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Former Assam chief minister <keyword id="6364034" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="tarun-gogoi">Tarun Gogoi</keyword> died here on Monday while undergoing treatment for post-COVID-19 complications, state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. He was 84 and survived by wife Dolly, daughter Chandrima and son Gaurav. Gogoi, a three-time chief minister, breathed his last at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital at 5.34 pm, Sarma said. He was first admitted to the hospital on August 26 after testing positive for COVID-19 and was released for a brief period before being admitted again on November 2. His condition deteriorated on November 21, following multi-organ failure and was put on invasive ventilation. Gogoi was given dialysis on Sunday. His condition deteriorated further over the past few hours and it was stated to be "very very critical". Gogoi was the MLA from the Titabor assembly constituency since 2001. He was also a six-time parliamentarian and a Union minister twice.

Former Assam CM Tarun Gogoi passes away at 84 due to post-COVID complications

Assembly election results of five Indian states, viz. Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry were declared today, and here are the 10 takeaways that came out. 
 
1. Days of Congress look limited 
 
Even though it is back in Uttarakhand, but Congress has lost two more states, Assam and Kerala, which means that its days in the country are limited as of now. Presently, Congress has its government only in 6 out of the 29 Indian states. 
 
2. Only central power doesn’t work 
 
After losing Delhi and Bihar assembly elections, BJP seems to have realized that they can’t win everywhere only because of PM Modi. This is why local leadership is always useful. 
 
3. Rahul Gandhi needs another update, fast 
 
Congress scion Rahul Gandhi is having a tough time in convincing Indians about his caliber. With his return to prominence last year, which was named Rahul 2.0, he seems to have lost the zeal once again, unable to engage himself in politics the way he is supposed to. 
 
4. Saffron is India’s new favorite color 
 
Even though the growth is slowly, but BJP is surely paving its way into India’s heart. Winning Assam has made BJP come out of the tag of being a cow-belt party. With governments in 9 states and sharing power in 4 states, one can see how fast India is turning saffron. 
 
5. West Bengal has a strange algorithm of its own 
 
What worked for the Congress party in Bihar, fell on its face in West Bengal. While Rahul Gandhi was able to bring Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad together, forming a RJD-JDU-Congress alliance, he couldn’t defeat TMC (39.79%) even after a Left-Congress alliance (39.64%), because of the visible tension between Left and Congress in Kerala. 
 
6. Age, what’s that? 
 
While India as a country talks of its young population, Indian politics doesn’t understand this concept. VS Achuthanandan and Karunanidhi, both nonagenarians have led their parties to power in two important states. 
 
7. Corruption can still make you win 
 Corruption is not the only factor that would decide your fate in <keyword id="444541" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-elections">Indian elections</keyword>, and this is visible from TMC’s win, despite scams like viz. Saradha and Narada. 
 
8. Incumbent or not, who cares? 
 <keyword id="43868" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mamata-Banerjee">Mamata Banerjee</keyword> became the CM because of being a CM, and <keyword id="6364034" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tarun-Gogoi">Tarun Gogoi</keyword> lost because of this. So incumbent or not, it doesn’t decide your victory or loss. 
 
9. Modi is still to get an arch rival for 2019 
 
When PM Narendra Modi goes in for the 2019 general election, who is going to be his arch rival? This is something that is yet to be decided, because Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Nitish Kumar and now Mamata Banerjee have all emerged as possible competitors, but not all of them can stand tall in the 2019 elections. 
 
10. It’s going to be BJP vs regional parties now 
 
With Congress majorly out of scene, Indian would see a national party BJP battling with several regional parties in the future. So one can be ready to see BJP fighting it out with SP, BSP, Nitish Kumar- led coalition and other parties. 
 
