It was also on the coast, giving strength to a society with great economic prowess, whose sea traders and seafarers carried tales of its grandeur far and wide. Yet, I am proud to state unequivocally that the story of Somnath, a thousand years after the first attack, is not defined by destruction. It is defined by the unbreakable courage of crores of children of Bharat Mata. The medieval barbarism that began a thousand years ago in 1026 went on to ‘inspire’ others to repeatedly attack Somnath. It was the start of an attempt to enslave our people and culture. But each time the Temple was attacked, we also had great men and women who stood up to defend it and even made the ultimate sacrifice. And every single time, generation after generation, the people of our great civilisation picked themselves up, rebuilt and rejuvenated the Temple. It is our privilege to have been nurtured by the same soil that has nurtured greats like Ahilyabai Holkar, who made a noble attempt to ensure devotees can pray at Somnath. In the 1890s, Swami Vivekananda visited Somnath and that experience moved him. He expressed his feelings during a lecture in Chennai in 1897 when he said, “Some of these old temples of Southern India and those like Somnath of Gujarat will teach you volumes of wisdom, will give you a keener insight into the history of the race than any amount of books. Mark how these temples bear the marks of a hundred attacks and a hundred regenerations, continually destroyed and continually springing up out of the ruins, rejuvenated and strong as ever! That is the national mind, that is the national life-current. Follow it and it leads to glory.

Give it up and you die; death will be the only result, annihilation, the only effect, the moment you step beyond that life current.” The sacred duty of rebuilding the Somnath Temple after independence came to the able hands of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. A visit during Diwali time in 1947 moved him so much that he announced that the Temple would be rebuilt there. Finally, on 11 May 1951, a grand Temple in Somnath opened its doors to devotees and Dr. Rajendra Prasad was present there. The great Sardar Sahib was not alive to see this historic day, but the fulfilment of his dream stood tall before the nation. The then Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, was not too enthused with this development. He did not want the Honourable President as well as Ministers to associate with this special event.

He said that this event created a bad impression of India. But Dr. Rajendra Prasad stood firm and the rest is history. No mention of Somnath is complete without recalling the efforts of KM Munshi, who supported Sardar Patel very effectively. His works on Somnath, including the book, ‘Somanatha: The Shrine Eternal’, are extremely informative and educative. Indeed, as the title of Munshi Ji’s book conveys, we are a civilisation that carries a sense of conviction about the eternity of spirit and of ideas. We firmly believe that that which is eternal is indestructible, as outlined in the famous Gita verse, There can be no better example of our civilisation’s indomitable spirit than Somnath, which stands gloriously, overcoming odds and struggles.

It is this same spirit that is visible in our nation, one of the brightest spots of global growth, having overcome centuries of invasions and colonial loot. It is our value systems and the determination of our people that have made India the centre of global attention today. The world is seeing India with hope and optimism. They want to invest in our innovative youngsters. Our art, culture, music and several festivals are going global. Yoga and Ayurveda are making a worldwide impact, boosting healthy living. Solutions to some of the most pressing global challenges are coming from India. Since time immemorial, Somnath has brought together people from different walks of life.

Centuries ago, Kalikal Sarvagna Hemchandracharya, a respected Jain monk, came to Somnath. It is said that after praying there, he recited a verse, “भवबीजाङ् कु रजननारागााःयमुपगता य।”. It means – Salutations to That One in whom the seeds of worldly becoming are destroyed, in whom passion and all afflictions have withered away.” Today, Somnath holds the same ability to awaken something profound within the mind and soul. A thousand years after the first attack in 1026, the sea at Somnath still roars with the same intensity as it did back then. The waves that wash the shores of Somnath tell a story. No matter what, just like the waves, it kept rising again and again.

The aggressors of the past are now dust in the wind, their names synonymous with destruction. They are footnotes in the annals of history, while Somnath stands bright, radiating far beyond the horizon, reminding us of the eternal spirit that remained undiminished by the attack of 1026. Somnath is a song of hope that tells us that while hate and fanaticism may have the power to destroy for a moment, faith and conviction in the power of goodness have the power to create for eternity. If the Somnath Temple, which was attacked a thousand years ago and faced continuous attacks thereon, could rise again and again, then we can surely restore our great nation to the glory it embodied a thousand years ago before the invasions.

