Supreme Court seeks CBSE’s response on plea over withheld result of student based in Saudi Arabia

Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) Managing Director Y. Nagi Reddy on Tuesday, said the corporation had achieved significant milestones through the State government’s Mahalakshmi free bus travel scheme and its large scale operation of electric buses, even as he asserted that the State had emerged as a model in public transportation.Speaking at the 12th State Formation Day celebrations at Bus Bhavan, he described the Mahalakshmi scheme as a historic initiative in the corporation’s journey. He said the programme had enabled lakhs of women, girl students and transgender persons to travel safely and free of charge while reducing expenses and expanding access to employment and educational opportunities.He noted that the scheme had received an overwhelming response and that TGSRTC had facilitated crores of free journeys by women. He also said women’s self-help groups were being economically empowered through the allocation of RTC buses to their associations.Mr. Reddy said the corporation has been modernising its services and expanding its fleet of electric buses with environmental protection as a key objective. He underscored that the transport juggernaut had become a benchmark for other States by successfully operating electric buses on a large scale, describing it as a pioneering initiative in the country. He added that digital payment facilities and live bus tracking systems were also being implemented to improve passenger convenience.Emphasising that passenger safety remained the corporation’s foremost responsibility, he impressed upon employees to treat every passenger like a member of their own family. He also assured staff that employee welfare would continue to receive priority, alongside the corporation’s growth and development. Published - June 02, 2026 06:22 pm IST

People stand in a queue to enroll in BJP Govt Annapurna Bhandar scheme, in Siliguri. File. | The Congress State president also wrote to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari to make the process simpler. “Assurances before the vote; only memories after the votes,” TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee wrote on his social media on Friday (May 29, 2026), taking a dig at the form. He also shared an alleged mock-up form that was shared by the BJP before the elections which was only half a page, and also shared photos of the 11-page form recently published by the new government. The Annapurna Bhandar is a social security scheme where women of the State will get a direct cash transfer of ₹3,000 to their banks every month. The previous TMC government had launched the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme in 2021 and reached almost 2.4 crore women across the State. The TMC government paid ₹1,500 per woman, and the BJP made a poll promise to double the dolls once they came to power. The Annapurna Bhandar scheme form asks for details like Citizenship (Amendment) Act status, whether names were deleted under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, social status of people, vaccination status of children, number of literate and illiterate family members, bank account details of family members, status of health insurance, total land holding of family, etc. Taking a dig at this, TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh asked why social welfare schemes are becoming conditional under the BJP. “So the new @BJP4Bengal Minister’s logic is simple: If you didn’t take the vaccine provided by the Government of India, don’t bother seeking benefits from Government of India welfare schemes!!!” he wrote on his social media. Mr Ghosh also raised questions about why women have to give details of their whole family when the cash transfer benefit is solely for women. Meanwhile, netizens on social media have been making memes and sarcastic videos on the 11-page long form issued by the State government for the Annapurna Bhandar scheme. “One or two pages is still okay. How will we fill up such a huge form? We are not that educated? This money was supposed to be mine, why do I need to add my husband’s account details?” a woman asked. The scheme is set to be rolled out from June 1, but the uncertainty over the form-filling process has left many in doubt. “We can provide Aadhaar and voter cards, but the number of documents they are asking is not possible for illiterate people like us to provide. We have decided to just not fill out the form,” another woman who registered under the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme said. Meanwhile, Congress State president Subhankar Sarkar wrote to the West Bengal CM stating that the long form filling up process was causing trouble among people. “I urge you to take immediate and necessary steps from the State government’s side to simplify the form issued for Annapurna Bhandar,” Mr Sarkar’s letter said on Friday (May 29, 2026). Published - May 30, 2026 09:56 am IST

