The men and women who brought curry to Birmingham

Summary: Curry has become as much a staple of British cuisine as fish and chips or the roast dinner. An exhibition is celebrating some of the earliest curry houses in Birmingham, a city synonymous with the cuisine.

By Alpha CeesayBBC News Birmingham has long-been considered the birthplace of the balti - a fusion dish popularised in the 1980s and 1990s by the city's Pakistani community. But some 50 years before that, in the 1940s, it was settlers from Bangladesh, then East Pakistan, that introduced residents to their native dishes, by cooking milder versions of curry to suit British taste buds. The Knights of the Raj exhibition tells the story behind Birmingham's burgeoning curry business and was curated by artist Mohammed Ali, whose father was in the restaurant trade. He said he was in part inspired by his own "personal quest" to tell the stories of his father's generation. "They deserve a voice and this exhibition will help immortalise their story," he added. The 'first' Birmingham curry house It was during World War Two that the man credited with opening the first fully-fledged Indian restaurant in Birmingham arrived in the city. Abdul Aziz had been working as a labourer on a British Navy ship in about 1940. He jumped ship when it arrived at Newcastle-upon-Tyne and made his way to Birmingham, becoming one of the first Bangladeshi settlers in the city. It was there he met Violet, an Irish waitress at a cafe in Coleshill Street, and it was she who became his "rock" after they married, teaching him English and the ways of British culture, said their son David Aziz. The couple lived on Ladywood Road with Mr Aziz working in factories to save up enough money to buy and run John's Restaurant, on Steelhouse Lane, in 1945. Within a decade, curry and rice had been introduced to the menu and the restaurant became known as The Darjeeling. His son said: "A lot of my dad's friends were coppers from the Steelhouse Police station across the road. "They were always in the restaurant in uniform. He also knew a lot of solicitors from the courts and doctors as they all used to eat in the restaurant." The Darjeeling flourished from its humble beginnings and went on to play an important role in the growth of the curry trade in Birmingham, training later generations of the city's curry restaurateurs. The businessman's kindness extended to other Bangladeshi migrants who he helped settle, giving them jobs as chefs and waiters and often housing them in rooms above the restaurant. And as the profile of The Darjeeling grew, so did that of Mr Aziz. He was often found front-of-house getting to know diners and he became friends with notable people in the community. As a figurehead of the Bangladeshi community, he received invites to events at Birmingham Council House and featured in the local press - his success apparent by his sharp dress sense, his son added. But away from the limelight, he was a family man at heart, ensuring he ate with his loved ones, no matter the hour. "He used to come home from work or wherever and get us out of bed at three or four in the morning," Mr Aziz said. "He would phone his chef to cook at the restaurant and he would bring the food to the house. "We would have to sit on the floor and eat with him. "There was a lot of love in the house." 'I would bring curry to them' It was a happy accident the Jinnah became what is believed to be the first in Birmingham to offer a curry takeaway and delivery service. Mozamil and Rachel Kazi had been serving up the likes of steak, eggs and chips at Rae's Cafe in Bristol Street since the early 1950s. But it was only later, when they put curry on the menu, that its popularity forced a move to a larger site in Moseley Road in 1957, which became the Jinnah. Diners feasted on chicken, beef, prawn, lentil and potato curries, with legendary drummer John Bonham among the clientele before he joined Led Zeppelin. But when regulars were unable to make it to the restaurant, son John came up with the novel idea of taking it directly to their door. "Customers would say to me 'I can't make it to the restaurant' for whatever reason, so I said if they gave me a ring, I would bring a curry to them," he said. "More and more people started to ask me to take curries to them. I started to spend more time delivering than I did at the restaurant." The takeaway concept was such a hit people would take along their own pots to be filled with curry and rice for 25p. Bangladeshi migrant Mr Kazi proved a savvy businessman, taking care of the finances. But it was Mrs Kazi who was the face of the business and ran its day-to day affairs. "She was a bubbly character that everyone loved," said son Steve Kazi. "She was a little Geordie lass but she ruled with an iron rod. "There was one instance where a guy had already thrown me across the room but mum came along, got under his arm and punched him on his chin through the window." 'We used to chase after them' Nurujuman Khan arrived at Heathrow airport from Bangladesh in the summer of 1957 and promptly followed in the footsteps of his cousin by moving to Birmingham. Within a year, he managed to save enough money to go into the restaurant trade, co-owning restaurants in Wolverhampton and Worcester before selling his stake and moving back to the city. During an 18-month spell at The Plough restaurant in Monkspath, Solihull, he was trained in silver service - a skill which would help him transform Birmingham's Bengali restaurant trade. Mr Khan had become good friends with Abdul Samad, owner of the Bombay restaurant in Essex Street, and was offered a job as the restaurant manager. He introduced a hot food trolley to serve customers from and invented new dishes with Mr Samad, including the chicken mossman - bhuna chicken topped with sliced egg. The service helped attract people already accustomed to the exotic dishes as well as first-timers, though some needed gentle encouragement with their choices. "The majority of people that came to the restaurant were expats who had served in India, [so] they had a taste for Indian food," recalls Mr Khan. "English people did not eat a lot of Indian food at the time. We would have to educate them [by] asking them to try this and that." The restaurant was also occasionally blighted by people who would eat and run, known as "khasrah kastomar" - troublesome customer - by the staff. "When you said khasrah kastomar, everyone would know to be on alert," remembered Mr Khan. "We used to have to chase after them." The Knights of the Raj exhibition runs at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery until 14 January.

करी ब्रिटिश व्यंजनों का उतना ही मुख्य बन गया है जितना कि मछली और चिप्स या भुना हुआ रात्रिभोज। एक प्रदर्शनी बर्मिंघम में कुछ शुरुआती करी घरों का जश्न मना रही है, जो व्यंजनों का पर्याय है।


Canon Joanna Penberthy elected Wales' first woman bishop

Summary: The Church in Wales has elected its first woman bishop.