With the blessings of Shree Somnath Mahadev, we move forward with a renewed resolve to build a Viksit Bharat, where civilisational wisdom guides us to work for the welfare of the whole world. Jai Somnath!

(The writer is Prime Minister of India and is also the Chairman of the Shree Somnath Trust.)

The release of Uttar Pradesh’s draft electoral rolls has done more than trigger routine political anxiety ~ it has revealed a structural disconnect between India’s urban reality and its electoral administration. When a large share of proposed deletions is concentrated in cities, the issue is less about political intent and more about how democracy copes with mobility. At first glance, the deletions appear procedural: uncollected enumeration forms, duplication, and address mismatches.

But the pattern is telling. Urban constituencies show disproportionately higher numbers of deletions not because city residents are disengaged, but because cities host a floating population that does not see the urban address as politically permanent. Millions who migrate from villages for work consciously retain their voter registration in their native places, where family ties, land, and local influence still matter more than the anonymity of the city. In that sense, the draft rolls are reflecting a choice as much as an omission. The city functions as an economic space, while the village remains the political anchor.

When door-to-door verification takes place in urban booth areas during working hours, migrant workers are often absent, rentals change hands quickly, and documentation trails reality. What follows is administrative logic, not exclusionary design. What the revision process is also revealing is the scale of a long-ignored contradiction in voter behaviour. For years, electoral rolls quietly absorbed duplication created by migration, as individuals remained registered in their native villages while living and working elsewhere. That arrangement was politically convenient and administratively tolerated, but it was never legally sustainable. The current exercise is, at its core, an attempt to realign the rolls with the principle of single, place-based electoral registration. The political consequences, however, are real.

Urban electoral strength depends not only on voter preference but on voter presence on the rolls. When large numbers are flagged for deletion in cities, established assumptions of political parties like the BJP about urban voting behaviour are unsettled. Parties with dense booth-level networks and constant voter engagement are better equipped to guide people through correction mechanisms. Those relying on past majorities or broad sentiment discover that organisational slack can quickly translate into electoral risk. Seen this way, the deletions do not represent exclusion but consolidation.

They mark the point where administrative practice is finally catching up with social reality. Migrant voters are not being denied participation; they are being asked, perhaps for the first time, to make a clear choice about where their political citizenship resides. The discomfort this creates for urban centric parties like the BJP is understandable, but it is also unavoidable. But its outcomes underline a deeper institutional reality: India’s political geography still lags behind its economic geography. Cities absorb labour at scale, but aren’t sites of political belonging for millions who live and work within them. As migration reshapes India’s cities, electoral politics will increasingly reflect this tension between economic movement and political rootedness. The draft rolls merely reflect where the vote truly belongs despite social mobility

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the bail pleas of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, in the 2020 Delhi riots ‘larger conspiracy’ case. The two are in jail on charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

The Supreme Court, however, accepted the bail pleas of the other five persons accused in the case, namely Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohammad Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmed.

The Supreme Court, while delivering its order, noted that the case of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam stands on a “qualitatively different footing”, both in terms of prosecution and evidence. The apex court underscored that the two student activists played roles “central” to the alleged offences.

A Bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Prasanna B Varale said that while the period of incarceration is continued and has been long for the two, it, however, does not violate the constitutional mandate or override the statutory embargo under the law.

While denying bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, the Supreme Court, however, allowed the duo to apply for bail afresh in the trial court, once the examination of all prosecution witnesses in the matter is completed or in any case after one year’s time.

It may be recalled that investigators had described the case as part of a “larger conspiracy”.

The pleas had challenged earlier orders of the Delhi High Court, which had refused bail and held that a prima facie case was made out under the UAPA.

The Supreme Court had reserved its verdict on December 10 after hearing both sides. It later allowed the parties to file additional documents by December 18.

What the accused told the court

During the hearing, lawyers for the accused focused on the delay in the trial.

They said the case has not moved forward for years. They also argued that the trial is unlikely to begin soon.