<a href="http://blogs.ft.com/photo-diary/files/2013/12/PB2768052.jpg">Image source</a>

Here are 10 things you must know about today’s assembly election results

Guarantee' and 'employment' - the very two words that brought sheen to <keyword id="48595" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="NREGS">NREGS</keyword> for many years - have become the biggest challenge to one of the most ambitious pro-poor schemes in the world, making it jaded, unreliable and almost futile in many places. 
 Even as UPA's pet scheme enters the 10th year, and with <keyword id="6355261" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Finance-minister">finance minister</keyword> <keyword id="42575" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Arun-Jaitley">Arun Jaitley</keyword> making it clear in the Budget that the NDA regime will nurse the scheme, ground reports from across the country show NREGS is facing a plethora of problems reported The Economic Times. Primary among these is a sharp cut in central funds to most states, which in turn has led to a steep fall in the number of projects, migration of workers due to pending wage bills and families being deprived of the mandatory 100 mandays every year. 
 The central fund allocation is slashed by up to 45% in some states. Some states are yet to receive the final instalment of this truncated allocation, forcing them to hold back wage bills. <keyword id="6357783" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="West-Bengal">West Bengal</keyword> <keyword id="74949" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Panchayat-minister">panchayat minister</keyword> <keyword id="163973" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Subrata-Mukherjee">Subrata Mukherjee</keyword> said he has been repeatedly urging the Centre to clear Rs 1,000-crore NREGS dues to his state. "This is plaguing the work already undertaken," he told ET. 
 
Nepal Singha, sabhapati of Salboni panchayat samiti in Bengal's West Midnapore, said that 10 gram panchayats under his samiti owed Rs 2.46 crore to 15,000 workers. "The delay in payment is triggering dissent among workers. They are refusing to take up fresh projects unless their dues are cleared. This has severely affected works like building roads, ponds and dams and making arid land cultivable," he told ET. Singha is not alone. Hundreds of samitis across the country face the same problem. 
 Late payments and slashed budget have derailed many projects in <keyword id="20154" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="tamil-nadu">Tamil Nadu</keyword>, which has been rated as the best performing state. "Villagers are not ready to work because of delayed wages. If the delay continues, there will be a problem getting workers under NREGS," said an official, adding there was a shortfall of Rs 1,700 crore in the last quarter of 2014-15. 
 Sources told ET in the <keyword id="58906" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Karnataka-government">Karnataka government</keyword> pointed out that the peak working season for NREGS schemes starts from NovemberDecember. "Lack of funds will have a debilitating impact on these schemes as we can't keep up the momentum and meet the needs of the wage seekers," the sources said, adding the Centre was yet to clear Rs 141.5 crore wage bills. 
 <keyword id="6354915" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Assam">Assam</keyword> CM <keyword id="6364034" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Tarun-Gogoi">Tarun Gogoi</keyword> also echoed the views that the cut in funds came at a time when NREGS were making substantial progress.