Canon Joanna Penberthy said she is "immensely humbled" to become the 129th Bishop of St Davids in Pembrokeshire. An electoral college of 47 people from across Wales spent two days locked in St Davids Cathedral before coming to their decision. Canon Penberthy, 56, who was appointed the cathedral's first woman canon in 2007, will take over the role from the retiring Wyn Evans. The decision to allow women bishops was made following a landmark vote in September 2013. The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, called it "an historic moment" for the church. "What is really important to stress is that Joanna wasn't elected because she was a woman but because she was deemed to be the best person to be a bishop," he said. "She has considerable gifts - she is an excellent preacher and communicator, can relate to all sections of the community, is a warm, charismatic, caring priest and someone who is full of joy." Women bishops are also allowed in Scotland, Northern Ireland and England, where plans were formally approved in November 2014. The first woman in England the Right Reverend Libby Lane, was made Bishop of Stockport in January 2015. St Davids' new bishop was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge and St John's College, Nottingham, she undertook ordination training at Cranmer Hall, Durham, in 1983. Canon Penberthy was then a Deaconess in the city, before working in the role in Cardiff between 1985 and 1989. She also served as a non-stipendiary minister in Cardiff, St Asaph and St Davids, between 1987 and 1995. In February 2007, while vicar of Cynwyl Gaeo, Llansawel and Talley, she became the first woman appointed canon at St Davids Cathedral, a role she remained in until 2010. She is currently the rector of the parish of Glan Ithon, near Llandrindod Wells, Powys.

वेल्स में चर्च ने अपनी पहली महिला बिशप का चुनाव किया है।


Comic-Con 2017: What you should look out for

Summary: More than 100,000 fans have descended on San Diego in California for this year's Comic-Con, the largest event dedicated to film, TV and pop culture.

By Genevieve HassanEntertainment reporter Stars including Ryan Gosling, Channing Tatum, Charlize Theron and the cast of the new Justice League film are expected to attend. There will also be looks at the new seasons of Stranger Things, Westworld, Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. The four-day fan fest concludes with a special Doctor Who session. With hundreds of events going on, here's a guide to the main things to look out for each day, along with who is likely to turn up. Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

कैलिफोर्निया के सैन डिएगो में इस साल के कॉमिक-कॉन के लिए 100,000 से अधिक प्रशंसक आए हैं, जो फिल्म, टीवी और पॉप संस्कृति को समर्पित सबसे बड़ा कार्यक्रम है।


Excerpts: Wikileaks Iraq war logs

Summary: Wikileaks has released almost 400,000 secret US military logs , which suggest US commanders ignored evidence of abuse, torture, rape and murder by the Iraqi authorities.

