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🟠 @Evening: BJP's Historic Victory, Rafale-M And More
1. 📰 Catch up
Supreme Court told the Central government that comments against the Collegium by government functionaries were “not well taken”.
Madrassa boundary wall encroaching government land demolished in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki.
Businessman shot dead in Punjab, a month after he received an extortion call from gangster Harvinder Singh Rinda.
Shivpal Yadav merged his party with Samajwadi Party after Dimple Yadav's massive victory in Mainpuri parliamentary by-polls.
Indian Railways crossed 1,000 million tonnes freight transportation mark in the current financial year.
2. 🔦 AAP's hype v/s reality
AAP has won five seats (which is at the lower end of exit polls' predictions) in Gujarat with a vote share of over 12 per cent.
In Himachal Pradesh, it drew a blank with a vote share of just around 1 per cent.
It won in MCD elections but it was not a sweep like exit polls had predicted.
A national party: Arvind Kejriwal said though the AAP has not won many seats in Gujarat, the votes it got helped it attain the national party status.
A national party must have more than 6 per cent of the vote share in assembly elections of four or more states.
With Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat and Goa, the AAP has fulfilled this criteria to become a national party.
3. 🟠 BJP's historic win in Gujarat
BJP won for the seventh consecutive time in Gujarat.
It won 156 seats, crossing its highest ever tally of 127 seats.
It has also beaten Madhavsinh Solanki’s 1985 sweep of 149 seats by a significant margin.
The unexpected: The opposition vote split between the Congress and the AAP took the winner far past the projected seat counts indicated in the exit polls.
Only the Axis-India Today exit poll came close to predicting the BJP sweep in Gujarat.
The results went past the upper end (151) even for Axis-India Today by a margin.
What it means: PM Narendra Modi's popularity matters more in Gujarat than local leaders and local issues and the state will back him to the hilt as long as he remains PM.
Despite problems on the jobs front and inflation, the voter is clearly not willing to give up on the BJP just yet.
The BJP has built a strong momentum for the party’s 2024 shot at power at the Centre.
4. ✈️ Rafale-M over Super Hornet
The Indian Navy evaluated French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation's Rafale-M and US-based Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet earlier this year.
It submitted a detailed report to the Defence Ministry after the trials which identified Rafale-M as "more suitable in meeting the operational requirements."
With the new aircrafts, the Navy will augment its dwindling fleet of fighters currently made up of the troubled Russian-origin MiG-29Ks.
The trials, of the two aircrafts in competition, were held at the shore-based test facility at INS Hansa in Goa.
The fighters showcased their capabilities to take off from a ski-jump platform of the kind that Indian aircraft carriers have.
Dassault's Rafale-M has an edge over Boeing's F/A-18 in context of India's rapidly expanding defense partnership with France and already available maintenance facilities for IAF's Rafales.
5. 📚 Rare books at Kashi-Tamil Sangamam
Rare books and manuscripts of Tamil language are being displayed at a exhibition at Banaras Hindu University‘s Sayaji Rao Gaekwad Central Library.
Various Tamil texts from the 1890s onwards and 12 manuscripts written in the Tamil Grantha script in the 17th and 18th centuries are being displayed.
These include first copies of early Tamil dramas and books gifted to Annie Besant, a book explaining Tamil musical techniques, books by Kumaragurubara, books on Saiva philosophy, Bharati books, translations of Ramayana, Mahabharata, etc.
The Kashi-Tamil Sangamam is a month-long programme being organised in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
It was inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi on 19 November.
It aims to ‘celebrate, reaffirm and rediscover the age-old links between Tamil Nadu and Kashi – two of the country’s most important and ancient seats of learning‘.
More than 2,500 delegates from Tamil Nadu will be visiting Kashi, and then head to Prayagraj and Ayodhya before they head back to Tamil Nadu.
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