In one fill of 2 kg CNG and 2 litre petrol the 125cc bike gives a combined range of 330 kms
Company claims that the bike is both greener and lowers operating costs by up to 50%
Bike claimed to be completely safe with over a dozen stringent safety and crash tests done
CNG tank compactly packed in a trellis chassis for maximum safety
Available in three variants and five colours, price starting from ex-showroom Rs 95,000
Two-wheeler automobile major Bajaj Auto, boasting a history of innovation, has achieved another first. It has come out with the world’s first bi-fuel CNG-petrol 125 cc bike, Freedom 125, which it claims is both greener and lowers operating costs by up to 50% as compared to similar internal combustion (IC) engine bikes.
And it is claimed to be perfectly safe, with the company maintaining that it has conducted more than a dozen rigorous safety and crash tests before bringing the bike into the market.
Priced ex-showroom starting at Rs 95,000, offering three variants and five colour options, the bike was inaugurated in the Chandigarh dealership of the company recently by UT Chandigarh Director Environment TC Nautiyal.
The dealership delivered 16 bikes to customers on the day of the inaugural.
Company officials claim that according to a survey over 75% of 2- wheeler customers rate fuel efficiency as a key attribute, and Freedom 125 addresses that perfectly. It also aligns with the Government of India’s push for building a nationwide CNG network, driven by the need to use cleaner fuels and save foreign exchange, they add.
The CNG tank and kit, compactly packed in a trellis chassis for maximum safety, provides a range of 200+ km on just 2 kg of CNG fuel. The additional 2-liter petrol tank extends the range by over 130 km in case the CNG tank empties, giving a combined range of 330 kms.
The transition from CNG to petrol is near seamless with just flick of a switch with a relaxed throttle.
While packaging a CNG tank and kit, as well as the small petrol tank, in a compact vehicle like a bike was extremely challenging, the company through its innovations has been successful in achieving that without compromising on the aesthetics. While the small petrol tank remains at its traditional place, the elongated CNG cylinder has been placed under an extralong flat seat, with separate side-by-side inlets for filling up the bi-fuels.
At 147kg, the Freedom is slightly heavy for a 125cc commuter bike, but it feels only when pushing the bike into a parking, for example, not while riding the bike.
CNG a greener fuel
Company officials explain that CNG combustion produces approximately 26.7% less CO2 emissions than petrol. Additionally, CNG vehicles emit 85% lower NMHC’s (non-methane hydrocarbons) and 43% less NOx (nitrogen oxide).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a hearty laugh while conversing with Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini during an election rally in the state
BJP seals record-shattering third consecutive win in Haryana
Congress state unit and high command numbed by shock defeat
Party challenges ‘malfunctioning EVMs’ in 20 constituencies, seeking recount, but anger in party top leadership suggests it blames party leaders giving priority to self-interests over the party’s interests for the debacle
Anxious BJP leadership greatly relieved, hinting at self-goal by Congress
When a largely agrarian state like Haryana, where wrestling is the dominant grassroots sport, goes to the polls, the use of wrestling parlance is but natural. So, the shocking outcome of the just concluded Haryana Assembly Elections 2024 can be summed up thus.
Congress is comfortably leading the bout on points and looks set to win with the last few minutes remaining. Suddenly, the trailing BJP takes the Congress completely by surprise while executing a high-scoring arching throw to turn the tables.
The final unanimous judges’ verdict, shocking and unbelievable for the Congress, in favour of the ruling BJP.
Having led for most part of the bout, to lose at the end, comes as a crushing blow, leaving the state party leadership and the high command shattered, heart-broken and numbed just as wrestler Vinesh Phogat felt at being disqualified prior to her gold medal bout in the 50 kg weight category at the Paris Olympics on account of being found a few hundred grams above the permissible weight ceiling at the time of her weigh-in.
Ironically, even as the Congress was left licking its wounds, Vinesh Phogat, who quit her sport and joined politics immediately on her return to India, found some succour in winning her maiden election on the party ticket from Julana.
Repeat of similar 2012 situation in Punjab
One is reminded of a similar situation for the Congress in adjoining Punjab in 2012, when all arrangements had been made for the grand coronation of former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh in anticipation of a resounding victory for the Congress and a return to power in the state. Even members of the bureaucracy considered closed to Amarinder Singh rejoiced at the prospect of getting plum postings.
But in a shocking turn of events for the grand old party then, the SAD-BJP alliance created history in Punjab by storming back to power for a second consecutive term, breaking a 46-year-old jinx.
Back to the Haryana election results, after gathering some composure, the Congress leadership’s first alibi for the defeat was malfunctioning of EVMs during counting in several assembly constituencies, where the Congress in its assessment was a sure shot winner but lost.
The central party leadership, basis feedback from the state party, has raised the issue of ‘malfunctioning of EVMs’ in 20 constituencies with the Election Commission of India (ECI) and sought recounts.
But anger in party top leadership, evident in full measure in the party high command’s review meeting in Delhi, from which the state leadership was apparently deliberately kept out, would suggest that it is convinced that the blame falls on the state party leadership which kept self-interests above that of the party.
Self-goal
It was evident that the Congress had scored a self-goal. How else would one explain the results when the ruling party clearly found itself on the backfoot, facing anti-incumbency of its 10-year rule and a widespread hostile public sentiment in several parts of the state against the handling by the BJP governments in the state and at the Centre of the farmers’ agitation, female wrestlers’ sexual harassment agitation and the unpopular Agniveer scheme of recruitment to the armed forces.
The dominant public sentiment for change was also real and reflected in the exit polls.
So, what went wrong for the Congress in the runup to the polling day! And, why despite a 11% massive leap in vote share from 2019, Congress could not convert!
One of the plausible reasons forwarded by election watchers is that the BJP managed to fully capitalise on the visible differences between the ‘jat’ face of the party Bhupinder Singh Hooda and its ‘dalit’ face Kumari Selja, which got pronounced as the polling day neared.
The saffron party was successful in creating apprehensions in the minds of the non-jat communities that the predominance of the Hooda camp in the Congress would mean that if the party wins the elections, the’ jat’ dominance will return in all facets of life in Haryana, including the government, administration, police, government jobs and development, for which Hooda was widely held guilty of during his 10 years of chief ministership from 2005 to 2014.
End of the road!
So, does it mean end of the road for Hooda’s dominance in Haryana Congress politics! This time he cannot escape taking a lion’s share of responsibility for the party debacle. He had the state party president of his choice for the last two years, and he had more than his due say in selection of party nominees; some say perhaps too much of a say leading to allegations of favouritism and nepotism, which fanned widespread discontentment and dissent within the party.
Hooda is already 77 years of age, and by the next assembly elections in 2029 (unless the ‘One Nation One Election’ proposal gets green light and sets in by then), he’ll be 82.
Member of Parliament Kumari Selja, sensing her chance, has already called for a detailed analysis of the party’s disastrous outcome and demanded responsibility to be fixed for the debacle.
Hitting back: The ‘dalit’ face of the Congress in Haryana Kumari Selja has demanded that the responsibility for the poll debacle in the state by fixed
Revamp imminent
One thing appears to be certain, that a revamp of the state party leadership is on the cards. Congress General Secretary in-charge of Haryana Deepak Babria, who was taken unwell midway through the elections, has already offered to resign taking moral responsibility for the party’s poor showing.