The documents also detail how "hundreds" of civilians were killed at US military checkpoints after the invasion in 2003. And the files show the US kept records of civilian deaths, despite previously denying it. The death toll was put at 109,000, of whom 66,081 were civilians. Below are edited extracts of some of the logs as published by Wikileaks or the Guardian newspaper, one of several newspapers given early access to the documents. VIDEO OF DETAINEE APPARENTLY EXECUTED BY IRAQI SOLDIERS View the full Wikileaks document. Date: 2009-12-23 21:01:00 Type: Non-Combat Event Category: Other Tracking no.: 20091223210038SMB3878781772 Title: (NON-COMBAT EVENT) OTHER RPT : 1 CIV KIA Summary: 14 DEC,09, MND-N reported (1) instance of alleged detainee abuse. The allegation involves ISF. This allegation has been forwarded to the appropriate command for initiation of inquiry/investigation and subsequent tracking. ///CLOSED 23 dec 09/// /// CLOSED 23-Dec-09 /// ALCON, Please find the attached SIR (Execution of Detainee) WHO: Detainee WHAT: Execution by Iraqi Soldiers WHEN: 14 DEC 09 WHERE: TALL'AFAR SUMMARY: HCT 702 received a video from one of their sources. The video contains footage of Iraqi Army soldiers executing a detainee. The footage shows approximately 12 IA soldiers involved. Ten IA soldiers were talking to one another while two other soldiers held the detainee. The detainee had his hands bound. An officer the source identified as Maj. Ali Jadallah Husayn Al-Shamari, an intelligence officer for the 4-9/3 IA, was in the video. The footage shows the IA soldiers moving the detainee into the street, pushing him to the ground, punching him, and shooting him. The detainee has not been identified. There is no further information at this time. This corresponds to MNC-I PIR #5 and MNC-I PIR #6. This is an initial report; more information will be rendered when it becomes available. DETAINEE FOUND DEAD WITH EXTENSIVE INJURIES - IRAQI CAPTORS SAY IT WAS SUICIDE View the full Wikileaks document. Date: 2009-08-27 09:00:00 Type: Suspicious Incident Category: Other Tracking no.: 20090827090038SLB413998 Title: (SUSPICIOUS INCIDENT) OTHER RPT RAMADI IRAQI CTU : 1 UE KIA Summary: WHO: RAMADI PGC TT WHAT: Reports possible detainee abuse WHEN: 270900C AUG 09 WHERE: Iraqi CTU in Ramadi IVO (38S LB 413 998) HOW: At 270900C AUG 09, the PGC TT reports possible detainee abuse IVO (38S LB 413 998). On 26 Aug 09, a PGC TT (which included a USN Corpsman) conducted a post mortem visual examination of JASIM MOHAMMED AHMED AL-SHIHAWI, an individual arrested in conjunction with a VBIED interdicted NE of Camp Taqaddum (SIGACT Entry DTG: 241130CAug09). The detainee was transferred from the IHP in Saqlawiah to the Iraqi CTU in Ramadi for questioning and while in custody, reportedly committed suicide. The PGC TT personnel conducting the post mortem examination found bruises and burns on the detainee`s body as well as visible injuries to the head, arm, torso, legs, and neck. The PGC TT report the injuries are consistent with abuse. The CTU/IP have reportedly begun an investigation into the detainees death. An update will be posted when more information becomes available. The SIR is attached. CLOSED 20091019 DETAINEE FOUND DEAD WITH WOUNDS FROM "UNKNOWN SURGERY" View the Guardian document and the Wikileaks document (incomplete). Date: 2008-12-03 12:00:00 Type: Suspicious Incident Category: Other Tracking no.: 20081203120038SMC6333039016 Title: (SUSPICIOUS INCIDENT) OTHER RPT (SUSPECTED SOI DETAINEE ABUSE) LN : 1 CIV KIA Summary: 1/25 11:203 FINAL REPORT: WHO: B/1-5 IN WHAT: Death of Sheik WHEN: 031200DEC08 WHERE: 38SMC 63330 39016 HOW: CMD/B/1-5IN reports: while talking to Tahrir local IP chief, he was informed that Sheik Bashir had died of bad kidneys while in custody of the MCU. IP released the body from the morgue on COL Faris orders so the cause of death could be determined. Post mortem revealed no apparent direct cause of death and the doctor concluded there would be no clear results until lab test came back in approximately one month. SUMMARY: Sheik Bashir , a SoIZ leader, died while in custody of the MCU. CF Assessment: There was evidence of some type of unknown surgical procedure on Bashir\'s abdomen. The incision was closed by 3-4 stitches. There was also evidence of bruises on the face, chest, ankle, and back of the body. ///CLOSED///031247DEC08 APACHE HELICOPTER HUNTS AND KILLS "ANTI-IRAQI FORCES" AFTER MORTAR ATTACK View the full Wikileaks document. Date: 2007-02-22 11:47:00 Type: Friendly Action Category: Small Unit Actions Tracking no.: 20070222114738SMC2443013390 Title: SMALL UNIT ACTIONS BY 1-7 CAV IVO AT TAJI: 2 AIF KIA Summary: WHO: 1-7 CAV 2 X AIF KIA 0 X WIA 1 X AIF TRUCK AND 1X MORTAR TUBE, MULTIPLE MORTAR RDS DESTROYED. 221131FEB07: CRAZYHORSE 18 SENT TO CHECK ON BDA OF COUNTER MORTAR FIRE VIC 38S 24720 11580. 221134FEB07: CRAZYHORSE 18 GAINED CONTACT WITH 1X BONGO TRUCK LEAVING POO SITE AND HAS PID A TRIPOD AND MORTAR TUBE. 221147FEB07: CRAZYHORSE 18 CLEARED TO ENGAGE WITH 30MM. 221201FEB07: CRAZYHORSE 18 REPORTS TRUCK WITH MORTAR TUBE DESTROYED, 2 AIF LEFT AREA PRIOR TO APACHE FIRING. 221205FEB07: CRAZYHORSE 18 REPORTS THE TRUCK WITH MORTAR RDS STILL COOKING OFF MORTAR ROUNDS. 221233FEB07: CRAZYHORSE 18 REPORTS AIF GOT INTO A DUMPTRUCK HEADED NORTH, ENGAGED AND THEN THEY CAME OUT WANTING TO SURRENDER. 221235FEB07: CRAZYHORSE 18 REPORTS THEY GOT BACK INTO TRUCK AND ARE HEADING NORTH. 221239FEB07: CRAZYHORSE 18 CLEARED TO ENGAGE DUMPTRUCK. 1/227 LAWYER STATES THEY CAN NOT SURRENDER TO AIRCRAFT AND ARE STILL VALID TARGETS. 221250FEB07: CRAZYHORSE 18 REPORTS THEY MISSED WITH HELLFIRE AND INDIVIDUALS HAVE RAN INTO ANOTHER SHACK. 221303FEB07: IH6 APPROVES CRAZYHORSE 18 TO ENGAGE SHACK. 221303FEB07: CRAZYHORSE 18 REPORTS ENGAGED AND DESTROYED SHACK WITH 2X AIF. BDA IS SHACK / DUMP TRUCK DESTROYED. 221325FEB07: CRAZYHORSE 18 CONTINUED TO OBSERVE FOR APPROX 20 MINUTES WITH NFTR. CRAZYHORSE 18 IS OFF STATION TO REFUEL AND REARM ATT. SUMMARY: 1X ENGAGEMENT WITH 30MM 2X AIF KIA 1 X MORTAR SYSTEM DESTROYED 1 X BONGO TRUCK DESTROYED WITH MANY SECONDARY EXPLOSIONS. 1 X DUMPTRUCK DESTROYED 1 X SHACK DESTROYED -CLOSED- CIVILIANS KILLED BY US MARINES AT CHECKPOINT View full Wikileaks document. Date: 2005-06-14 15:30:00 Type: Friendly Action Category: Escalation of Force Tracking no.: attlemaj-38797356 Title: SCALATION OF FORCE BY 1-5 IVO HURRICANE POINT: 7 CIV KILLED, 2 CIV INJ, 0 CF Summary: AT 1530D, THE HURRICANE POINT ECP ATTEMPTED TO STOP A VEHICLE WITH HAND AND ARM SIGNALS BEFORE THE VEHICLE GOT CLOSE TO THE CORDON THAT HAD BEEN ESTABLISHED AFTER THE SVBIED ATTACK. A MAROON 4-DOOR OPEL DISREGARDED ALL HAND AND ARM SIGNALS AND CONTINUED AT A HIGH RATE OF SPEED. THE HP ECP ENGAGED THE VEHICLE WITH WARNING SHOTS AS IT APPROACHED FROM THE EAST ON MICHIGAN. THE VEHICLE DISREGARDED THE WARNING SHOTS AND ACCELERATED TOWARD THE CORDON SET AT THE S. BRIDGE VCP. THE CORDON AT THE S. BRIDGE CONSISTED OF HMMWV GUN TRUCKS IN THE CENTER OF THE ROAD, AND DISMOUNTED MARINES PROVIDING SECURITY IN AND OFF TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, AND SIX LARGE ORANGE CONES IN THE ROAD ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE S. BRIDGE. S. BRIDGE ECP ENGAGED THE GRILL OF THE VEHICLE WITH WARNING AND DISABLING SHOTS AT APPROXIMATELY 150 METERS FROM THE CORDON. THE VEHICLE CONTINUED TO DISREGARD THE SAF FROM THE OP AND CONTINUED TOWARD THE ESTABLISHED CORDON. THE DISMOUNTED MARINES SAID THE VEHICLE ACCELERATED AS IT APPROACHED THE CONES AT THE NORTH END OF THE S. BRIDGE. WHEN THE VEHICLE DID NOT STOP, THE S. BRIDGE OP AND 1/5 JUMP WHICH WAS PART OF THE CORDON ENGAGED THE FRONT GRILL OF THE VEHICLE AT APPROXIMATELY 100 METERS BUT THE VEHICLE CONTINUED TO APPROACH AT 40-45 MPH. WHEN THE VEHICLE DID NOT STOP AFTER ALL THE WARNING SHOTS, THE MARINES ENGAGED THE DRIVER TO STOP THE VEHICLE. THE VEHICLE WAS STOPPED DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF THE ORANGE CONES. THERE WERE A TOTAL OF 11X CIVILIANS IN THE VEHICLE. THE ENGAGEMENT RESULTED IN 7X CIV KILLED (2X WERE CHILDREN) AND 2X CIV INJ. THE LARGE NUMBER OF CIVILIAN KIA RESULTED FROM THE FAMILY HAVING PLACED THEIR CHILDREN ON THE FLOOR BOARDS OF THE VEHICLE. THE DISABLING SHOTS AIMED AT THE GRILL ARE BELIEVED TO HAVE TRAVELED THROUGH THE VEHICLE LOW TO THE FLOOR BOARDS CAUSING THE LARGE NUMBER OF KIA. NO CF INJ/DAMAGE.