Several of the accused, they said, have been in custody for more than five years under the UAPA.

The defence also told the court that there is no direct proof linking the accused to acts of violence during the riots, even after years of investigation.

Why the police opposed bail

The Delhi Police opposed the bail pleas.

It said the violence in February 2020 was planned and not spontaneous.

Appearing for the police, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that the riots were part of a deliberate attempt to destabilise the country. He said the protests were organised and coordinated.

The prosecution told the court that the timing of the violence was linked to the visit of the then US President to India. The aim, it said, was to draw international attention.

According to the police, the Citizenship Amendment Act was used as a trigger to mobilise protests in the name of peaceful dissent.

The prosecution also referred to WhatsApp groups and online coordination to support its claims.

It said the violence led to the death of 53 people, injuries to hundreds, and the registration of over 750 FIRs in Delhi.

The police further argued that delays in the trial were caused by the accused themselves. It said each accused took several days to oppose the framing of charges.

In September last year, the Delhi High Court had dismissed bail pleas filed by Khalid, Imam and others, saying the allegations required a full trial.

A new political slogan is travelling fast across wealthy democracies: affordability. It is invoked with urgency, often paired with the language of crisis. Voters are told that prices are out of control, that everyday life has become unmanageable, and that something fundamental has gone wrong. The claim resonates emotionally. But as with many powerful political narratives, the truth is more complicated than the slogan suggests. Prices have undeniably risen in recent years, sometimes sharply.

Housing costs in major cities, childcare, healthcare, and food have all become more expensive, creating visible pressure points in household budgets. These increases are felt acutely because they affect items people buy frequently or cannot avoid. Yet when examined in aggregate, incomes in most advanced economies have risen faster than inflation over the same period. Measured broadly, purchasing power has not collapsed. In many cases, it has improved. This gap between economic data and public sentiment reveals something important about how people experience the economy.

Affordability is not assessed through national averages or wage indices. It is judged through lived encounters: the rent renewal that jumps unexpectedly, the grocery bill that feels higher than last month, the price of entry into home ownership that seems permanently out of reach. People anchor their sense of well-being to specific prices, not to abstract comparisons of income growth. Politics thrives in this space between perception and reality. Calls to “fix” affordability often begin by correctly identifying local distortions ~ shortages, regulatory bottlenecks, or supply constraints that push prices higher than they need to be.

But these insights are frequently followed by policy prescriptions that promise immediate relief while ignoring longer-term consequences. Price caps, subsidies without supply reform, or pressure on independent institutions may feel decisive, but they often worsen the very shortages they aim to address. The deeper tension lies in contradictory public demands. Voters want higher wages, but also lower prices. They want rising asset values for what they already own, and falling prices for what they hope their children can buy. They want protection from market volatility, yet also expect abundance, choice and innovation. These goals cannot all be met simultaneously without trade-offs. Affordability, then, is not a single economic condition but a political mirror.

It reflects anxieties about fairness, opportunity and security more than it does absolute living standards. The danger is not that these concerns are illegitimate, but that they are channelled into policies that confuse symptoms with causes. The challenge for governments is to resist slogans and confront structure: boosting supply where shortages exist, removing barriers that inflate costs, and being honest about the limits of what policy can deliver without unintended damage. Otherwise, affordability risks becoming not a solution to economic frustration, but a slogan that deepens it.

The artificial classifications of the World Bank and IMF at best serve their limited institutional purposes ~ to determine for eligibility of poorer developing countries for concessional loans, favourable trade terms etc., and for phasing these countries in or out of aid windows. They may provide a framework for organising global macroeconomic data but suffer from many serious flaws. They ignore inequality ~ the USA has a high per capita income of $84000, but is a highly unequal country where the richest 1 per cent of households own almost 30 per cent of the nation’s total wealth, while the bottom 50 per cent hold only about 3 per cent.