State party president and Hooda loyalist Udai Bhan is being accused of watching his self-interests. Rather than marshalling the party cadres, he secured a party ticket for himself from Hodal and largely got bogged down in his own constituency. Losing his own seat in the election could prove a death knell for him.
In contrast, the BJP kept its state party president Mohan Lal Badoli free from the responsibility of contesting the elections to allow him time to devote to micro-management of the elections across the state.
AAP factor
The state party leadership’s overconfidence of being able to win the elections on its own strength and scuttling central leadership’s efforts to stich a pre-poll alliance with INDIA partner Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), may also have cost the party dear. Though on its own AAP expectedly failed miserably, not being able to open its account in the state, the party’s 1.79% vote share could have titled the balance, especially where Congress candidates lost by narrow margins.
On the other hand, rather inexplicably, the Bhiwani seat was left to Congress’ another INDIA partner CPI (M), a move which eventually proved ill-conceived. The communist candidate Om Prakash lost to Ghanshyam Saraf (BJP) by a big margin of 32,714 votes.
Failed to convert: In an election wherein the overall voting percentage dropped slightly from 68.20% in 2019 to 67.90%, BJP, at 39.20% vote share, marking a 3% increase from 2019, netted eight more seats (from 40 in 2019 to 48), while Congress, with a massive 11% increase in vote share from 2019 to reach 39.09% could win only six additional seats (from 31 to 37).
Others got squeezed out in direct contest
‘Guru’ Manohar Lal offers congratulatory sweet to protege Nayab Singh Saini after the BJP won a record third consecutive election in the state
In practically a direct contest between the ruling BJP and the main opposition party Congress, the regional parties got squeezed out. The biggest loser was BJP’s estranged post-poll alliance partner Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), which also joined the alliance government led by Manohar Lal government before the arrangement broke prior to the Lok Sabha elections.
From a high of winning 10 seats in its maiden elections in 2019, following its inception after a split in former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), JJP got obliterated, failing to open its account. It’s vote share also plummeted from 14.80% in 2019 to a miniscule 0.90%. Its alliance with Azad Samaj Party (ASP) of Chandrasekhar Azad failed to arrest its historic decline.
INLD, with a lone MLA, in the previous vidhan sabha, its secretary general Abhay Chautala, also failed to make much of a dent despite striking a pre-poll alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). It added one more seat to make it two, but Abhay himself lost the election. It however managed to nearly double its vote share from 2.44% in 2019 to 4.14%.
The number of independents to win the elections also fell from seven in 2019 to three. Two of them have already extended their support to the BJP.
BJP MLAs’ meeting on Oct 16
A meeting of the newly elected BJP MLAs has been conveyed in Chandigarh on October 16 to elect their leader, who will be sworn-in as chief minister along with other members of his council of ministers in Panchkula on October 17.
Home minister Amit Sharma and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav have been appointed central party observers for the October 16 meeting of party MLAs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, other party stalwarts and BJP chief ministers are expected to participate in the swearing-in ceremony.
Unhappy with BJP, people hit hard
The people’s dissatisfaction, and at places anger, has also hit the BJP hard. All but two members of the Nayab Singh Saini led council of ministers given the party ticket were booted out in the elections.
The party also failed to open its account in five of the 22 districts in the state – Nuh, Sirsa, Jhajjar, Rohtak and Fatehabad, which fall in the Bagar, Deswal and Nuh belts and collectively account for 19 seats.
Congress won all eight seats in Sirsa and Fatehabad districts, most impacted by the farmers’ agitation. In Rohtak and Jhajjar districts, Hooda proved that he still holds sway, with the Congress winning 7 of the 8 seats.
Angry over the Nuh Riots of 2023, the Muslim dominated areas of Mewat region rejected the BJP on all three seats.
BJP, however, continued its hold on the Ahirwal belt comprising the southern Haryana districts of Rewari, Gurugram and Mahendragarh, winning 10 of the 11, up by two from its 2019 performance. In 2014 BJP had swept all 11 seats.
LS constituency wise results
Chart showing the vote shares of various political parties and other contestants in the Haryana assembly elections 2024Map (not to scale) showing which party dominated which regions or belts during the just concluded Haryana assembly elections 2024. IMAGES credit: Election Commission of India website
Looking at Lok Sabha constituency wise results, in Karnal, represented by Union minister and former chief minister Manohar Lal, BJP won in all nine assembly segments falling within the Lok Sabha constituency.
In Bhiwani-Mahendragarh, represented by BJP’s Dharambir Singh, his party won seven of the 9 assembly segments.
Likewise, in Rohtak Lok Sabha constituency, represented by Congress’ Deepender Hooda, and Faridabad Lok Sabha constituency, represented by BJP’s Krishan Pal Gurjar, their respective parties won seven of the nine assembly segments.
In Kumari Selja’s Sirsa Lok Sabha constituency, candidates from her Congress party won six of the nine assembly segments.
However, her party colleague and Hisar MP Jai Parkash’s constituency returned party candidates victorious only in three of the nine assembly segments.
In Gurugram Lok Sabha constituency, represented by BJP’s chief minister aspirant Rao Inderjit Singh, party candidates could win six of the nine assembly segments.
In Congress Lok Sabha member Satpal Brahamchari’s constituency Sonipat, the Congress performance was the worst, with the party candidates winning in only two of the nine assembly segments.
In Ambala Lok Sabha constituency, represented by Congress’ Varun Chaudhary, his partymen won in six of the nine assembly segments, while in BJP MP Naveen Jindal’s Kurukshetra Lok Sabha constituency, BJP candidates won in only three of the nine assembly segments.
Telling blow
In a telling blow to the BJP, its two-term Vidhan Sabha Speaker and seven ministers fell by the wayside.
Among the 9 members of his council of ministers who were given party tickets only Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and Industries and Commerce minister Mool Chand Sharma won from Ladwa and Ballabhgarh, respectively.
All the other ministers lost, including three cabinet ministers (Kanwar Pal – Jagadhari, Jai Parkash Dalal – Loharu, and Kamal Gupta – Hisar) and four ministers of state (Aseem Goel – Ambala City, Abhe Singh Yadav – Nangal Chaudhary, Subhash Sudha – Thanesar, and Sanjay Singh – Nuh).
The remaining five ministers – Ranjit Singh Chautala, Banwari Lal, Seema Trikha, Mahipal Dhanda, and Bishamber Singh – were denied tickets by the party.
CM wins from Ladwa: Ladwa, from which Chief Minister Saini won, unseating his nearest rival Mewa Singh (INC) by a margin of 16,054 votes, falls in Kurukshetra Lok Sabha constituency which he represented before he was made chief minister.
Hooda wins big in Garhi Sampla-Kiloi: Former chief minister and Leader of the Opposition in the dissolved House, Bhupinder Singh Hooda (INC) successfully defended his seat, Garhi Sampla-Kiloi, with a thumping win over Manju Hooda (BJP) by 71,465 votes.
Udai Bhan loss: Hooda’s confidante and state Congress president Udai Bhan lost to Harinder Singh (BJP) by 2595 votes in a close contest.