विकिलीक्स ने लगभग 400,000 गुप्त अमेरिकी सैन्य लॉग जारी किए हैं, जो बताते हैं कि अमेरिकी कमांडरों ने इराकी अधिकारियों द्वारा दुर्व्यवहार, यातना, बलात्कार और हत्या के सबूतों को नजरअंदाज कर दिया।


Marine A's colleagues 'wanted Afghan insurgent dead'

Summary: As the conviction of Sgt Alexander Blackman for shooting an injured Afghan fighter in 2011 is reduced from murder to manslaughter on the grounds of his mental illness, Royal Marines who fought alongside him have spoken for the first time - offering new insights into the killing.

By Jonathan BealeDefence correspondent, BBC News In interviews for BBC Panorama, the men from 42 Commando said they wanted the insurgent dead and their comrade "took one for the team" when he faced a court martial. His colleagues said they also suffered from post-traumatic stress and one marine believes such incidents occurred elsewhere during the conflict. There is much public sympathy for Blackman, 42, but few people who have watched the full video of the killing - recorded by another marine's helmet-mounted camera - would describe him as a hero. The footage has not been made public but Blackman can be heard trying to cover up his actions, making sure a helicopter above is out of sight before he delivers the fatal shot. Perhaps more understandable though is the sympathy of the men who fought alongside him and endured the same hardships. 'Sending out a signal' Colleagues suggested there were other pressures on Blackman, who was known as Marine A during the original trial process and was only fully identified when he was convicted. Rob Driscoll, who was at a nearby patrol base at the time of the killing, told Panorama: "Everyone that was speaking on that radio was sending out a signal to Al... everyone wanted that guy to be dead." He said no-one would have wanted to send out a medical team to help the insurgent because the ground could have been littered with roadside bombs, while a helicopter might have been targeted in the air. They would have done it for one of their own, but risking British lives for a wounded Taliban fighter "who has been shooting at them for the last four months" was less appealing, he said. Sam Deen, who was on the patrol, said: "I do remember saying, 'yeah I would shoot him'... and I do think I influenced what happened". "A few of the other lads said that," Mr Deen said. The killing, on 15 September 2011, took place after a patrol base in Helmand province came under fire from two insurgents. 'Successful day' One of the attackers was seriously injured by gunfire from an Apache helicopter sent to provide air support, and the marines found him in a field. The footage from the helmet-mounted camera showed Blackman shooting the Afghan prisoner in the chest at close range with a 9mm pistol. Blackman, from Taunton, was convicted of murder in November 2013 and jailed for life. He lost an appeal in May of the following year, but his 10-year minimum term was reduced to eight years. Five judges at the Court Martial Appeal Court in London have now ruled the conviction should be manslaughter on the ground of diminished responsibility, not murder. A further hearing will now decide what sentence Blackman should serve. Filmmaker and anthropologist Chris Terrill was embedded with Blackman's unit at the time of the shooting. His film for Panorama tries to look beyond the narrow focus of the helmet camera that led to Blackman's conviction and questions whether, in the slow attrition of war, they began to think as a pack and lose their moral compass. Speaking about Blackman's decision to kill the insurgent, Sam Deen says: "I do think he took the responsibility for the younger lads… he thought it was his responsibility to do it, and then move on." Rob Driscoll admits to some sleepless nights but adds: "I'm glad Al did what he did because all my guys went home". Louis Nethercott, another Royal Marine on the patrol, tells Panorama: "I think it was just another day in Afghanistan and that's the way it goes out there. "And none of us got hurt so it was a successful day as far as I'm concerned". Chris Terrill asks another Royal Marine who was on that tour whether he thought this was the only time such an incident occurred during the Afghan war. His answer - "No". Panorama, Marine A: The Inside Story will be on BBC One at 22:50 GMT, and available later on iPlayer.

2011 में एक घायल अफगान लड़ाके को गोली मारने के लिए सार्जेंट अलेक्जेंडर ब्लैकमैन की सजा को उसकी मानसिक बीमारी के आधार पर हत्या से घटाकर हत्या कर दिया गया है, उसके साथ लड़ने वाले रॉयल मरीन ने पहली बार बात की है-हत्या में नई अंतर्दृष्टि प्रदान करते हुए।


The week ahead in Parliament

Summary: Parliament resumes with two major announcements in the pipeline.