The top 10% own more than two-thirds of total wealth, and this share has increased steadily over the decades. In contrast, Japan, also an advanced economy, has low inequality. In our dream of Viksit Bharat, do we want an unequal society where a million billionaires account for 80 per cent of the nation’s GDP? The classifications also ignore social outcomes ~ South Africa and Vietnam have similar income levels but vastly different inequality and employment structures. They ignore human development and economic structures, and cannot distinguish between a diversified modern manufacturing economy with a high skill base like China, an upper middle-income country, from Saudi Arabia, a high-income rentier state that is dependent on a single commodity, oil, and has very narrow domestic skill base.

A singly-commodity export dependent country has very different development prospects from a diversified economy, even though both may be at the same income levels. There are many such examples ~ South Korea vs. Kuwait, Norway vs. Qatar ~ all high-income countries yet vastly different in diversification and skill. Nobody would advocate an economic structure like that of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or Qatar for a Viksit Bharat. Vulnerability to external shocks, productivity growth and income and employment are all structural features invisible in income averages. They also ignore the capacity of the states to deliver public goods such as access to quality healthcare, education, social protection, etc. that depend not just on income but on state capacity and policy choices, which often lag income growth.

This brings us to the fundamental question, what exactly is development and what kind of development do we want for Viksit Bharat? True development must be multidimensional, encompassing not just purchasing power but health, education, opportunity, job, dignity, security, inclusion, and a whole lot of other things. Income of course is important as higher income levels are strongly correlated with better health outcomes, higher educational attainment, and greater state capacity. Even the UNDP’s widely-reported Human Development Index (HDI) which gives equal weightages to income, health and education is imperfect because of this strong correlation ~ it automatically favours countries with higher income. As a single-number summary, income remains one of the most powerful predictors of average living standards, and is necessary for development, but not a sufficient condition. Further, the Western concept of equating money with well-being is not relevant for India and many other countries.

Income gains do not automatically translate into improved well-being without adequate investments in human capital and building institutional capacity. True development will shift the focus away from income growth to build a diversified, resilient, inclusive economy, not bound by the narrow definitions of outdated institutions like the UN, World Bank or IMF which have outlived their utility and are unfit to address the realities and complexities of a world that is unrecognisable to the one in which they were created. A State’s performance is judged by the coverage and efficiency in its delivery of public goods, and for that we need not be a high-income country. It depends more on the state’s capacity and vision more than income.

Poverty still prevails in India, but absolute poverty seen in the 1970-films of Mrinal Sen or Ritwik Ghatak is certainly a thing of the past. Nobody dies of hunger in today’s India, thanks to the food security provided by the State. The quality of education in public schools falls way short of expectation, but almost all children attend schools where they get at least one nutritious meal every day. Quality of public health delivery is way below optimal, but everybody has access to healthcare and thanks to Ayushman Bharat, families do not fall into poverty due to medical expenditure. Welfare benefits reach every household without leakage, law and order is generally stable, and good quality roads and electricity are available even in the remotest villages.

By and large, institutions function as they should, elections are fair and free, and press is freer than in most countries. All these have been achieved at a low-income level, demonstrating that income is a weak proxy for the well-being of citizens. Developed countries also offer all these and quality is an equal concern with them too. The UK National Health Service is in a deep crisis where patients wait for weeks if not months to get an appointment. The public healthcare systems in the USA, many European countries, or South Korea are under deep stress due to inadequate finance, as are their public transportation systems which are “on the edge of a cliff” due to shrinking funding. The abrupt collapse of institutional mechanisms being seen in the USA now make our systems feel vastly superior.

One may then question why we should be considered undeveloped just because our per capita income is low? Of course, this is not to say that we have no problem – starting with unemployment and issues of quality, the inventory of our problems would be a long list, but addressing them is aspirational and a continuous, ongoing process. While sustained high growth and continuous rise in per capita income remain central to the idea of Viksit Bharat, the idea of Vikas must go much beyond these. It must be the vision of a future in which India is not only an economically richer, militarily stronger, technologically advanced, strategically autonomous, environmentally responsible, and institutionally strong digital superpower, but also one in which every citizen feels empowered and included in the process of development.