Anil Vij’s 7th win: Old warhorse and former state home and health minister Anil Vij held his own in his traditional seat Ambala Cantt. against independent challenger (Congress rebel) Chitra Sarwara, daughter of former Congress minister Nirmal Singh Mohra, to emerge victorious by a comfortable margin of 7277 votes. Cong’s official candidate Parvinder Pal Pari finished a distant third. In registering his seventh win from Ambala Cantt, Vij has strengthened his claim to the chief minister’s seat.
Waterloo of ministers
Rahul Gandhi roadshow in Haryana: Did he strengthen the party prospects or put ‘jalebi’ twist and turns in its electoral fortunes
Former minister Nirmal Singh Mohra (INC) himself won from the adjoining Ambala City seat defeating Haryana minister of state Aseem Goel Naneola by 11,131 votes.
Coming good on her promise to defeat the official BJP candidate after being denied a ticket by the BJP from Hisar, one of the country’s richest woman Savitri Jindal, mother of BJP’s Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal, while contesting as an independent, defeated Ram Niwas Rara (INC) by a margin of 18,941 votes. The official BJP candidate, cabinet minister Dr Kamal Gupta fished a distant third.
Another cabinet minister humbled was Jai Parkash Dalal (BJP), who lost the Loharu seat to Rajbir Fartia (INC) by a narrow margin of 792 votes.
Congress candidate Akram Khan triumphed over cabinet minister Kanwar Pal in Jagadhri by 6868 votes.
In Nangal Chaudhary assembly constituency, minister of state Dr Abhe Singh Yadav (BJP) lost to Manju Choudhary (INC) by 6930 votes.
Another minister of state Sanjay Singh, who was shifted in this election from Sohna assembly constituency to the volatile Nuh constituency, which witnessed communal riots in July-August 2023, lost badly, finishing a distant third behind winner Aftab Ahmed (INC), who defeated his nearest rival Tahir Hussain (INLD-BSP alliance candidate) by 46,963 votes.
In Thanesar assembly constituency, former minister and INLD state president Ashok Kumar Arora, contesting on the Congress ticket, avenged his two previous defeats at the hands of Subhash Sudha (BJP) to win against the minister of state by 3243 votes.
Cabinet minister Pool Chand Sharma wins: Other than Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, the only other member of the state council of ministers to win this elections, cabinet minister Phool Chand Sharma, retained his Ballabhgarh seat defeating Congress rebel Sharda Rathore, contesting as an independent candidate, by 17,730 votes. Rathore had won the seat in 2005 and 2009. The official Congress candidate Parag Sharma finished a dismal fourth behind another independent candidate.
Clans of the famous three Lals – Devi Lal, Bansi Lal & Bhajan Lal
Late former Deputy PM & Haryana’s ‘tau’ Devi Lal’s clan
Grandson defeats grandfather
Contesting from Rania assembly constituency, Arjun Chautala, son of INLD Secretary General Abhay Chautala (INLD-BSP), won the seat defeating Sarv Mitter (INC) by 4191 votes. Former minister Ranjit Chautala, grandfather equivalent in relation of Arjun Chautala (his grandfather, former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala’s younger brother) was also in the fray as an independent after the BJP denied him a ticket. He finished third.
Aditya Sihag Chautala (INLD-BSP), grandson of former Indian deputy PM Devi Lal from his youngest of four sons Jagdish Chautala, who died very young, unseated previous incumbent MLA Amit Sihag Chautala (INC) by a mere 610 votes from another clan stronghold Dabwali. He had quit the BJP and joined the INLD just in time to file his nomination papers on the INLD-BSP ticket. Aditya Sihag’s nephew Digvijay Chautala (JJP), who was also in the race, finished a distant third.
Despite a pre-poll alliance with BSP, Abhay Chautala lost his own seat in Ellanabad to Bharat Singh Beniwal (INC) by a sizable margin of 15,000 votes. He had been representing the constituency since 2010, when he replaced his father Om Prakash Chautala in a by-election.
Om Prakash Chautala’s maternal grandson, and Abhay Chautala’s nephew Kunal Karan Singh, also lost badly in his campaign for the Tohana seat as a coalition candidate of the INLD-BSP. He lost his security deposit, securing only 9773 of the total 1,80,367 votes polled.
But the most miserable among the Devi Lal clan was his great grandson Dushyant Chautala, deputy CM in the previous BJP-JJP alliance government, which lasted 4 ½ years before the alliance was dissolved and the BJP went on its own by replacing its then chief minister Manohar Lal with Nayab Singh Saini.
Under his charge the JJP was obliterated, not even able to open its account in the elections. After JJP’s formation following separation from INLD, it had emerged as the third largest party after BJP (40) and INC (31) in the 90-member state assembly with 10 seats in the previous assembly elections in 2019.
He himself suffered a humiliating defeat, not only losing his own seat Uchana Kalan but also losing his security deposit, finishing fifth with a mere 7950 votes polled. The seat was won by Devender Chatar Bhuj Attri (BJP) who defeated former Hisar MP Brijendra Singh (INC) by the narrowest margin of 32 votes in the entire election. Two independents finished third and fourth.
‘Architect of modern Haryana’ Bansi Lal’s clan
Sister defeats brother
It was a clash within the family of late Haryana strongman and former multiple times chief minister Bansi Lal in Tosham. His granddaughter from his late younger son and former Haryana minister Surender Singh and former MP, Shruti Choudhary (BJP), defeated her cousin brother Anirudh Chaudhary, son of Bansi Lal’s elder son Ranbir Mahendra by 14,257 votes.
Another member of the Bansi Lal clan, his son-in-law Sombir Singh (INC) lost the race for the Badhra seat to BJP’s Umed Singh by 7585 votes.
Former multiple times CM Bhajan Lal’s clan
The clan lost its citadel, Adampur assembly seat, after 56 years. Bhajan Lal had first won it in 1968. His grandson Bhavya Bishnoi could not defend the seat he won in a by-election in 2022 when his father Kuldeep Bishnoi resigned the seat after quitting the INC and joining BJP.
Though the margin of defeat was only 1268, what really hurt the family was that Bhavya lost to former bureaucrat Chander Parkash (INC), nephew of Pt. Ramji Lal, once a very close friend of Bhajan Lal.
Bhajan Lal’s elder son Chander Mohan (INC), a former Haryana deputy CM in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda led Congress government, however resurrected his political career by winning the Panchkula seat. He defeated two-term assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta (BJP) by 1997 votes.
Another member of the Bhajan Lal clan, Dura Ram (BJP) lost a close election from Fatehabad to Balwan Singh Daulatpuria (INC) by 2252 votes.
Vinesh Phogat wins: Former Olympian wrestler Vinesh Phogat won the Julana seat for the Congress after 19 years. She defeated her closest rival, former airlines captain Yogesh Kumar Bairagi (BJP) by 6,015 votes.
Other kin of politicians who won
Among other children of well-known politicians who won the elections is Arti Singh Rao (BJP), daughter of Gurgaon member of Parliament Rao Inderjit Singh, from Ateli assembly constituency. She defeated her nearest rival, BSP-INLD alliance candidate Attar Lal by 3085 votes.
Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala’s son Aditya Surjewala (INC) won the Kaithal seat defeating Lila Ram (BJP) by 8124 votes.
In Samalkha, Gujjar leader and former Haryana minister Kartar Singh Bhadana’s son Manmohan Bhadana, who quit the Congress to join the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, emerged victorious on the BJP ticket, unseating incumbent MLA Dharam Singh Chhoker (INC), who lost by 19,315 votes.