Mark D'ArcyParliamentary correspondent The prime minister is due to set out his plans to lift the lockdown, as the rollout of the vaccines continues. The following week Chancellor Rishi Sunak will deliver his Budget, providing some inkling of how the government plans to pay for the pandemic. The first probably eclipses the second in terms of public impact, but between them, the two announcements will set the domestic agenda right up to the next election, The pre-pressuring around the lockdown announcement began before the half-term break, with some blunt warnings from the Conservative backbench Covid Recovery Group setting out its expectations, in a letter signed by 63 MPs. Its shopping list includes the return of schools on 8 March, followed by the re-opening of shops, pubs and restaurants for Easter, and the lifting of legislative restrictions by the end of April. That is the yardstick against which a significant section of his troops will judge the PM's plans. If they're unhappy, the need to renew the Coronavirus Act, (the next six-monthly renewal is due in March) would provide an opportunity to register their discontent. This raises the possibility that the government might attempt to placate internal critics by modifying or replacing the legislation, which covers all kinds of issues, from the management of dead bodies to restrictions on the movement of potentially infected people. 'Pitch-rolling' The second theme of the week is the build-up to the Budget, during which MPs make last-minute pitches for particular causes, issue warnings against rumoured proposals they don't like the look of, and scrutinise every ministerial word for hints of the policies to be unveiled - and in particular for any "pitch-rolling" ahead of tax increases. And Europe, always Europe. The appointment of Brexit negotiator Lord Frost as a Cabinet Office minister, inheriting Michael Gove's Brexit responsibilities, has sent eyebrows skywards across Westminster. In the past, cabinet ministers in the Lords have sometimes had special question times allocated to them (the Lords does not have Commons-style departmental question times) and while Lord Frost is not a full secretary of state, his ministerial brief is so critical that there may be moves for some similar arrangement. Here's my rundown of the week ahead. Monday 22 February The Commons opens 14:30 with Housing, Communities and Local Government (including topical questions), with the expectation that the prime minister will then deliver that lockdown statement and take questions on it for a couple of hours. That will then feed into the day's main business, one of the regular series of General debates on Covid-19, which will allow further reaction to whatever had been announced. These debates are normally led by the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock. The day's committee action includes Public Accounts taking evidence on supporting the vulnerable during lockdown (14:30) with Sir Chris Wormald, permanent secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care, Jeremy Pocklington, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and a supporting cast of senior officials. And, deprived of its normal Westminster Hall debates because of the pandemic, the Petitions Committee takes evidence on the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, in response to an e-petition. In the Lords (13:00) ministers field questions on the proportion of teaching posts in London, and elsewhere in England, which are currently provided by supply teacher agencies, ensuring the government provides timely answers to written questions, plans to increase the permitted spending limits for political parties at general elections, and the level of food-related crime. Peers will then give a second reading to the Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Bill - the special measure to allow the Attorney-General, Suella Braverman, to take maternity leave. They should have the bill through all its Lords stages by the end of the week. The day's real meat, at least for peers themselves, is the debate on the latest report from the Procedure and Privileges Committee, which will probably be quite lively. A number of peers are already unhappy at the suspension of the hereditary by-elections, which top up the contingent of 92 hereditaries who still sit in the House, when one of them leaves or passes away. The much-mocked by-election process, in which hereditary peers of a particular party vote on a successor, has sometimes seen the candidates outnumber the voters. It has been suspended since the start of the pandemic, and the vacancies are beginning to pile up. But the Committee recommends that the suspension should continue, arguing that an online election would be unsatisfactory, because virtual hustings would disadvantage lesser-known candidates. This is something of a proxy for the continuing row over the presence of any hereditaries in the Lords, (the legacy of the "Weatherill Amendment" compromise over Lords reform, in the late 1990s) which has produced some unusually sharp debates in the past, and true to form, the Conservative ex-minister Lord Trefgarne has put down a regret motion. Bring popcorn. Tuesday 23 February The Commons meets (11:30) for an hour of Health and Social Care questions. It's an Opposition Day, so the government will normally not make a ministerial statement, unless there's something very urgent to deal with. Then comes a Ten Minute Rule Bill from Conservative Rob Butler. His Youth Courts and Sentencing Bill aims to prevent someone who commits an offence under the age of 18 being tried as an adult, because the matter doesn't come to court until they are over 18. At the moment the system treats defendants according to their age at the time of their first court appearance - which could mean they are not dealt with by specially trained magistrates or judges, or subject to the youth courts' central aim of preventing reoffending. Mr Butler, an ex-JP, says the court delays resulting from the pandemic have made this anomaly even more of a problem. The main debates will be on Labour Opposition Day motions, yet to be announced. The day ends with an adjournment debate on the death of WPC Yvonne Fletcher, who was shot while policing a demonstration outside the Libyan embassy in 1984, led by Conservative Bob Stewart. On the Committee Corridor, Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has a session on firms' Brexit preparedness (10:45). Defence takes evidence from academic experts on China's military ambitions (14:30) and Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (15:15) continues its investigation into the economics of music streaming with witnesses from Amazon, Spotify and Apple. There's also a rare meeting of Parliament's Ecclesiastical Committee (10:00), the body which processes changes in the law dealing with the established Church. The cast includes the bishops of Bristol and Durham and dignitaries from the General Synod. In the Lords (12:00) ministers field questions on providing laptops and tablets to school pupils, and on democracy in Belarus The main event is the consideration of Commons amendments to the Trade Bill, following the (indirect) rejection of the latest incarnation of the anti-genocide "Alton amendment," which had attempted to provide a mechanism for determining whether a state is complicit in genocide, to allow Parliament to consider whether the UK should have a trading relationship with it. MPs did not get the chance to vote directly on the Alton amendment, perhaps reinforcing the determination of Lord Alton and his supporters to press it again. Wednesday 24 February The Commons opens (11:30) with a new fixture, which will remain on the parliamentary calendar until November - questions to Alok Sharma in his new role as President of COP26, the international climate change conference, due to be held in Glasgow in November. So all-embracing is the topic that there could be questions on almost anything, and Mr Sharma may end up referring many of them to other departments. Prime Minister's Question Time at 12:00 is followed by a Ten Minute Rule Bill from Labour's Holly Lynch on regulating the renting of high-performance vehicles. The main legislative action is consideration of Lords Amendments to the Fire Safety Bill, where the fallout of the Grenfell Tower disaster continues. The government is facing pressure to ensure that leaseholders of flats in unsafe tower blocks do not face huge bills for safety work, and excessive insurance premiums. Watch out for the Conservative duo Steve McPartland and Royston Smith, who have been mustering backbench Tories in support an amendment to the bill. Mr McPartland dismissed the solution offered by the Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick, as "all smoke and mirrors," and says he now has 40 supporters on the Conservative benches - enough to defeat the government in a vote. One of the government defeats on this bill in the Lords inserted a clause preventing building owners from passing on the costs of safety work to leaseholders - so there could be resistance to overturning that. But as the experience of the Trade Bill demonstrates, the government's control over what is voted on in this kind of Commons proceeding could make it difficult to bring rebel votes to bear. Next. MPs consider Lords amendments to the Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill, where peers inserted a requirement for regular reports on progress towards universal access to 1 gigabyte-capable broadband. On the Committee Corridor, Home Secretary Priti Patel is before the Home Affairs Committee (10:30) for what promises to be a robust encounter. Committee chair Yvette Cooper has been critical of the operation of pandemic border controls, among other issues. Northern Ireland Affairs (09:30) takes evidence on Brexit and the Northern Ireland Protocol and Treasury (14:30) hears evidence on the February 2021 Monetary Policy Report, with Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey. In the Lords (12:00) question time ranges across progress towards Covid-19 vaccination programme delivery targets and objectives, the relationship between the emergence of pandemics and environmental degradation, and barriers to using the Channel Tunnel for transporting rail freight. Then peers turn to the detail of the (spectacularly uncontroversial) Non-Domestic Rating (Public Lavatories) Bill. Thursday 25 February The Commons opens (09:30) with International Trade questions, followed by the weekly Business Questions to the leader of the House. Then come two debates chosen by the Backbench Business Committee - first on the proposal for a national education route map for schools and colleges in response to the pandemic, and then the annual St David's Day debate on Welsh affairs. In the Lords (12:00) ministers field questions on ensuring all eligible electors prevented from voting by medical advice and restrictions to address Covid-19 can participate in elections on 6 May, and supporting coastal communities to improve the capacity of the fishing sector. Finally, peers polish off the detail and administer a final rubber stamp to the Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Bill.