The government’s vision of Viksit Bharat@2047 conceptualises it as a high-income inclusive society in which economic growth would be structurally transformative, based on eight interconnected pillars of economic transformation, digital empowerment, social inclusion, education and skill development, healthcare for all, developed infrastructure and urban growth, sustainable development, and citizen participation. A defining feature of this transformation would be technology-led governance and innovation. Digital public infrastructure is positioned as a scalable model for service delivery, financial inclusion, and state capacity enhancement, especially in strategic sectors such as clean energy, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing.

Institutional reform and cooperative federalism occupy a central place in this vision, and states are viewed as key drivers of development. Finally, sustainability and global engagement are integral to the vision. Climate resilience, energy transition, and India’s role in global governance are seen as inseparable from development. The agenda for Viksit Bharat is thus multi-dimensional and transformative, moving beyond income metrics to emphasise capability, resilience, and institutional strength, not framed solely through economic or technological metrics. Even then, it would be incomplete if we are unable to integrate our civilisational ethos into the scheme of Viksit Bharat. This includes the Chaturvarga: Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha.

Translated into the language of governance, Dharma means that ethics and morality must inform governance and all public policy, integral to which would be transparency in public finance, accountability, social justice and individual responsibility, where long-term public goods would be prioritised over short-term political gains. Artha would imply economic growth that would lead to Sarvodaya ~ the upliftment of all including the most vulnerable, rather than the inefficient Western concept of trickle-down development, and technological progress would reduce, not deepen, social inequalities.

Kama would mean fulfilment of aspirations, Artha and Kama. Moksha would imply union with nature in which harmonious and purposeful living would underpin all development, treating the environment as a living entity, preventing material prosperity from becoming aimless. This civilisational template would be a moral and cultural compass to navigate modernity to realise ancient India’s universal peace mantra, Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah/ Sarve Santu Niramayah/ Sarve Bhadrani Pashyantu/ Maa Kashchit Duhkhabhag Bhavet. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti

(The writer is a commentator, author and academic.Opinions expressed are personal)

Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are due to appear before a US federal court on Monday, according to American authorities.

The hearing will take place in the Southern District of New York. Officials said the couple is scheduled to appear at noon local time.

This will be their first appearance before a US judge since they were taken out of Venezuela over the weekend. Washington confirmed that Maduro and Flores were detained following a large US-led operation.

How the US captured Nicolas Maduro in 2 hours and 20 minutes

The two were arrested in Caracas and removed from the country in a coordinated action involving US law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

They were first taken to the USS Iwo Jima, a US Navy warship, before being flown to the United States. Both arrived in New York on Saturday afternoon.

Maduro was later transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn at around 8.52 pm local time. US officials said he was not being held in a separate unit. Details about Flores’ detention arrangements were not immediately clear, CBS News reported.

The Brooklyn facility, built in the 1990s to ease prison overcrowding, has housed several high-profile detainees over the years. These include former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli, crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, singer R Kelly, and music producer Sean “Diddy” Combs. Alleged cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García was also held there while awaiting trial, according to CNN.

US prosecutors have filed charges against Maduro in New York, along with members of his family and senior figures from his government.

The indictment accuses him of involvement in alleged narco-terrorism and of conspiring to bring cocaine into the United States.

Documents unsealed by US Attorney General Pam Bondi also list weapons-related charges. These include possessing and conspiring to possess machine guns and other prohibited firearms.

The Trinamool Congress on Sunday opined that Mausam Noor quit the party due to uncertainty over getting a Rajya Sabha nomination for another term.

Notably, Noor’s current term as MP will end in April, and she may contest the upcoming Assembly polls in West Bengal from Malda.

Trinamool Congress sources alleged that Noor was having conflicts of personal interest with district leadership over minor issues.

Furthermore, Noor had also incurred the displeasure of Trinamool Congress by campaigning for her cousin, and Congress MP from Maldaha Dakshin constituency Isha Khan Choudhury, in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Ahead of the West Bengal Assembly polls, Noor returned to the Congress on Saturday.

She is a two-time former Congress Lok Sabha member from Maldaha Utttar constituency from 2009 to 2019.

She joined the Congress at the party headquarters in Delhi in the presence of party leaders Jairam Ramesh, AICC General Secretary Ghulam Ahmed Mir and West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee President Shuvankar Sarkar.