In Meham, former Haryana minister Anand Singh Dangi’s son Balram Dangi (INC) unseated incumbent MLA Balraj Kundu, leader of the Haryana Jan Sewak Party (HJSP) formed by him last year, by a margin of 18,060 votes. Balraj Kundu had won the seat in 2019 as an independent candidate trouncing Anand Singh Dangi, who extracted revenge by securing the party ticket for his son Balram Dangi.
BJP made a mess of its prospects in the constituency by fielding former Indian kabaddi team captain Deepak Hooda as its party candidate. Branded an outsider, Deepak Hooda lost his security deposit, polling just 8929 votes of the total 1,49,495 valid votes polled.
Party leader Shamsher Singh Kharkara, who contested twice on the party ticket and finished a creditable second in 2014 and third in 2019, both times behind Anand Singh Dangi of the Congress, was seeking a ticket for his wife Radha Ahlawat this time, but on being denied the party ticket, she was fielded as an independent candidate. Though she finished a distant third, she polled enough votes (29,211) to shut out the official BJP candidate from the contest.
Pooja Chaudhary (INC), wife of Congress MP from Ambala Varun Chaudhary, won the Mulana seat, defeating former MLA (2014-2019) Santosh Chauhan Sarwan (BJP). In 2019 Varun Chaudhary had won the seat and vacated it earlier this year after being elected MP on the Congress ticket.
However senior Congress leader and national chairman of the party’s OBC cell Capt Ajay Singh Yadav’s son Chiranjeev Rao could not defend his seat in Rewari and lost badly to BJP’s Laxman Singh Yadav by 28,871 votes. Chiranjeev is also former Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav’s son-in-law, married to one of his daughters Anushka.
Capt Yadav, a former Haryana minister had uninterruptedly represented the constituency from 1991 to 2014, when he was swept away in the BJP wave. He had finished a poor third behind the BJP and INLD candidates.
Two other rebels who won as independents
The largely attended victory procession of independent candidate and one of the country’s richest woman Savitri Jindal in Hisar. Two of her top industrialist sons Naveen Jindal, now also Kurukshetra MP, and Sajjan Jindal are seen by her side
Apart from Savitri Jindal, among the other two rebel candidates of the two principal parties to win as independents was Rajesh Joon, a Congress dissident, who defeated BJP’s Dinesh Kaushik by 41,999 votes in Bahadurgarh assembly constituency. The official Congress candidate Rajinder Singh Joon, who had won the seat in 2005, 2009 and 2019 on the Congress ticket, could not defend his seat this time and finished third.
The third rebel-independent candidate to win the election was BJP dissident Devender Kadyan from Ghanaur, who defeated two-time former MLA and former Haryana assembly speaker Kuldeep Sharma (INC) by a big margin of 35,209 votes. The official BJP candidate Devender Kaushik finished a poor third.
Former minister BJP candidates who won
Rajya Sabha member and former Haryana cabinet minister Krishan Lal Panwar (BJP) registered a comfortable victory in Israna, defeating Balbir Singh Balmiki (INC) by 13,895 votes. He has since resigned from the membership of the Rajya Sabha.
Another former Haryana cabinet minister Vipul Goel (BJP) won handsomely from Faridabad, defeating his nearest rival Lakhan Kumar Singla (INC) by a margin of 48,388 votes. Vipul Goel had won the seat in 2014 on the BJP ticket but was denied a party nomination in 2019. In his place the party ticket was given to Narender Gupta, who won. This time around he won back the party’s favour.
Former minister Rao Narbir Singh, back in favour with the party after being denied the party ticket in 2019, wrested back the Badhshahpur seat, defeating his nearest rival Vardhan Yadav (INC) by a big margin of 60,705 votes. He had won the seat in 2014 with a comfortable margin of 20,000-plus votes and was given a berth in the Manohar Lal-led BJP government in the state.
In 2019 the party had fielded Manish Yadav in his place and the seat had fallen in the hands of an independent candidate, businessman and committed social worker Rakesh Daultabad, who extended unwavering support to the BJP-JJP coalition government led by Manohar Lal and later to sole BJP government led by Nayab Singh Saini till his mid-term death in May this year at age 44.
His wife Kumudni Rakesh Daultabad, contested the election this time as an independent but finished third, security 30,885 of the total 2,82,285 votes polled.
Denying the party ticket to incumbent MLA from Rai and state BJP chief Mohan Lal Badoli, adhering to its one man one post policy, BJP fell back on former minister Krishna Gahlawat and fielded her in place of Badoli. Gahlawat, who had lost the election from the constituency on the party ticket in 2014, finishing third, won the seat this time, defeating her nearest Congress rival Jai Bhagwan Antil by 4673 votes.
From Kalka assembly constituency a ‘parachute candidate’ Shakti Rani Sharma, wife of former Congress minister and industrialist Venod Sharma, won on the BJP ticket. She was declared the saffron party candidate four days after the first woman Mayor of Ambala joined the party. She defeated incumbent MLA Pardeep Chaudhary (INC) by a comfortable margin of 10,883 votes.
Capt Abhimanyu loses: In Narnaund, former Haryana cabinet minister Capt Abhimanyu (BJP) lost to Jassi Petwar (INC) by 12,578 votes.
Hooda’s relative Karan Dalal loses: Former Haryana minister and Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s close relative Karan Singh Dalal (INC) lost to BJP’s Gaurav Gautam in Palwal by a margin of 33,605 votes. Dalal, who had represented the constituency from 1991-2009 and again from 2014-19 had filed his nomination papers as INC candidate even before the party had nominated him, apparently after getting a go ahead from Hooda. He had lost the seat in 2009 and again in 2019.
In Pehowa, it was third time lucky for Mandeep Singh Chatha (INC), son of former Haryana assembly speaker and minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha. After unsuccessfully contesting from the seat on the party ticket in 2014 and 2019, this time he eventually won, defeating his nearest BJP rival Jai Bhagwan Sharma by 6553 votes.
The saffron party had to replace its earlier named nominee from Pehowa, Kawaljeet Singh Ajrana, after controversial past videos and photographs went viral, in one of which he was heard berating Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then Chief Minister Manohar Lal for their dismal performance.
In Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s stronghold Rohtak, his close confidante Bharat Bhushan Batra (INC) survived a second successive scare to narrowly win against Manish Kumar Grover (BJP) by 1341 votes. Batra had registered a thin victory margin (2735 votes) against Manish Grover in the 2019 elections as well.
Manish Grover, now 70, has been contesting elections from Rohtak on the BJP ticket since 2000, first against Congress candidate and Hooda’s close aide Shadi Lal Batra, and from 2009 onwards against another Hooda confidante Bharat Bhushan Batra. He ran Shadi Lal Batra close in 2000 and 2005 but lost on both occasions.
In his first encounter against Bharat Bhushan Batra in 2009, Manish Grover received a crushing defeat, but he got even with a comfortable win in 2014. As mentioned earlier, he narrowly fell short against Bharat Bhushan Batra in the 2019 and the latest 2024 elections.