संसद दो प्रमुख घोषणाओं के साथ फिर से शुरू हो रही है।


Christian Bale: From Dark Knight to Lost Knight

Summary: Terence Malick's latest movie, Knight of Cups, sees Christian Bale play Rick, a Hollywood writer who finds himself spiritually lost and questioning himself at the peak of his success. Recollections of the past are provided by Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett and Freida Pinto, who play women who have been significant in his life.

By Emma JonesEntertainment reporter A three-time Oscar nominee, Malick is famous for his multiple narrations and stream of consciousness film-making, as well as his improvisations on set - so much so that Sean Penn, one of the stars of Malick's 2011 film Tree of Life, confessed he had never been quite sure what he was doing. However, Rick's crisis, and the women he's loved, are as much as Bale got in terms of a script, as according to the actor, "the nice thing about Terry is that he doesn't tell you what it's about, really". Bale, the star of the Dark Knight franchise, as well as earning his own third Oscar nomination this year for financial drama The Big Short, worked with Malick a decade ago on the film The New World, and says they had discussed doing this project for some time. "I think he had a 10-year period of gestating this character," he says. "But I wasn't given a conventional script. I worked on the character a great deal, worked out his back story. "I never had lines to learn, but I would see other actors on set and sometimes they had pages of notes, and I'd try and sneak a look at them. "Terry calls it 'torpedoing' the protagonist. What would happen is that other actors and even non-actors in the film would know to present me with different scenarios and I would just give a real response, based on knowledge of the character. "I had no nerves about improvisation at all. Terry has this motto: 'Start before we're ready and see what happens.' We just discovered what was going on as the film developed." Knight of Cups was made over a few weeks in Los Angeles in 2012, and Natalie Portman, who has a small part in the film, says that she felt "blessed" to have collaborated with Malick before directing her own first film last year, A Tale of Love and Darkness. "Terry just tears up the rules of film-making and throws them away," she says. "He allows you to make mistakes, and what most directors would see as a problem, he just embraces the opportunity. There was no sense of executing a script at all." "Knight of Cups" refers to a parable of a young prince on a quest to find a pearl - but is given a sleeping draught by his subjects, and "forgot that he was the son of a king, forgot about the pearl, and fell into a deep sleep". The film shows, with a dreamlike quality, an endless round of Hollywood meetings and parties, including one over-the-top lavish affair hosted by Antonio Banderas, making a cameo appearance. Rick appears to be sleepwalking through the experience. Bale refers to "a spiritual sense of sleeping" in the film, but doesn't believe it only applies to the entertainment industry. "In the goldfish bowl of Los Angeles, that kind of emptiness is all too obvious," he observes. "But I don't think it's any different from any other walk of life. "It refers to anyone who's seen all the acclaim, knows all the right people, has all the right party invitations - but they can still have a great void within themselves." The actor says he himself is "lucky and fortunate in my family", but in the past has spoken out about the pressures of becoming a child star so young - he was a teenager when his first film, Empire of the Sun, was released in 1987. "You can reach a peak, the top of the mountain," he says. "You realise when you're living it, it's not as you imagined. That's what the film explores and I think a lot of people can relate to that. "There may have been an awful lot of laughs along the way, but there's still a silence when you are left by yourself, wondering, 'is that it?' There's a cycle of good times, but never anything truly joyous at the end. It's not satisfaction or wholeness." After starring as Moses in Ridley Scott's 2014 biblical epic, Exodus: Gods and Kings, Bale says he relates to Malick's "broader brush of spirituality - one with less doctrine, less organisation, something that's innate to every single person and that doesn't need to be taught. "This story is very much about the search for something the character has within himself all along but he's somehow missed and neglected. He's on a quest for something, but he's not sure what it is, even though the world would say, 'you've achieved'." The film's reclusive director, who rarely gives interviews, continues to attract star names to his projects - he has previously worked with Ben Affleck, Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain, and both Bale and Portman have since worked with Malick on the forthcoming Weightless. Bale thinks it's "the guerrilla style of film-making that keeps attracting me to him [Malick]," describing how he would stop to record a narration for Knight of Cups "just on the side of the road, sitting in my pick up truck, just doing it as we went along". "Sometimes he would just hand me a go-pro camera and say 'go into the ocean and shoot a scene' and at the end of the day I would give all the footage back to Terry, and perhaps it would end up in the film. And perhaps it wouldn't. "Ultimately nobody else is doing what he is doing and has his experience. The sense of trust we all have in him is overwhelming." Knight of Cups is released in the UK on 6 May.