Following the development, Trinamool Congress district leadership claimed that due to the overall unfavourable political situation in the district and the improvement in her relationship with her brother Isha, she was in contact with the Congress high command ahead of the Assembly elections.

Feeling somewhat assured of securing a Congress ticket from Malda district for the Assembly polls, Noor decided to return to the grand old party.

Prasenjit Das, the Trinamool Youth President of Malda district, said, “Noor was in the Congress. Later, she joined the Trinamool. The Trinamool gave her many things. It made her a Rajya Sabha MP. Now perhaps she wants even more. Therefore, she returned to her former party.”

District Trinamool Chairman Chaitali Sarkar said, “We also respect Barkat Sahib (late Union minister A.B.A Ghani Khan Choudhury). Now, Noor has left the Trinamool. We don’t understand why she left. However, only time will tell whether this will have any impact on district politics.”

Regarding the development, district BJP leader Biswajit Roy said, “This is how the Trinamool party will end. They do not know how to respect anyone. Mausam didn’t receive respect, and they don’t even respect the legacy of Ghani Khan Choudhury.”

However, Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury, the chairman of English Bazar Municipality, criticised Noor. He said, “Noor did not do a single thing as a Rajya Sabha MP. She left the Trinamool because she expected to get a Congress ticket. This will not harm the Trinamool in any way.”

All India Trinamool Congress leadership has started distributing ‘Unnayoner Panchali’, the state government’s report card for the past 15 years in power, to prominent personalities across West Bengal as part of their Banglar Samarthane Sanjog (outreach) initiative.

State Minister Shashi Panja and party MP Sharmila Sarkar presented the report card along with a letter from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to Professor Dr Manimoy Bandyopadhyay, Director of IPGMER and SSKM Hospital, hailing the contribution to West Bengal’s public healthcare transformation.

Another Trinamool Congress MP, Nadimul Haque, met celebrated music composer Indraadip Dasgupta and presented him with the Unnayoner Panchali box and the Chief Minister’s letter, reflecting on Bengal’s transformative journey over the past 15 years.

As per sources, 200 such personalities from various fields ranging from arts, films, sports, academics and others will be reached out by the Trinamool leadership in the run-up to the state Assembly polls later this year.

Speaking to IANS, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Arup Chakraborty said the West Bengal government, led by Trinamool Congress, believes in maintaining transparency and therefore decided to reach out to people with a report card of good governance during the last 15 years.

“The Mamata Banerjee government has done a remarkable job for the people. Therefore, it does not shy away from bringing out a report card to the people, unlike any other party. Through this initiative, our party is highlighting the good government of the West Bengal government and showing how government schemes changed the lives of the people in the state,” Chakraborty said

The Trinamool Congress leader further said that the Unnayoner Panchali is more like a white paper brought out by the state government.

“We have seen how a BJP leader misbehaved with a NDTV reporter for asking pertinent questions. Here, we do not run away from reporters and their questions. Here we face them and give answers to every question. The BJP and the central government, on the other hand, hide the truth and run away. But TMC shows the truth and faces the public with honesty and full transparency,” said Chakraborty.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is reportedly open to moving Bangladesh cricket team’s matches to Sri Lanka following the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB)’s decision to not travel to India for the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Earlier today, the BCB requested the ICC to shift the Bangladesh cricket team’s matches from India to Sri Lanka, citing Mustafizur Rahman’s release from his IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

“If they have said they cannot provide security to one of our players, how will they ensure the security of our entire team? That is why we will not go there to play,” BCB director Khaled Mashud Pilot said.

Mashud said that the BCB has sent a letter to the ICC requesting that the Bangladesh team’s matches be moved from India to Sri Lanka.

Bangladeshi cricket team not to travel to India for T20 World Cup matches over Mustafizur Rahman’s release from KKR

According to a report by Cricbuzz, the ICC is not averse to the idea of moving Bangladesh team’s matches to Sri Lanka. However, this will require tinkering with the schedule, which may take a couple of days.

The Bangaldesh team was scheduled to play four matches in India – three in Kolkata and one in Mumbai.