Highest margin of victory
Highest margin of victory in the state was witnessed in the Muslim dominated assembly constituency of Ferozepur Jhirka, where Mamman Khan (INC) demolished his nearest BJP rival Naseem Ahmed by 98,441 votes, which by assembly constituency standards is a very big margin.
Among other constituencies with high Muslim populations, Mohd. Israil (INC) won against Manoj Kumar (BJP) by a margin of 32,396 votes in Hathin, Mohd. Ilyas (INC) defeated independent candidate Rahish Khan by 31,916 votes in Punhana, and Aftab Ahmed (INC) trounced Tahir Hussain (INLD-BSP) by a margin of 46,963 votes in Nuh.
Elsewhere, Ram Kumar Gautam, who last won from his traditional constituency Narnaund in 2019 on the JJP ticket, and on joining the BJP was given the party ticket to contest from Safidon, unseated incumbent MLA Subhash Gangoli (INC), winning by 4037 votes. BJP has won the seat for the first time.
Gopal Kanda exited
Controversial businessman and politician Gopal Goyal Kanda, who founded the Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP) prior to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, lost the Sirsa seat by 7234 votes to Gokul Setia (INC), who extracted revenge for his narrow 602-vote defeat to the former in the 2019 elections while contesting as an independent.
Kanda had won the seat for the first time as an independent in 2009, and basis the help he extended by gathering a clutch of independent MLAs to support the Congress to muster numbers required to form a government headed by Bhupinder Singh Hooda for a second time, had won a ministerial berth.
He, however, had to resign later after being embroiled in a criminal case involving death under mysterious circumstances of an air hostess in MDLR Airlines promoted by him which later shut down.
Despite having launched his own party, Kanda had subsequently lost the election from Sirsa to the INLD candidate in 2014.
Former Congress minister and Bhupinder Singh Hooda confidante Paramvir Singh, who lagged in the third and fourth positions from Tohana assembly constituency in the 2019 and 2014 elections respectively, after having won the seat twice – in 2005 and 2009, extracted sweet revenge this time by defeating his nearest BJP rival Devender Singh Babli (winning JJP candidate in 2019, this time contesting on BJP ticket) by 10,836 votes.
The 2019 performance was the former Congress minister’s worst as he finished a dismal third, polling a mere 16,717 out of the total 1.77 lakh-plus votes polled, behind the winner Babli (100,752 votes) and second placed Subhash Barala (BJP) (48,450 votes). In 2014, he was a competitive fourth, polling 33,111 votes against winner Subhash Barala (BJP)’s 49,462 votes.
It was carnage at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Saturday as Indian batters celebrated Dussehra in style on the field, smashing the highest ever T20I total by a Test-playing nation (297 for six) in the third and final T20I of the series, which they had already rapped up 2-0 with dominating wins at Gwalior and Delhi.
In doing so, they went past Afghanistan’s 278-3 against Ireland in 2019.
Opting to bat first after skipper Suryakumar Yadav won the toss, India scored their runs with the help of 22 sixes and 25 fours, which is also the highest boundary count – both fours and sixes – as well as the most sixes in an innings of a T20I.
At 82-1, there’s was the joint-highest powerplay score in T20Is.
Bangladesh buckled under the pressure of having to score at nearly 15 runs per over and they could manage only 164-7 in their allotted 20 overs. Their 133-run loss completed the visitors’ 0-3 whitewash. Only Towhid Hridoy (63 n.o., 5 fours and 3 sixes) and wicketkeeper-batsman Litton Das 42, 8 fours) showed some resistance.
Leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi, who was the only change in the team for the final match, replacing pace spearhead Arshdeep Singh, scalped three Bangladesh batsmen. In doing so he became the joint second fastest to 50 wickets for India in T20Is.
Speedster Mayank Yadav accounted for another two. Washington Sundar claimed one in the only over he bowled, and Nitish Reddy took one in his three overs.
Earlier, opener Sanju Samson scored a blistering century, his maiden in T20Is. His 111 was studded with 11 fours and 8 sixes and came at a strike rate of 236.17. He hit Bangladesh’s young leg spinner Rishad Hossain for five sixes off successive balls in the latter’s second over. The hapless bowler gave away 46 runs in the two overs he bowled before he was taken off the attack.
Sanju Samson smashed the second fastest century by an Indian after Rohit Sharma, and fourth-fastest by a batter from a Test-playing nation. He reached the triple-figure mark in just 40 deliveries.
Skipper Suryakumar Yadav scored yet another half century, his 75 coming off only 35 balls at a strike rate of 214.29 with eight fours and 5 sixes. He became the second-fastest Indian batter, after Virat Kohli, to reach the landmark of 2,500 runs in T20Is.
He also moved up to the third spot among Indian batters to score the most 50s or above in T20Is. He now has 25 scores of 50 and plus in 72 innings. Virat Kohli is at the top with 39 in 117 innings, followed by Rohit Sharma (37 off 151 innings).
After losing Ashishek Sharma early, with the team total reading 23, the second wicket fell only at 196 when Sanju Samson departed towards the fag end of the innings. The 173-run partnership between Samson and Yadav was the second highest 2nd wicket partnership by an Indian pair ever in T20Is.
Riyan Parag and Hardik Pandya also showed no mercy, with the former racing to 34 off 13 balls with 1 four and four sixes, and the latter hammering 47 off just 18 balls with four fours and four sixes.
The most economical Bangladesh bowler, spinner Mehdi Hasan also averaged 11.2 in his full quota of four overs.
Tata Trusts, the philanthropic entity, holds controlling stake in Tata Sons, the holding company and promoter of all Tata Group companies
Natarajan Chandrasekaran continues as Chairman of Tata Sons
Ratan Naval Tata’s half-brother Noel Naval Tata has been appointed his successor as chairman of the Tata Trusts, the philanthropic entity which holds a controlling 65.9% stake in Tata Sons, the holding company and promoter of all Tata Group companies.
Another 12.87% stake in Tata Sons is held by a clutch of Tata Group companies, and 18.4% by the Mistry family.
Noel Naval Tata, who was already a trustee in some of the trusts under the Sir Ratan Tata and Allied Trusts and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust & Allied Trusts, which make up the Tata Trusts, is also currently holding several top-ranking positions within the Tata Group, including as chairman of Trent Ltd., Voltas, Tata International, and Tata Investment Corporation, as well as vice-chairman of Titan Company and Tata Steel.
Son of Naval H Tata and Simone Tata, Noel is married to Aloo Mistry, the daughter of Pallonji Mistry, one of the prominent stakeholders in Tata Sons.
Noel and Aloo have three children – Neville, Maya, and Leah – all of whom are members in some of these trusts and performing leadership roles in various Tata Group companies.
Ratan Naval Tata, who died at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai following a brief illness on October 9, had not named a successor for the leadership of Tata Trusts, which undertake charitable and philanthropic work in conjunction with a nationwide web of associate organisations and partners, in the fields of healthcare, education, rural upliftment, and more.
Consequent to this, the board of trustees of the Tata Trusts met in Mumbai on Friday morning and unanimously appointed Noel Naval Tata as Ratan Naval Tata’s successor. Key figures in this governance structure of Tata Trusts include former Defence Secretary Vijay Singh and TVS Motors’ Venu Srinivasan.
“It was unanimously decided to appoint Noel Naval Tata as the Chairman of the various Trusts that constitute the Tata Trusts and also designate him as Chairman, Tata Trusts. His appointment comes into place effective immediately,” said a press release by Tata Trusts.