टेरेंस मैलिक की नवीनतम फिल्म, नाइट ऑफ कप में क्रिश्चियन बेल को एक हॉलीवुड लेखक रिक की भूमिका निभाते हुए देखा गया है, जो खुद को आध्यात्मिक रूप से खो जाता है और अपनी सफलता के चरम पर खुद पर सवाल उठाता है। अतीत की यादें नताली पोर्टमैन, केट ब्लैंचेट और फ्रीडा पिंटो द्वारा प्रदान की गई हैं, जो उन महिलाओं की भूमिका निभाती हैं जो उनके जीवन में महत्वपूर्ण रही हैं।


Coronavirus lockdown vs fear: What's delaying economic recovery?

Summary: The coronavirus outbreak has been followed by a massive decline in economic activity in many countries, often blamed on the lockdowns aimed at stopping the spread of the disease and limiting the deaths it causes.

By Andrew WalkerBBC World Service economics correspondent In fact, there are two forces at play. Government rules being one, and voluntary action taken by individuals and businesses is the other. If you want to know how quick the recovery will be, you need to know the extent of each. To the extent that it's driven by official restrictions, lifting them would do the trick. But it will take more than that to reverse personal choices and habits. Consumer bounce-back? That would need real progress to be made in reducing the risk of infection. Consumers, workers and employers would also have to be confident in that progress. There is ample survey evidence of a reluctance to go back quickly to the pre-pandemic way of life. IPSOS-Mori found a majority of Britons said they were still uncomfortable about a wide range of activities, including going to a bar or restaurant, large public gatherings, using public toilets or public transport. This may be one reason why some venues that could reopen are choosing not to - although the restrictions they would have to operate under make it harder to earn a profit even if the customers were to return. A substantial amount of what consumers spend is what is called social consumption, where buyers are physically close to each other - eating out, live entertainment and travel, for example. When the virus is circulating those activities expose people to the risk of infection. The Oxford economist Simon Wren-Lewis, who looked at the possible impact of a pandemic more than a decade ago, says the sectors concerned covered more than a third of consumer spending. There is ample anecdotal reporting that as restrictions have eased this social consumption has resumed to a significant degree. Declining cases But is it just because the measures have been eased? The reason they have been eased in many countries is because cases, hospital admissions and deaths have declined. Some people - though not all - will have concluded that it is relatively safe to go out. So that might be the reason that economic activity is picking up. Some economists have tried to disentangle the two elements. There are some strikingly different conclusions about the balance between the two. Research done at the investment bank Goldman Sachs looked at the relationship between stricter lockdown measures and the impact on economic activity. Tougher lockdown measures did correlate with evidence pointing to sharper economic declines, although that research did not separate the contribution from fear of infection. In the US one group from the Universities of Texas, California and Chicago concluded that it was mostly the lockdown. Infection rate They used data from a series of household surveys. They found that spending by the average American household fell by $1,000 between January and April. They came to the view that lockdowns accounted for 60% of the decline in employment and that households under lockdown were spending on average 31% less than others. They concluded "the declines in employment and spending can be largely attributed to lockdowns rather than to the share of the population infected by the coronavirus." But others, looking at different evidence, have come to different conclusions. Two economists at Chicago University looked at mobile phone data on customer visits to more than two million businesses. The fact that different state and county authorities imposed different restrictions gave them a way of estimating how much of the downturn was due to those rules. Denmark and Sweden They found overall a decline in consumer traffic to these businesses of 60%. But their analysis suggested that a little more than a ninth of that was due to legal restrictions. They also found that the extent of the declines was linked to the number of coronavirus deaths in the area. Their overall conclusion: "Individual choices were far more important and seem tied to fears of infection". Others at Copenhagen University used data on bank transactions to compare Denmark and Sweden, which they say were similarly exposed to the pandemic, with only the former imposing significant restrictions. They estimated that total spending fell by 25% in Sweden and by 29% in Denmark. They write: "This implies that most of the economic contraction is caused by the virus itself and occurs regardless of whether governments mandate social distancing or not." Global Trade More from the BBC's series taking an international perspective on trade: All that said, Sweden was one of the few developed countries to manage some economic growth in the first quarter of 2020, albeit just 0.1%. Denmark's economy shrank by 2.1% in that period. In spite of the differences these studies all point to a contribution from both rules and choices that is substantial. To take the Sweden-Demark study - the four percentage-point additional fall in spending attributed to the lockdown in Denmark even on its own would be seen as a substantial downturn. Perhaps we will get a clearer picture as more data emerges with, probably, different patterns of recovery. So far it seems clear that both factors, fear and lockdown, have contributed to the undoubted economic damage.

कोरोनावायरस के प्रकोप के बाद कई देशों में आर्थिक गतिविधियों में भारी गिरावट आई है, जिसे अक्सर बीमारी के प्रसार को रोकने और इससे होने वाली मौतों को सीमित करने के उद्देश्य से किए गए लॉकडाउन के लिए दोषी ठहराया जाता है।


Coronavirus: The silent streets of Edinburgh

Summary: Edinburgh has fallen silent amid the nationwide lockdown designed to reduce the spread of Covid-19.

Normally bustling Princes Street is nearly empty and only grocery stores and chemists are open. For the few pedestrians about, there are new signs urging them to stay home and others celebrating NHS staff. BBC Scotland's Christopher Bobyn spent an afternoon documenting the city's eerie new landscape.