India's biggest pride, now its biggest shame, the NREGS

<ul><li>The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is making fuel cheaper by ₹5 and slashing taxes on alcohol by 25% to woo voters.</li><li>The State Assembly Election is slated to take place in April, this year.</li><li>After winning the majority away from Congress in 2016, BJP is hoping these measures will help assuage voters after protests broke out against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2019.</li></ul>The Assam State Assembly Election is still two months away but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is already paving the way to woo voters. The state’s finance minister <keyword id="90408" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Himanta-Biswa-Sarma">Himanta Biswa Sarma</keyword> withdrew additional cess on petrol, diesel and alcohol on Friday. The removal of these taxes, this will make petrol and diesel cheaper by ₹5 and the cost of alcoholic beverages will dip by 25%. And, the new rates will be applicable starting midnight tonight. "At the peak of COVID-19, we had levied additional cess on petrol, diesel and liquor. Now, the number of patients has reduced... I am grateful to my cabinet colleagues who agreed to my proposal this morning to rescind this additional cess,” Sarma said during his speech to the House where he presented a vote-on-account for ₹60,784.03 crore. He also revealed that Assam’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 23.12% between 2016-17 and 2019-20 at constant prices. The annual growth rate stood at 7.71% in the period as against the rate of 6.11% at the national level. The 2016 election was a big win for the BJP. It was able to usurp the Congress leadership which had been in place since 2001 under Tarun Gogoi. However, during the BJP’s time in power the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has led to mass protests across the state. However, Sarma is confident of BJP’s win. In 2019, <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/will-win-100-out-of-126-assembly-seats-in-2021-despite-protests-himanta-biswa-sarma/articleshow/72974239.cms">he said</a> that the BJP will come back into power by winning at least 100 out the 126 assembly seats. Congress, on the other hand, plans to fight the 2021 election by forming a ‘Grand Alliance’. The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has <a href="https://www.news18.com/news/politics/aiudf-says-yes-to-congress-led-grand-alliance-in-assam-2815833.html">reportedly</a> given its consent along with some leftist parties. There is also the possibility of the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) joining the coalition. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/spicejet-and-indigo-stocks-take-off-as-a-2-hour-flight-could-now-cost-up-to-13000/articleshow/80873865.cms">SpiceJet and IndiGo stocks take off as a 2-hour flight could now cost up to ₹13,000</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/comparison-between-realme-x7-pro-5g-and-xiaomi-mi-10i-mobile-phones-with-price-and-specifications/articleshow/80873224.cms">Realme X7 Pro 5G vs Xiaomi Mi 10i – best mid-range device under ₹30,000 in India</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/defense/news/experts-say-india-and-china-both-need-to-show-their-voters-that-they-won-in-ladakh-for-the-disengagement-to-be-successful/articleshow/80876036.cms">Experts say India and China both need to show their voters that they won in Ladakh⁠ for the disengagement to be successful</a>

Assam is making fuel and alcohol cheaper to woo voters ahead of the Assembly Elections in April

Guwahati, Apr 7 () Assam Chief Minister SarbanandaSonowal on Tuesday called up three former chief ministers,senior BJP leaders, and leaders of opposition parties toapprise them of the state governments efforts to contain thecoronavirus outbreak in the state.Sonowal dialled former chief ministers Tarun Gogoi andBhumidhar Barman of the Congress, and Prafulla Kumar Mahantaof the Asom Gana Parishad(AGP), alliance partner of the BJP-led government in the state.The others leaders he reached out includedLeader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia of the Congress, AIUDFLegislature Party leader Hafiz Bashir Ahmed (Qasimi), formerUnion ministers Bijaya Chakrabarty, Kabindra Purkayastha,Rajen Gohain and Paban Singh Ghatowar.The chief minister also spoke to state senior citizenwelfare board chairman Harekrishna Bharali, and president ofSadou Asom Mukti Jujaru Sanmilan Krishna Lahkar, among others.Sonowal informed them about the various measuresundertaken by the state government like setting up of aquarantine facility with 1,000 beds for COVID-19 patients atSarusajai Stadium here, making the medical colleges capable ofhandling coronavirus patients, plans for setting up fiveprefabricated COVID-19 hospitals at Dibrugarh, Guwahati,Lakhimpur, Silchar and Bongaigaon, and making arrangements fortraining doctors and para medical staff. The senior politicians were apprised of the stepstaken by the state government to provide free rice to 58 lakhfamilies of Assam under National Food Security Act (NFSA)during this crisis. Assuring the leaders of the success of the Assamgovernments initiatives for containing coronavirus outbreak,the chief minister told them that the Assam government isfully prepared to tackle a spike in coronavirus infections inthe near future.The views of the leaders were also taken about theprevailing situation, a CMO press release said.In his call with the senior leaders, the chiefminister requested them to ask their supporters tomaintain social distancing and other protocols during thelockdown period.Sonowal also enquired about their health during thetelephonic talks. ESBMM MM

Coronavirus: Sonowal calls up former CMs, senior leaders on measures taken up by Assam govt

What is the favourite point of discussion when you have a journalist, an academician, a businessman, a housewife and taxi driver inside a cab going from Guwahati to Shillong? No guesses, it is Politics. 
 