Noel Naval Tata with wife Aloo Mistry
Noel Tata’s appointment is in line with the amendment made in the Articles of Association of Tata Sons by its board in 2022, whereby the same person could no longer hold the roles of Chairman of both Tata Trusts and Tata Sons, a position Ratan Tata had previously held.
Natarajan Chandrasekaran is the Chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company and promoter of all Tata Group companies, since January 2017. He also chairs the Boards of several group operating companies, including Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Air India, Tata Chemicals, Tata Consumer Products, Indian Hotel Company, and Tata Consultancy Services.
Having functioned mostly under the shadow of Ratan Tata since he joined the group two decades ago, it would be interesting to see how Noel naval Tata shapes the future of Tata Trusts and the group companies under his command.
For memories sake: Little Noel Naval Tata photographed sitting in Ratan Tata’s lap in the company of their father Naval H Tata
It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that Ratan Naval Tata, popularly called Ratan Tata, was the father of Indian industry’s globalisation.
In his death at the famous Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai, late on Wednesday night, following a brief age-related illness, the country has lost not just a distinguished industrialist, who opened the doors to globalisation for the Indian industry through high profile foreign acquisitions, but a truly uncommon man of humility, compassion and philanthropy.
Recipient of two of the highest national civilian honours of Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan, the scion of the Parsi family, originally from the erstwhile Baroda state (now Gujarat), he has been variously described by a mourning nation as ‘Taj’ of India, industry legend, National icon, the ‘modest’ Indian tycoon, an iconic business leader, a titan of the Indian industry, etc.
Maharashtra government observed a day of mourning with all official celebrations being cancelled for the day on Thursday. The state cabinet, in a special sitting, also passed a resolution urging the Government of India to confer the highest national civilian award the ‘Bharat Ratna’ on him.
Ratan Tata was cremated with full state honours later in the day on Thursday in the electric crematorium of Worli cremation ground with hundreds of mourners in attendance. Earlier his body was kept at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) for a few hours for people to pay their last respects.
In the two decades Ratan Tata presided over the Tata Sons empire as its chairman, after which he was designated as its Chairman, Emeritus, he expanded the conglomerate taking its operations to 100 countries, and in the process raising the group’s revenues from an estimated $5.7Bn in 1991 to nearly $100Bn in 2012. By March end 2024, the group’s revenues stood at $165Bn.
He played a pivotal role in major foreign acquisitions, adding British tea brand Tetley, second largest global tea brand, in 2000; buying out British luxury car brands Jaguar and Land Rover from the Ford Company in 2007; and Anglo-Dutch steel-maker Corus in 2008 to expand the group’s global presence.
Ratan Tata’s leadership also saw Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) rise to global prominence.
The Nano moment: Ratan Naval Tata with then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi at the rollout of Tata’s first ‘people’s car’ Nano in 2008
Fulfilling his long-cherished desire and commitment to the welfare of the common man, and overcoming the most demanding challenges, Tata launched the world’s most affordable car Nano @Rs 1,00,000 in 2008, though it eventually turned out to be a commercial disaster because of it being tagged as the “cheapest car”.
Conceptually, Nano was targeted to be offered as an affordable all-weather and safer mode of transportation to the millions of two-wheeler owners, but the cheapest car tag which got attached to it proved its undoing.
One of the last major achievements of the Tata group during Ratan Tata’s lifetime was the successful reacquisition of Air India in 2021, restoring it to the Tata group nearly 90 years after it was nationalised.
A licensed pilot who would occasionally fly the company plane, Ratan Tata never married and was known for his quiet demeanour, relatively modest lifestyle and philanthropic work. About two-thirds of share capital of Tata Sons, the group’s holding company, is held by the philanthropic Tata Trusts which invest heavily in healthcare, education and employee welfare.
His humane approach to life and employees was starkly visible during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. One of the locations for the mass shootings by the terrorists was the iconic Taj Mahal hotel owned by the Tata group. On hearing about the terrorist attack, Tata had rushed to the hotel but on being denied entry into the hotel he stood near the hotel for three days and nights till the terrorists were neutralised.
As many as 33 people, including hotel staff, were killed in the hotel attack. Tata ensured that the families of the victims received in lumpsum the salaries the victims would have received during the remaining period of their employment with the company. He also ensured that the families were looked after well. The surviving employees continued to get their salaries even while the hotel remained closed for massive repairs.
Even the affected street vendors who did business around the hotel were suitably compensated.
During the Covid pandemic, the Tata Group was at the vanguard of the private sector’s relief efforts, helping arrange necessary equipment and kits, which were in short supply in the country, from global suppliers. Overall, the group donated Rs 1500 crore for the relief effort.
That is the legacy of compassion and commitment to public good that Ratan Tata has left behind for the group to cherish and steadfastly carry forward.
An entire landscape in an icy land has shifted to green over 35 years following a nearly 3-degree centigrade rise in temperature since 1950.
In an article published on www.nature.com, Alix Soliman has reported that a fast-warming region of the southernmost continent of Antarctica is getting greener with alarming speed. Satellite imagery of the region has revealed that the area covered by plants increased by almost 14 times over 35 years — a trend that will spur rapid change of Antarctic ecosystems.
The article quoted Olly Bartlett, a remote-sensing specialist at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, UK, and an author of the study published earlier this month in Nature Geoscience, that reports these results, as saying, “It’s the beginning of dramatic transformation.”
The article on www.nature.com further said Bartlett and his colleagues analysed images taken between 1986 and 2021 of the Antarctic Peninsula, a part of the continent that juts north towards the tip of South America, in March, which marks the end of the growing season for vegetation in the Antarctic.
Studying various technical parameters, the team found that the area of the peninsula swathed in plants grew from less than one square kilometre in 1986 to nearly 12 square kilometres in 2021, the rate of expansion being roughly 33% higher between 2016 and 2021 compared with the four-decade long overall study period.
The article further quoted a study co-author and environmental scientist at the University of Exeter, UK, Thomas Roland as saying: “These numbers shocked us. It’s simply that rate of change in an extremely isolated, extremely vulnerable area causes the alarm.”
Previous visits by the authors to the peninsula had led the authors to think that most of the vegetation is moss. As mosses spread to previously ice-covered landscapes, they will build up a layer of soil, offering a habitat for other plant life, Roland says. “There’s a huge potential here to see a further increase in the amount of non-native, potentially invasive species,” he says, according to the article.
This is a concern because Antarctica’s native flora is adapted to extreme conditions, and they might not be able to compete with an influx of other species, Lee was further quoted as saying in the article.
Considering the string of impressive performances by the Sri Lanka senior men’s cricket team during the recent tours against India, England and New Zealand under the guidance of legendary opener and allrounder Sanath Jayasuriya as interim head coach, the country’s national cricket body, Sri Lanka Cricket announced on Monday that he has been confirmed as regular head coach of the team till the conclusion of the 10th ICC Men’s T20 World Cup to be hosted by India and Sri Lanka in February-March, 2026.
A post on its official X handle (@OfficialSLC) said, “Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to announce the appointment of Sanath Jayasuriya as the head coach of the national team.
“The Executive Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket made this decision taking into consideration the team’s good performances in the recent tours against India, England and New Zealand, where Jayasuriya was in charge as the ‘interim head coach’.
