The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Raijor Dal on Sunday announced key changes to their candidate lists for the upcoming Assam Assembly elections, with TMC releasing a consolidated list of nominees and Raijor Dal issuing a revised final list following a seat-sharing agreement with opposition allies.. TMC fields candidates across Assam regions,. The TMC released a list of 23 candidates, combining its first and second rounds of announcements, covering constituencies across lower, central and upper Assam, as well as the Barak Valley.. The party has fielded Udangsri Narzary from Baokhungri, Mominur Islam from Bilasipara, Arif Akhtar Ahmed from Jaleswar and Sherman Ali Ahmed from Mandia, among others. In the Kamrup region, Bhoglal Rabha has been named from Boko-Chaygaon (ST), Bikash Nath Yogi from Palasbari and Rojy Ahmed (Funu Das) from Hajo-Sualkuchi (SC), while Avijit Mazumdar will contest from Guwahati Central.. In upper Assam, Narendra Kumar Paw has been fielded from Dhemaji (ST), Jiten Nag from Digboi, Dilip Moran from Makum and Inus Kumar Kandapan from Chabua-Lahowal, while Paresh Borah will contest from Mariani.. In the Barak Valley, the party has nominated Tapas Das from Udharbond, Fazlur Rahman Laskar from Katigorah and Shahajahan Laskar from Sonai. Parimal Ranjan Roy and Aziz Ahmed Khan (Ranu Khan) have been named from Karimganj North and Karimganj South, respectively.. The party also said the candidature of Dulu Ahmed from the Chamaria constituency, announced in its first list, has been withdrawn following an amendment issued on March 22.. Meanwhile, Raijor Dal announced its revised and final list of candidates after entering into an opposition alliance in the state and agreeing to a seat-sharing arrangement, leading to the withdrawal of its nominees from three constituencies.. The list includes party president Akhil Gogoi, who has been renominated from Sibsagar, and Congress MLA Abdur Rashid Mandal, who recently joined Raijor Dal, from East Goalpara. Another Congress MLA, Sherman Ali Ahmed, who had also defected to the party earlier this month, was not given a ticket.. The party initially did not name a candidate for Bokakhat in the revised list, but on Sunday evening it announced Hariprasad Saikia from the seat, replacing Ratan Dao, who had been named earlier.. It named Rahul Chhetry from Margherita after alliance partner Congress’ nominee Prateek Bordoloi withdrew following his father, Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi, quitting the Congress to join the BJP.. Other nominees announced by the party include Abul Mian from Gauripur, Anjan Talukdar from Manas, Azizur Rahman from Dalgaon, Mehbob Muktar from Dhing, Pradip Kumar Baruah from Kaliabor, Alok Nath from Tezpur, Dulal Chandra Baruah from Sissiborgaon and Gyanashree Bora from Mariani.. The announcements come amid ongoing seat-sharing negotiations and candidate adjustments among opposition parties ahead of the Assembly polls.. Assam will go to polls on April 9, and the last date f 

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened a high-level review on Sunday at a time when global oil markets remain volatile, with Brent crude trading at around $109 a barrel after touching an intraday high of $119 amid West Asia conflict.. PM Narendra Modi chairs a high-level meeting to review the evolving West Asia situation. (HT Photo). The meeting came even as an LPG tanker from the United States docked along India’s western coast, offering some supply relief amid mounting concerns over energy security. Track US-Israel and Iran war live updates. Tensions in West Asia, however, showed no signs of easing. US President Donald Trump warned that Washington could target Iranian power infrastructure if Tehran does not lift its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz – a critical global oil transit route – within 48 hours.. The Iranians, on their side, are also belligerent and have attacked a nuclear facility in central Israel in response to Tel Aviv attack on the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran. On top of all this, the Houthi rebels have also threatened to join in the war with Iran with a threat to shipping in the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.. The Prime Minister, while chairing the meeting, focused on keeping essential sectors running smoothly.. HT has learnt that the discussions centred on petroleum, crude oil, gas, power and fertiliser supplies, with an emphasis on ensuring there are no disruptions on the ground.. PM Narendra Modi chairs high-level meent with focus on ensuring uninterrupted supply, stable logistics and efficient distribution across the country. (HT photo). Modi also reviewed logistics and distribution networks in detail, stressing the need to maintain steady supplies across the country and prevent any bottlenecks.. Since the onset of the war, retail petrol and diesel prices for regular consumers have largely remained unchanged, however there has been a notable uptick in other fuel categories, marking the first significant revision since March 2024.. Industrial diesel, in particular, has seen a sharp rise of around 25%, reflecting the pressure from global price movements amid the ongoing conflict.. Officials indicated that the government is closely monitoring the situation, with a clear focus on safeguarding domestic supply. While addressing a press conference earlier this week, Sujata Sharma, a joint secretary in the petroleum ministry, said that New Delhi may revisit its fuel export plans if required to ensure adequate availability in the local market.. “Domestic consumption is priority, and the government will review (the export plan),” she added. Notably, India is one of the world’s largest refining hubs. 