People from all spheres of life in the north-east want to know who is winning in Assam and the moment you tell them you are from Delhi, they want to listen more. 
 The counting of votes for the 126-member assembly in Assam will take place on May 19 and the <keyword id="43771" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Exit-polls">exit polls</keyword> have already given the verdict, and it is exactly what majority of the people from Assam want. 
 
As per the exit polls, BJP will leapfrog through the 64-seat mark. Yes, they want Narendra Modi to win, badly! 
 
Read again. 
 
They want MODI to win. Assam has not voted for BJP the party, but only for the prime minister, whose wax statue recently got inducted in the much-famed Madame Tussauds. 
 
Be it a PhD from IIM Guwahati or a housewife, who has two bagsful of household materials, they want Modi to win as they believe he will address their problems and can take the state forward. 
 
“You will see how Modi will transform this place. He has done so much for Gujarat and is getting big companies from across the world to India. He has dreams to transform India. We believe he will bring about a change here also,” said the businessman, only to be seconded by the driver. 
 
As we took the sharp turn in the hilly terrain through torrential rain, the housewife chipped in, “Major thing is we want to get rid of the curfew. We want Sonowal to become the chief minister who should, under the guidance of Modi, listen to our grievances. The way Modi has reached out to us, no one has.” 
 
Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah are master strategists when it comes to campaigning. Even during the Assam campaigning, various social media tools were used to woo voters. 
 
“At least Modi is coming out in the open to speak to us. Tarun Gogoi never knew what to do with the region. We are hard working people,” said the driver. 
 
The local sentiment is not gauged by these four people only, others in local market, shops, hotels also want him to come, which means Modi’s BJP is definitely coming to Assam, ending the 15-year Congress rule. 
 
Modi, during electioneering, appealed to the Assamese to give him five years and lambasted Congress over water, power and employment issues. 
 
He in fact went a step ahead to gel with the crowd and also invoked goddess Kamakhya and sang an Assamese song to connect with the locals. 
 
“Business is not easy here. We are also fed up of migration and people from Bangladesh are a major point of contention for us,” said the businessman. 
 
Any criticism of Modi and his government almost certainly falls on deaf ears, or people reply with a curt, “He should be given time. Rome was also not built in a day. What he is doing now, will bear fruits in next five years. People of Assam are very patient. You should be too.” I was left without a reply there. 
 
If Modi does win the Assam battle, it will come as a huge sigh of relief after the BJP lost in Delhi and Bihar. 
 
If at all Modi, who played his development plank once again during campaigning, wins election in Assam, he will have to deliver his ‘all-round’ development pitch. Else, voters, might not be so welcoming. 
 
(Image: Indiatimes)

Exit polls: Local sentiment in Assam is with Modi, the BJP’s one man army as they call him there

In its bid to break away from the shackles of Indian Standard Time, <keyword id="6354915" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Assam">Assam</keyword> has caused some discomfort across the political circles of the country, which took this North-eastern state too much for granted since long. The campaign, started by Assam’s <keyword id="5269" type="POSITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Chief-Minister">chief minister</keyword> Tarun Gogoi a few years ago, seems to have reached a definitive stage while the central government is yet to place its concurrence (or otherwise) on record. 
 However, apart from quipping that ‘different time zones would create confusion,’ the <keyword id="6362177" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="union-government">Union Government</keyword> has not expressed any vehement denial. Therefore, Assam may soon turn out to be the first state in India to have its separate time zone, which will be a good one hour ahead of IST. For those who didn’t bother about IST, here is the lowdown. Indian Standard Time or IST is 5 hours and 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich Meridian Time (GMT), which is the standard time measurement worldwide. 
 