“The appointment came into effect from Oct 1, 2024, and will remain until March 31, 2026.”
His first assignment as head coach will be the forthcoming limited overs matches against West Indies, in Dambulla and Pallekele.
Over the past few months, Sri Lanka, under Jayasuriya’s training, won their first bilateral ODI series against India in 27 years by a 2-0 margin (though earlier they were whitewashed in the T20I series 0-3), defeated England in a away Test match for the first time in 10 years (England won the Test series 2-1), and more recently whitewashed New Zealand 2-0 in home Tests to give the team an outside chance of qualifying for the World Test Championship final.
This is Jayasuriya’s first serious foray into coaching, though he has served as chief selector in two separate stints prior to his two-year-ban under the ICC’s anti-corruption code.
Jayasuriya had stepped into the coaching role following the exit of Chris Silverwood after the 9th edition of the T20 World Cup in the Americas.
Jayasuriya’s international cricket stats
The left-handed big-hitting former Sri Lankan opener has 21,000-plus runs to his credit in 586 international matches spanning all three formats.
He played 110 Test matches, amassing 6973 runs with 14 hundreds and 31 fifties at an average of 40.07, his highest score in an innings being 340.
But his strongest contribution came in the ODIs. In the 445 ODIs he played, the left-handed pinch-hitter smashed 13,430 runs at an average of 32.36, with 28 hundreds and 68 half centuries and a strike rate of 91.20. His highest score in ODIs was 189.
The advent of T20Is came towards the fag end of his career because of which he could play only 31 matches in the shortest format of the game, scoring 629 runs at an average of 23.36 and a strike rate of 129.15. His highest T20I score was 88.
He was a more than useful orthodox left arm spinner too, claiming 440 international wickets in all three formats with 14 four-wkt and 6 five-wkt hauls.
He was a key member of the Sri Lankan team that won the 1996 ODI World Cup. He also served as Member of Parliament in Sri Lanka from 2010-15.
Mayank Yadav & Nitish Kumar Reddy celebrate after getting India cap in the first T20I against Bangladesh at the swanky new Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia cricket stadium in Gwalior on Sunday (OCT 6, 2024)
India polish off 128-run target in less than 12 overs
Player of the match Arshdeep Singh and comeback ‘mystery’ spinner Varun Chakaravarthy scalp three each
Speedster Mayank Yadav and allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy get India cap
International cricket returned to the royal city of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh 14 years after Sachin Tendulkar created history here by smashing the first double century ever in an ODI against South Africa. The venue, however, shifted from the iconic Captain Roop Singh Stadium in the heart of the city to the swanky new Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium, named after late former Indian cricket board President Madhavrao Scindia, just outside the city.
And what a memorable inaugural international match it was at the stadium on Sunday as a new look Indian T20I side, under the captaincy of Suryakumar Yadav, playing clinical cricket, literally toyed with a clueless Bangladesh team to win the first match in the three-match T20I series by seven wickets in less than 12 overs on Sunday.
The match witnessed two new promising stars of Indian cricket – speedster Mayank Yadav and seaming allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy – donning the India cap for the first time.
First the bowlers made mincemeat of the Bangladesh batting lineup, with all the six bowlers on display impressing with their varying styles of bowling. India’s pace spearhead Arshdeep and ‘mystery’ spinner Varun Chakaravarthy, the latter making a comeback to international cricket after playing for the country in the T20 World Cup 2021, were the pick of the bowlers, scalping three batters each.
Arshdeep Singh was awarded the Player of the Match award with a bowling analysis of 3.5-0-14-3.
Hardik Pandya also came good with an all-round performance, claiming one wicket and remaining unbeaten on 39 off just 16 balls with five fours and two sixes.
Mayank Yadav was right on the money from the first ball, bowling a maiden first over in his debut match, a great achievement in this format of the game. He picked up his first international wicket as well, finishing with an impressive analysis of 4-1-21-1.
Washington Sundar, picking up one wicket in his two overs, and debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy, though going wicketless in his two overs, were also equally impressive.
Bangladesh lost their big-hitting wicketkeeper-batsman Litton Das in Arshdeep’s very first over, and they did not really recover thereafter, losing wickets at regular intervals with their innings folding up at 127 in 19.5 overs. Captain Shanto (27 off 25) showed some resistance before giving a dolly caught and bowled chance to Washington Sundar, thank you so much!
Allrounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz was the highest scorer in the innings, remaining unbeaten on a well made 35 off 32 balls with three hits to the fence.
A view of the swanky new Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia cricket stadium in Gwalior, named after former BCCI president Madhav Rao Scindia
The Indian openers came all guns blazing with Abhishek Sharma being more belligerent of the two. He raced to 16 off just 7 balls with two boundaries and one maximum before he was unfortunately runout.
However, the others, including the other opener wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson and captain Suryakumar maintained the tempo of the innings. Right through the innings India maintained a run rate above 10 runs an over. Suryakumar Yadav hit the maximum number of sixes (three) out of the seven scored in the Indian innings.
India went into the match with eight bowling options. However, the other two bowling options, Abhishek Sharma and Riyan Parag, were not utilised, given Bangladesh’s dismal batting performance.
BJP member of Parliament from Kurukshetra Naveen Jindal, an accomplished polo player, arriving at a polling booth riding a horse to cast his vote for the assembly elections in Haryana on Saturday (Oct 5, 2024). PHOTO credit: X/@mpnaveenjindal
The gates to various polling booths across Haryana had barely been closed on Saturday for the 2024 assembly elections when various exit polls started scrambling to announce the results of their exit polls.
The predictions of all the four-five exit polls conducted by various organisations on behalf of different channels, though varying in numbers, pointed in the same general direction as the most dominant perception that the ruling BJP is losing, and the resurgent Congress is staging a comeback by a comfortable margin after staying out of power for the last 10 years.
Unlike the exit polls which failed miserably in the Lok Sabha 2024 elections at a national level, having made predictions which were way off the dominant perception sweeping the country, that the ruling BJP at the Centre is in for major setbacks, the state level exit polls can be seen to be more creditable since these almost ditto reflect the widespread public perception that 10 years of anti-incumbency is going to majorly dent the electoral prospects of the ruling party.
The BJP had apparently itself acknowledged the anti-incumbency factor, along with the backlash of the state and central government’s unpopular handling of the farmers’ as well as wrestlers’ agitations, when it replaced its chief minister for nine-and-a-half year Manohar Lal with then state party president Nayab Singh Saini ahead of the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year.
It was widely believed that the apparent damage control exercise, coming as it did too late in the day, would not help reverse the electoral prospects of the party, and it was proven in the Lok Sabha elections when the party took a five-seat hit from its 10-on-10 performance in the previous elections in 2014 and 2019.
Coming to the exit polls, though, as mentioned earlier in the write-up, all the exit polls point in the same general direction, we will dwell on what to us looks the most creditable among them – the India Today C-Voter poll.
The poll gives the Congress between 50-58 seats in the 90-member state assembly (in 2019 election it won 31), the ruling BJP 20-28 seats (it won 40 in 2019) and others, including Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), 10-16 seats (in 2019 they were 19, including JJP’s 10).