Wreckage is seen at the TMC office following the West Bengal Assembly election result. File | TMC leadership claimed that at least 10 of their workers were “brutally murdered” after the election results. Three fact-finding teams from Kolkata which included many senior TMC leaders visited different parts of the State and spoke to several party workers. “They kept abusing us even after we did so much work for them. These are all BJP workers,” a female TMC worker from Hooghly said that she and her family came under attack after the elections concluded in the State. TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP, Dola Sen, who was part of one of the fact-finding teams said that their party workers and common people are also coming under attack by the BJP workers in the past few days. “They have broken many homes and overtaken many of our party offices. They are also trying to break up all the government bodies and offices... However, even after so much intimidation, our workers are not scared,” Ms. Sen said. She further added that they will submit their findings to the government and the High Court, where the TMC is fighting a case against the post-poll violence. “TMC counting agents beaten up badly across Bengal and thrown out of counting centres post 2 pm. (It was at 2 pm that all godi media channels in unison began to flash “BJP victory.”),” TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose claimed based on the fact-finding teams’ takeaways. West Bengal Minister Ashok Kirtania criticised the TMC’s fact-finding team and said that they have no relation to the “drama Mamata Banerjee” is doing. “Our CM has said in the Assembly that if any TMC worker is homeless due to post-poll issues, then submit their names to the DGP, they will be brought back... But the post-poll violence that happened with the BJP workers after 2021 elections, we will not let that go,” Mr. Kirtania said. Meanwhile, TMC chairperson and general secretary Abhishek Banerjee met with members of the party’s legal cell to fight the attack on their workers. “At a time when our workers are being brutally attacked, abused and subjected to relentless intimidation, we must stand united to protect their rights, uphold their dignity and secure justice for every victim of political violence,” an official statement from the TMC on their social media pages said. The party which went out of power after 15 years and lost by a huge margin to the BJP also claimed that over 3,000 of their workers were attacked after the final poll results, and at least 10 of them were killed. Two days back on May 14, Ms. Banerjee, the former CM of Bengal, appeared before the Calcutta High Court in a lawyer’s robe to argue a case filed by her party against the post-poll violence. The Calcutta High Court directed the police to ensure safe return of victims affected by violence. However, this episode has also left the Bar Council of India asking about the validity and status of Ms. Banerjee’s legal license to practice in courts. Published - May 17, 2026 01:09 am IST

People gather as a building is being bulldozed during a demolition drive launched by the West Bengal government against illegal structures following the factory fire that killed two persons, at Tiljala area, in Kolkata, on May 13, 2026. | This comes a day after an allegedly illegal tannery was brought down in Kolkata’s Tiljala area after a fire broke out in the building, killing two and injuring three persons. A Kolkata Municipal Corporation team demolished a green clock tower in south Kolkata’s Garia area. Locals had reportedly complained about the structure being illegal, but authorities did not take action even after a court had issued an order to demolish it in 2025.Also Read : Abysmal failure: On Kolkata warehouse fireThe clock tower was inaugurated by former Trinamool MLA and Minister Aroop Biswas. He lost his Tollygunge seat in the Assembly elections to Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) candidate Papiya Adhikari.“They built the clock tower inside our playground. Aroop Biswas’ men threatened our club members when we protested against it,” a local resident said.Several clock towers had come up in parts of Kolkata in the past few years during the Trinamool’s rule in the State. Some also resembled the iconic Big Ben of London. In a separate incident in North 24 Parganas’ Naihati area, an illegal Trinamool party office was razed. Authorities said the party office was constructed on land belonging to the Railways.On Wednesday (May 13, 2026), Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had said that the government will have a “zero-tolerance policy” towards illegal structures and corruption in unlawful factories. “We have asked the electricity supplier to permanently stop the power supply and directed CESC [the distributor] to immediately disconnect the power to illegal factories in the Tiljala, Kasba, and Mominpur areas. We have told them to do an immediate audit to see who does not have sanctioned building plans. Power supply to such buildings must be stopped immediately,” he had said. Also Read : West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya says new government will adopt new land policy to bring industriesAs per his instructions, the corporation is preparing a list of illegal factories in Kolkata, and it will be handed over to CESC and the civic body’s water department on Thursday (May 14, 2026).Bulldozers were deployed in the State just days after the BJP stormed to power. A Trinamool party office and other structures were razed in Kolkata’s New Market area a day after the victory on May 5. Published - May 14, 2026 08:08 pm IST

Himanta Biswa Sarma. File | Strict vigilance and closure of the India-Bangladesh border was very important for the security of Assam and the region, the chief minister said at a press conference here after chairing the first cabinet meeting of his second term in office.“Our fight against infiltration always faced a problem because there was a huge gap in fencing between Bangladesh and West Bengal,” he claimed.Mr. Sarma said that many organisations in Assam demand that the border must be sealed in the State, but this was meaningless without a similar closure in West Bengal.Five States share the India-Bangladesh border - Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam and West Bengal, and of these, Assam has the smallest stretch while West Bengal has the longest border with the neighbouring country, he said.“This was our issue for long, but on Monday, the West Bengal Cabinet has taken a very significant decision that within 45 days BSF will be given land so that India-Bangladesh border can be completely secured and fencing can be erected in a stretch of 800 km,’’ Mr. Sarma said.This is very heartening news for the people of Assam because “we are fighting infiltration, and this cannot be stopped without a nationalist government in West Bengal.” “I wholeheartedly welcome the decision taken by the Bengal cabinet, particularly by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’’, he added.Mr. Sarma said that this was his campaign theme during the entire Bengal election, as without securing the border of that State, the entire North East will remain insecure.‘’This decision of the West Bengal cabinet is very welcoming news for the people of Assam and the North East. I would like to compliment the Bengal cabinet for this historic decision’’, he added. Published - May 14, 2026 09:47 am IST