 New Delhi: As the Ministry of Education prepares to strengthen the open schooling framework through the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), as part of a nationwide effort to bring out-of-school children back into the education system, concerns have emerged over the institution’s finances and functioning.. The findings come against the backdrop of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which aims for 100% enrolment from pre-school to secondary level by 2030. (Hindustan Times). A recent working paper by the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), a finance ministry think tank, highlights that NIOS has not received government budget support since 2012–13. Instead, it operates largely as a self-financing body, relying heavily on student fees, the paper notes.. It further mentions that while NIOS has accumulated significant surpluses, its spending pattern raises questions. “In 2021–22, the institute generated about ₹188 crore in academic receipts and recorded a surplus of over ₹127 crore, with total reserves nearing ₹800 crore. However, expenditure on staff ( ₹65.8 crore) was more than double the spending on student academic needs ( ₹30.8 crore),” the report says.. Experts argue that the concern is not the surplus itself, but how it is used, especially when student outcomes remain modest. In 2024, pass rates stood at 60.14% for Class 10 and 62.39% for Class 12, among the lowest across school boards, according to the government data.. “NIOS operates with a financial efficiency that mirrors a profit-making corporation rather than a non-profit educational board,” the paper published on February 18 states.. Titled “Strengthening State Open Schools: A Need for a Dedicated and Focused Policy for School Dropouts”, the study was authored by HK Amar Nath of NIPFP and Nikhil Rahangdale of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. It forms part of a broader study commissioned by Ramon Magsaysay Award winner NGO ‘Educate Girls’.. The findings come against the backdrop of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which aims for 100% enrolment from pre-school to secondary level by 2030. However, data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2023–24 shows nearly two crore children aged 14–18 remain out of school, while over 50 lakh students fail board exams annually.. The education ministry has described open schooling as a “practical alternative” for children unable to attend regular schools due to economic or social constraints.. Yet, the NIPFP report points to deeper structural challenges. Only 9.7% of India’s 1.47 million schools offer secondary-level education, creating what researchers call a “structural break” where student enrolment drops sharply after upper primary.. NIOS currently serves around 27 lakh learners and has recorded over 41 lakh enrolments in the past five years through more than 10,800 study and exam centres. However, staffing shortages persist, with 139 vacancies out 

 The suicide of a senior government officer in Punjab has sent shockwaves across the state. On Friday, Gagandeep Singh Randhawa, district manager of the Punjab Warehousing Corporation (PWC), died by suicide after consuming a poisonous substance, but not before recording a video in which he blamed Punjab minister Laljit Singh Bhullar.. Grieving family members of Punjab State Warehousing Corporation (PSWC) district manager, Gagandeep Singh Randhawa in, Amritsar on Saturday. (Sameer Sehgal/HT) (HT_PRINT). “Kha layi ‘celphos’ tuhade yaar ne, minister Laljit Bhullar de dar ton. Hun nahi main bachda,” (Your friend has consumed Celphos out of fear of minister Laljit Bhullar. I will not survive now), Randhawa said in the clip, according to a PTI report.. A day later, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann directed the chief secretary to conduct an impartial probe into the matter and asked the minister to step down to ensure a fair investigation.. An FIR has been lodged against Bhullar, his father Sukhdev Singh Bhullar, and his personal assistant Dilbagh Singh under Sections 108 (abetment of suicide), 351(3) (criminal intimidation), and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.. What are the claims made by his wife in the FIR?. Randhawa’s wife, Upinder Kaur, has made serious allegations in the FIR, stating that her husband was constantly pressured by Bhullar to withdraw a tender.. In her complaint, Kaur alleged that Bhullar initially pressured Randhawa to allot a warehouse