The BJP has understandably rubbished these polls, with its national spokesperson claiming that its own polls give it 50-plus seats and that it will be forming a government in the state for the third time in a row.
On the other hand, former Congress chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who dominated the poll scene for the party in Haryana, asserted that the BJP is going, and the Congress is coming back to power with a thumping majority.
For the ultimate truth, however, we’ll have to wait till October 8, when counting will take place along with Jammu and Kashmir.
Principal Scientific Advisor to GOI Prof Ajay Kumar Sood
delivering the PU Foundation Day Lecture-cum-Pran Nath Vohra Oration on the topic 'India @2030 Marching Forward: Science and Technology Space in India' at the University Auditorium in Chandigarh on Tuesday (01.10.2024)
Research output in the country is concentrated in a few institutions
Private sector funding of R&D in India very low as compared to leading countries
India in race for supremacy in Quantum Tech and development of generative AI
Biography of Prof Om Parkash Vig, a distinguished chemist and former Chairperson of Panjab University’s Department of Chemistry, released on his 100th birth anniversary
It’s not often that you get to hear in depth one of the bright brains in the country helping shape the scientific roadmap of the country about the challenges faced by the country and the priorities set by the government of the day to overcome these.
So, here was the man, the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government of India, Padma Shri Prof Ajay Kumar Sood emphasising on the need for universities and institutes of higher learning, as well as private industry, to majorly step up their research and Development (R&D) efforts to raise it to international levels.
He also shared the mission mode in which the government is working to establish the country’s supremacy in the critical fields of quantum technologies and artificial intelligence moving forward and measures undertaken to achieve the country’s target of net zero economy by the year 2070.
Prof Sood was delivering the Panjab University (PU) Foundation Day Lecture-cum-Pran Nath Vohra Oration on the topic ‘India @2030 Marching Forward: Science and Technology Space in India’ at the University Auditorium on Tuesday.
Himself an alumnus of the university, the PSA, in the presence of Vice Chancellor Prof Renu Vig, and other top brass of the university, also released a biography of Prof Om Parkash Vig, a distinguished chemist and former Chairperson of Panjab University’s Department of Chemistry, on the latter’s 100th birth anniversary.
The biography, chronicling Prof OP Vig’s life, achievements, and scientific contributions, has been authored jointly by Germany-based science historian Prof Rajinder Singh and Dr SS Bari, who remained associated with the distinguished chemist for four decades.
A special cover in memory of Prof Vig, released by India Post, was also unveiled on the occasion with his family members in attendance.
While noting the significant strides made by the country in the R&D domain in terms of infrastructure as well as outcomes, Prof Sood also listed out areas where India is lagging the advanced countries and needs to catch up fast.
India’s R&D growth story
PSA to GOI Prof Aay Sood receiving the Pran Nath Vohra Citation from PU Vice Chancellor Prof Renu Vig
Among the achievements, Prof Sood mentioned India’s vastly improved ranking in Global Innovation Index, rapidly increasing Gross Expenditure on R&D, tripling the number of publications, third rank in PhDs in Science & Technology as well as patents granted, and world’s third largest startup ecosystem.
Stressing on the growth story of higher education in India, he shared that the number of universities in the country have grown from 827 to 1305, institutes of national importance from 75 to 158, and total PhD enrolments from 1.17 lakh to 2.13 lakh. He said it is gratifying to note that female PhD enrolments have also more than doubled from 48,000 to 99,000.
In the QS World University Ranking 2025, 11 Indian institutions have found a place in the top 500 worldwide and two of them have been ranked in the top 150 – IIT Bombay (118 rank) and IIT Delhi (150 rank), he pointed out.
Still country lagging leading countries
PSA to GOI Prof Ajay Sood releasing the biography of Prof Om Parkash Vig, a distinguished chemist and former Chairperson of Panjab University’s Department of Chemistry, on the latter’s 100th birth anniversary
The PSA however admitted that despite India’s growth story in R&D, it was lagging leading countries with gross R&D expenditure as percentage of GDP at a low of 0.64%, compared to China, Finland, Japan, South Korea, and USA which are spending in the region of 2-4% of their GDP on R&D.
In terms of full-time R&D personnel per million population also India with 262 researchers stands nowhere near China, USA, Japan, Finland, and South Korea, the last country having an astronomical ratio of 9000.
Sharing glaring data based on NIRF: India Rankings 2024, he highlighted that research output in the country is concentrated in a few institutions.
According to the data, the number of most productive institutions as per laid down parameters is only 18 (with average publications per institution of 7620), medium productive institutions are 47 (Av publications 2839), low productive institutions 108 (Av publications 1236), and least productive institutions 115 (Av publications 1121).
Institutions with zero publications
PSA to GOI Prof Ajay Sood inaugurating the PI-RAHI (Northern Region Science and Technology Cluster), an initiative under Science & Technology Cluster programme of his office, at the Panjab University in Chandigarh
Revealing that there are 80 universities and institutions of higher learning with zero publications, he said the situation is worrisome and the country will have to ensure that the R&D infrastructure and ecosystem is evenly distributed across institutions.
While the private industry in the leading countries is contributing a lion’s share of R&D funding, the Indian private industry’s contribution is only 36.4%, the rest being funded by the government. In comparison the private sector’s funding of R&D effort in South Korea is 79.1%, Japan (78.6), USA (77.6), China (76.9), UK (70.9), Germany (66.9) and France (65.7%), Prof Sood added.
He said the private sector in the country will have to be motivated to invest more in R&D to accelerate the pace of development in the country.
Dwelling on another significant parameter – Human Development Index, which takes into account education, health and living standards – he said here again India, currently with an index of 0.645, has to step up and move from the medium category to the world average high category index of between 0.700-0.799.
While emphasising that a lot of work is being undertaken to carry forward various national missions like One Health Mission, Electric Vehicles Mission, Green Hydrogen Mission and AGNII (Accelerating Growth of New India’s Innovation), he delved deep into two missions in which the country is aspiring to lead the world – the National Quantum Mission and the Artificial Intelligence Mission.
Race for supremacy in quantum tech
Giving reasons why India, like many other leading nations, is in the race for supremacy in quantum computing space, he said it is a critical area for ensuring national security. If your adversary has quantum computers, and you don’t, then the security of all your digitally operated national grids, which work of encrypted communication networks, face the threat of being compromised and the country can collapse.
Sharing that the country is investing heavily in quantum computing, he listed out the technology’s immense long-term potential in crucial areas like drug designing and precise climate predictions.
Generative AI
Another area of deep focus, Prof Sood said is development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Despite its various pitfalls, AI is here to stay, and no country can afford to be left behind in the field, which has progressed to generative AI.
However, he emphasised that India should create its own large language models (LLMs) for AI applications, which should be trained on our own data, and not depend on data from Europe or the US, which can be biased.
Among the seven pillars of the new AI mission launched by the Indian government are compute capacity, which is very large; applications development; startup financing; establishing innovation centres; and safe and trusted AI, Prof Sood stated.
Earlier, opener Sanju Samson scored a blistering century, his maiden in T20Is. His 111 was studded with 11 fours and 8 sixes and came at a strike rate of 236.17. He hit Bangladesh’s young leg spinner Rishad Hossain for five sixes off successive balls in the latter’s second over. The hapless bowler gave away 46 runs in the two overs he bowled before he was taken off the attack.