This image is used for representational purposes only. | The MHA had, through an affidavit, informed the Supreme Court that the West Bengal government had not adopted the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act (LARR Act), 2013, under which the government can take possession of any land needed for a public purpose.Then Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, in the affidavit, said, “The West Bengal Government follows a far slower, more complex Direct Land Purchase Policy even for national security projects such as border fencing. Due to the non-cooperation from the State government regarding resolving various issues of land acquisition, considerable delays have occurred in acquiring the necessary land, thereby impeding the timely completion of fencing in West Bengal along the Indo-Bangladesh border, which is a vital national security project.”On May 11, soon after assuming power in the State for the first time, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government announced that it had decided to transfer land to the Border Security Force (BSF) within the next 45-days.According to submissions made before the Calcutta High Court in January, the West Bengal Government had handed over 78 km of border land to the BSF over the past three years, while 121 km of border length was yet to be transferred. Of the 285.25 km border length required by the BSF across the nine districts, including Nadia, North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, Malda, Dakshin Dinajpur, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, and Cooch Behar, the State Cabinet had given clearance for 256 km.Data presented before the court showed that the land purchase, measuring around 269 acres along 48.49 km of border, had been completed but was yet to be handed over to the BSF. The purchase and acquisition of around 1,156 acres remained pending, the data further showed.While hearing a public interest litigation, the Calcutta High Court asked the counsels of the State and the Union Government “regarding applicability and feasibility of acquisition by invoking Section 40 of the Act of 2013.”Section 40 of the 2013 Act, “in cases of urgency,” enables the appropriate government to take possession of any land needed for a public purpose. The total length of the Indo–Bangladesh border in West Bengal is 22,16.7 km, out of which 1,647.696 km has already been covered by fence.The MHA informed Parliament last year that of the remaining 569.004 km, which is yet to be covered by fence and other border infrastructure work, 112.780 km is non-feasible for fencing and 456.224 km is feasible for construction of fencing and related work. Published - May 13, 2026 02:25 am IST

West Bengal Governor R.N. Ravi administers the oath of office to West Bengal Legislative Assembly Pro-tem Speaker Tapas Roy at Lok Bhavan, along with West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, in Kolkata on May 12, 2026. Photo: X/@lokbhavan_wb via PTI Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and MLA from Maniktala, Tapas Roy, took oath as the Pro-Tem speaker of the West Bengal Assembly. Governor R.N. Ravi administered the oath to Mr. Roy at the Lok Bhavan on Tuesday (May 12, 2026). Mr. Roy is among the seniormost MLAs elected to the 18th West Bengal Legislative Assembly. According to sources in the party , Mr. Roy may be nominated for the post of the Speaker.The oath-taking of other MLAs of West Bengal will be held on Wednesday (May 13, 2026) and Thursday (May 14, 2026). The election of the Speaker will be held on Friday (May 15, 2026), May 15. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari was present at the oath-taking of the Pro-Tem Speaker. After taking the oath, Mr. Roy took a dig at the Trinamool Congress regime and said parliamentary processes were not followed during the Mamata Banerjee rule.On Tuesday morning (May 12, 2026), Mr Adhikari was present at the oath-taking ceremony of Himanta Biswa Sarma as the Chief Minister of Assam. From there, he returned to Kolkata and went straight to Lok Bhavan. Several Ministers and MLAs-elect were also present. The Assembly has been decorated with saffron lights since Tuesday (May 12, 2026). While the BJP government has started functioning from Nabanna, where it held the first Cabinet meeting on Monday (May 11, 2026), the seat of power is likely to return to Writers Building, from where Left Front governments used to function. The Writers Building and Nabanna are also decked in saffron lights. This marks a departure from the blue-white colours that had dominated the State Government’s installations during the Trinamool Congress regime. Published - May 12, 2026 10:55 pm IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. File | West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday (May 11, 2026) announced that the State will implement the Centre's flagship programme under which health insurance of up to ₹5 lakh is provided to each eligible household annually."The welfare of my sisters and brothers of West Bengal is supreme! I'm very happy that the people of the state will have access to Ayushman Bharat, the world's largest healthcare scheme that ensures top-quality and affordable healthcare. At the same time, the double-engine Government will ensure seamless delivery of key Central schemes," Mr. Modi said in a post on X.After chairing his first Cabinet meeting, Mr. Adhikari said the new BJP government had taken six landmark decisions, including implementation of Ayushman Bharat in West Bengal, aimed at ushering in 'Asol Poriborton' (real change) in the State.NarThe BJP assumed power for the first time in West Bengal after handing a stunning defeat to the Trinamool Congress. The saffron party secured 207 seats in the 294-member Assembly, reducing the Trinamool Congress to 80 seats. Published - May 12, 2026 09:57 am IST