“I salute this land of deras” – this is how Narendra Modi started his address to an election rally in Sirsa in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. And his opening sentence in another election rally in Jind during the campaign was: “I salute this land of Khaps!” There remains no doubt about the complicity of the BJP government in Haryana after the orgy of arson and violence following the August 25 conviction, by a Panchkula-based special CBI court, of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet alias Ram Rahim for rape of his two followers.

THE special CBI court in Panchkula, Haryana, has convicted the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the charge of rape of two sadhvis, in a case that was registered in 2002. This verdict has sparked off widespread violence and rioting in Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and parts of Uttar Pradesh, leading to the unfortunate death of over 30 people and injuries to hundreds.

LOOK at some broad figures:On August 13, elections to seven municipalities including Durgapur Corporation took place in West Bengal.  There were 146 wards in total. TMC won four of them without contest. Out of the rest 142, TMC won 138 wards. In Durgapur, a traditional strong base of the Left and in Haldia, TMC won all the wards. They got 72 per cent votes in seven municipalities. TMC got 85 per cent votes in Haldia. In many wards of Haldia, Durgapur, Nalhati and Coopers’ Camp, TMC received over 90 per cent votes.  To a section of media, this is a ‘clean sweep’ by the TMC.

THE post-liberalisation period is widely perceived to have been a period of jobless growth. Between 1999-2000 and 2011-12, proportion of men in the age-group 15 to 59 years who were gainfully employed declined from 84 per cent to 81 per cent. During the same period, proportion of women aged 15 to 59 years who were gainfully employed for at least some part of the year fell from 41 per cent to only 32 per cent.