If the proposal placed by Gogoi is passed by the central government, Assam will be 6 hours and 30 minutes ahead of GMT. In fact, when the time change kicks in, people of Assam will be literally struggling to sync with the flight, train and bus schedules as most of these will be travelling from outside Assam where the time zone will be different. 
 When the clock will be shifted an hour ahead in Assam (we assume it will happen in the near future), the state will actually travel back in time. That’s because the ‘hour ahead’ time was first introduced by the British about 150 years ago and it was then called ‘chai bagaan’ (tea garden) time. Informally though, Assam goes to work an hour ahead of <keyword id="818790" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="the-rest">the rest</keyword> of India owing to the fact that the sun rises earlier in the North-east than in the other regions of the country. Chai bagaan time is a reality for those who work in tea estates and follow a different timeframe for going to work and wrapping up for the day. And this has to continue through the winter as the sun sets earlier in the North-east, compared to other parts of India. 
 Needless to say, the North-east is greatly inconvenienced owing to different sunrise and <keyword id="383280" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="sunset">sunset</keyword> timings. The state of Assam sees the first rays of sun by 4 am during the summer. But winter evenings are the darkest there, with the sun setting at as early as 5 pm. 
 
The chief minister’s demand to shift the time ahead by one hour boosts the claims of ‘increasing productivity’ since offices will open early and close at a time specific to the North-east after logging the usual number of hours. But how will things work out in areas where Assam connects with the rest of the country? What will happen to the railway services in case of a changed time zone? Will it not lead to confusion and even collisions since train crossings are still managed manually? And when offices open early and close early, doesn’t it mean less time for co-ordination with organisations located in other states? 
 
More than anything else, won’t the new time zone intensify the feeling of ‘distance’ and ‘detachment’ in this insurgency-plagued state, which has been claiming ‘negligence’ from all central governments? Issues that need to be clarified are many, but not entirely ‘impossible’ since many countries have implemented multiple time zones and they are working well across various regions. 
 The Assam CM has been arguing that a new time zone will result into energy saving and increased productivity. However, Bangalore-based <keyword id="419658" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="National-Institute-of-Advanced-Studies">National Institute of Advanced Studies</keyword> (NIAS) has suggested that daylight-saving time or the time difference between Assam and the rest of the country should be fixed at half-an-hour for various reasons. 
 
India could save 2.7 billion units of electricity every year by shifting the IST Meridian eastward, from 82.5E longitudes in Uttar Pradesh to 90E near the Assam-Bengal border. But according to experts, it won’t be much of saving in terms of energy, compared to the chaos this ‘divided’ time zone will create. 
 
While experts are busy laying out real-time reasons to keep the time zone as it is in Assam, opposition to this has been on a different tangent – sometimes sparking off debates on nationalism, federalism, daylight, energy, geography, discrimination, parity, tyranny of west over the east, time and its metaphysical, imaginary and psychological aspects. 
 
Interestingly, when Gogoi voiced his demand to change the time zone for Assam, it was seen as a request to divide India itself. Such apprehensions are not simply black and white, but also come in various hues and shades. As of now, voices that are vociferously opposing this move, are scouting for some real reasons to strengthen their stance.

You Searched For "Tarun Gogoi" and got 7 results

Former Assam CM Tarun Gogoi passes away at 84 due to post-COVID complications

PTI

Here are 10 things you must know about today’s assembly election results

BI India Bureau

India's biggest pride, now its biggest shame, the NREGS

BI India Bureau

Assam is making fuel and alcohol cheaper to woo voters ahead of the Assembly Elections in April

Prabhjote Gill

Coronavirus: Sonowal calls up former CMs, senior leaders on measures taken up by Assam govt

PTI

Exit polls: Local sentiment in Assam is with Modi, the BJP’s one man army as they call him there

Akanksha Jain

‘Time Storm’ Brewing In Assam’s Tea Cup

Preetam Kaushik

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