tender to his father, Sukhdev Singh Bhullar, threatening him with violent consequences if he refused.. Also Read: Punjab minister Laljit Bhullar resigns after warehousing DM ends life. Kaur further stated that her husband told her he was repeatedly pressured to award the tender to Bhullar’s father, even though doing so would have violated the rules. She claimed that he would often break down and felt helpless due to the threats.. When the tender was eventually awarded to another party, Bhullar allegedly increased the pressure on Randhawa.. According to Kaur, this was followed by further threats over WhatsApp calls, with Bhullar demanding that Randhawa cancel the tender and reissue it in his favour.. Kaur also alleged that on March 13, Bhullar summoned Randhawa to his residence in Patti, where he humiliated and assaulted him. She claimed that Bhullar held him at gunpoint and forced him to admit that he had accepted a bribe of ₹10 lakh to award the tender to another party.. A few days later, Randhawa consumed poison and died.. Opposition slams AAP government in Punjab over the suicide. Opposition parties have slammed Punjab’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, accusing it of creating a reckless law-and-order situation in the state where even government officers are no longer safe.. BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said the AAP government is indulging in crime and corruption in Punjab, adding that both Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann are busy protecti 

 Nearly three years after ethnic violence tore through Manipur, a cautious first step towards reconciliation emerged as chief minister Yumnam Khemchand sat down with the apex Kuki-Zo body for an “ice-breaking” meeting, describing it as an effort to bridge the deep trust deficit between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities.. Manipur CM Yumnam Khemchand Singh (right) briefs the media after the meeting in Imphal on Sunday. (HT Photo). According to a statement issued on Sunday by the Kuki-Zo Council (KZC), the meeting was held in Guwahati on Saturday and marked the first engagement between the two sides since violence broke out on May 3, 2023.. “As the first engagement after nearly three years of conflict between the Meitei and the Kuki-Zo communities, the interaction was largely an ‘ice-breaking’ session,” the statement said.. The KZC delegation raised several key issues related to the ongoing unrest in Manipur, including the urgent need to de-escalate tensions between the Kuki and Tangkhul Naga communities and the importance of ensuring justice for victims as a prerequisite for any meaningful peace and reconciliation process.. The council also emphasised maintaining the sanctity of the “buffer zone” until a political settlement is reached and called for expediting the ongoing Suspension of Operations (SoO) talks to ensure durable and lasting peace in the region.. “The chief minister, in turn, shared his concerns, commitments, and the steps undertaken by his government to restore peace and normalcy in Manipur,” the statement added.. Speaking to the media on Sunday during a visit to the Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT) in Imphal, Khemchand described the meeting as a first step towards addressing the “trust deficit” between the two communities.. He said no demands were raised and no commitments were made during the interaction, but stressed the need for reconciliation and restoration of peace.. Khemchand said the state government may invite KZC for another round of talks in Imphal, if required.. “Any step for restoration of peace in Manipur cannot be done in a single meeting, it will take time to regain trust among the warring communities, and the trust deficit among the two communities has been reduced, which is a positive step towards reconciliation,” he said.. The CM noted that internally displaced persons (IDPs) from both Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities continue to suffer from a trust deficit, and said the meeting in Guwahati was aimed at rebuilding confidence.. Responding to questions on the demand for a separate administration and the issue of buffer zones, he said, “The Prime Minister of India has already made his statement on the Parliamentary floor that the territorial boundary of Manipur will not be compromised, so what comment can I add to this?”. On the term “buffer zone”, he added, “there is no buffer zone in Manipur, but there are some sensitive areas.”