The development comes a day after the BCCI directed KKR to release Rahman amid rising incidents of violence against Hindus in Bangladesh.

“Due to the recent developments that are going on all across, BCCI has instructed the franchise KKR to release one of their players, Mustafizur Rahman of Bangladesh, from their squad. If KKR asks for any replacement, BCCI is going to allow that replacement,” BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said.

Later, KKR also confirmed the development, saying that they will abide by the BCCI’s directive.

Rahman was bought by KKR, co-owned by Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla, for a whopping Rs 9.20 crore during last month’s auction in Abu Dhabi.

However, amid the ongoing incidents of violence against Hindus in Bangladesh, several right-wing groups, including religious leaders, had objected to his inclusion in the IPL.

The Bangladeshi Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on Sunday said that it has arrested three accused in connection with the murder of Hindu businessman Khokan Das, who was brutally assaulted and set on fire on New Year’s Eve.

The accused have been identified as Sohag Khan (27), Rabbi Molla (21) and Palash Sardar (25). They were arrested from Kishoreganj district following a special operation.

RAB said the accused have prior criminal records and that efforts are underway to ascertain the motive behind the murder of the Hindu businessman.

Das, who ran a medical shop in Shariatpur district, was attacked by a mob while returning home on December 31. The mob brutally assaulted him with sharp weapons before setting him on fire.

He somehow managed to jump into a nearby pond to survive the attack but sustained severe injuries. He was admitted to the National Burn Institute in Dhaka for treatment but succumbed to his injuries on Saturday.

Also Read | Khokon Das, Hindu medical shop owner attacked and set ablaze in Bangladesh, succumbs to injuries

His nephew-in-law, Pranto Das, said that Khokan Das had no political involvement and demanded the arrest of all suspects.

“He had no involvement in politics, but we don’t know why he was murdered. We want a proper investigation into this matter and the arrest of the suspects. So far, no suspects had been arrested,” Pranto said.

He also named two suspects and added that the family wants the accused to receive exemplary punishment.

This was the fourth such attack on Hindus in Bangladesh in less than a month and comes amid rising violence against religious minorities in the South Asian nation.

The Indian government has also expressed concern over the increasing attacks on Hindus and other minority communities in Bangladesh, a country marred by violence since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in 2024.

As part of India’s build-up to the India AI Impact Summit 2026, the Rajasthan Regional AI Impact Conference 2026 will be held in Jaipur on January 6.

The conference will serve as a key regional platform to explore how artificial intelligence can drive governance reform, economic growth, innovation, and inclusive development.

“The conference will witness the participation of senior leadership from the Government of India and the Government of Rajasthan, including Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology,” the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said on Sunday.

Other dignitaries expected to attend include Jitin Prasada, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology and Commerce and Industry; Bhajan Lal Sharma, Chief Minister of Rajasthan; and Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore, Cabinet Minister for Information Technology and Communication, Government of Rajasthan, among others.

The Rajasthan Regional AI Impact Conference will feature key announcements and the signing of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) aimed at strengthening the state’s AI ecosystem, fostering innovation, and accelerating the adoption of AI across priority sectors.

The conference agenda will include high-level sessions on AI for public service delivery and governance, ethical and responsible AI, AI and the future of employment and skills, and the emergence of Rajasthan’s AI startup and innovation ecosystem.

Discussions will also examine advanced applications such as digital twins and AI-led infrastructure planning, as well as strategic questions around whether AI can enable India to leapfrog from an outsourcing-led model to world-class intellectual property creation.

In addition, experts will share perspectives on global, national, and regional AI strategies, with a dedicated academic and research focus brought in by IIT Jodhpur. This will highlight the role of academic institutions in shaping locally grounded yet globally relevant AI solutions.

Held in conjunction with Rajasthan DigiFest × TiE Global Summit 2026, the conference underscores Rajasthan’s growing ambition to position itself as a hub for digital innovation and emerging technologies.

The Regional AI Impact Conference forms part of a series of engagements feeding into the India AI Impact Summit 2026, reinforcing India’s approach of grounding global AI leadership in regional innovation, practical deployment, and real-world impact.