कोविड-19 के प्रसार को कम करने के लिए बनाए गए राष्ट्रव्यापी लॉकडाउन के बीच एडिनबर्ग चुप हो गया है।


Coronavirus doctor's diary: 'Have I got Covid for a second time?'

Summary: Dr John Wright of Bradford Royal Infirmary had tests in the summer which implied that he probably had Covid without symptoms early in the pandemic. But last week he had a swab test that came back positive. So were those earlier test results misleading, or has he now had it twice?

Last weekend I was due to visit my 89-year-old dad. I had seen him only once this year, during the summer lull, and we were both excited to be reunited. He had a heart attack during the first wave of the pandemic and is now about to have cancer surgery during the second wave, so my visit was a precious one. The omnipresent virus, however, had other plans. All NHS front-line workers now self-test for Covid-19 twice weekly, to screen for asymptomatic infection. So on Thursday evening, the day before my visit, I undertook the self-testing ritual - scraping the delicate swab at the back of my throat to elicit a gag reflex, then twiddling it high up in each nostril, dissolving it in buffer solution and then anointing the lateral flow kit. A hollow emptiness grew as the positive line grew stronger. I didn't believe it. In denial, I quickly repeated the test - but with the same result. The next morning I had my PCR swab and at 04:50 on the Saturday was notified that this too was positive. The visit to my dad was now definitely off and I began a 10-day isolation, together with my wife, Helen. Also a front-line medic, Helen had been vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine on Thursday, at almost exactly the same time as my two positive self-test results. Immunity with the Pfizer vaccine takes off reasonably quickly, with some protection occurring by day 12 after the first dose, but the full immune effect isn't felt until a week after the second dose. So here we are: I have the SARS-CoV-2 virus and she has the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine - disease and cure, villain and hero, yin and yang living under one roof. But she still needs to isolate as she could be infected by me before her immunity builds up. One reason my result was such a surprise was that I thought I had already had Covid-19. Having worked at the hospital during the first wave, when the virus was circulating at such high levels, it seemed unlikely that I could have avoided it. Many of my colleagues fell ill with Covid-19 in those early weeks, some of them seriously, so I assumed that I had just dodged the bullet and had the virus without symptoms, which is not unusual. At that stage we had no way of testing for infection. Later, when antibody testing became available as a way of revealing a historic infection, I had a positive test result. That positive result was admittedly followed by two negative antibody test results, but this could have been due to the fact that Covid antibodies fade quite quickly. When I had a T-cell test and it came back positive, that seemed to clinch it. I had been exposed to the virus, I had had a positive antibody test and a positive T-cell test; it seemed likely that I had had Covid-19, and I felt reassured by this. A number of my colleagues who had negative antibody tests and hadn't been fortunate enough to have a T-cell test, remained nervous about the inevitable risk. But now I definitely have Covid-19. On top of the PCR test, I have symptoms, including anosmia (loss of smell). So have I had it twice in nine months? Front-line diary Prof John Wright, a doctor and epidemiologist, is head of the Bradford Institute for Health Research, and a veteran of cholera, HIV and Ebola epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa. He is writing this diary for BBC News and recording from the hospital wards for BBC Radio. Cases of people having Covid-19 twice appear to be rare. The first confirmed case was recorded in August, when a patient in Hong Kong tested positive for a second time. Since then, a Dutch news agency has counted only 27 other cases of reinfection from Qatar to Brazil. Although it's likely that many cases have gone unrecorded this is an extremely small number, which tends to suggest it doesn't happen often. My first instinct was therefore to conclude that I didn't actually have Covid in spring and that my first antibody test was a false positive. To seek advice, I rang my colleague Prof Paul Klenerman, from the University of Oxford, who is leading one of the major national immunity studies on Covid-19. It was as part of his research that I had one of my two subsequent negative antibody tests and my positive T-cell test in June. "It's really interesting," he explained. "Your antibody results were negative but they could have faded naturally by the time we tested you. However your memory T-cell assay was very suggestive of SARS-CoV-2 infection." I had begun to wonder whether the T-Cell test was in fact registering my immune system's memory of infection by a different coronavirus, perhaps the common cold, but Prof Klenerman thought it was too early to draw this conclusion. He emphasises that we don't yet know how long immune protection will last, either for those who have had Covid-19 or those who have had the vaccine. His research should fill in the gaps. In my case, Prof Klenerman and his team will arrange for follow-up testing, to investigate further. If I have been reinfected, one possibility is that I have picked up the new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus circulating in the UK, the "escape mutation" that we have heard about in the last few days. I quite like the idea of being a scientific curiosity and I will keep you posted if the answer becomes clear. Let me take you back to my unexpected positive self-test. There is much debate in the medical journals about the evidence for rapid, asymptomatic, mass testing. If a negative test provides false reassurance it could have unintended consequences, as was pointed out in an opinion piece in the British Medical Journal, describing the programme as a "costly, underdesigned, under-evaluated mess". As an epidemiologist I shared some of this scepticism and thought the £100bn bill seemed excessive. However, this week it may well have saved my dad's life. And now that he has had the vaccine, my visit to see him may be back on - if restrictions on travel and mixing permit it - early in the New Year. Follow @docjohnwright and radio producer @SueM1tchell on Twitter

ब्रैडफोर्ड रॉयल इन्फर्मरी के डॉ. जॉन राइट का गर्मियों में परीक्षण हुआ था, जिसमें कहा गया था कि उन्हें शायद महामारी की शुरुआत में बिना लक्षणों के कोविड था। लेकिन पिछले हफ्ते उनका एक स्वाब परीक्षण किया गया था जो सकारात्मक आया था। तो क्या पहले के परीक्षण के परिणाम भ्रामक थे, या अब उन्हें दो बार हुआ है?


Welsh Assembly election: Conservative devolution vision

Summary: The electoral statistics suggest the Conservatives have enjoyed a significant if gradual improvement in fortunes since 1999 - but the numbers only tell part of what has been a sometimes bumpy and often colourful journey back to the front line of Welsh politics.

By Tomos LivingstoneAssistant political editor, Wales Having opposed devolution in 1997 and having lost every one of their Welsh MPs in that year's general election, expectations were low for the Conservatives in the first devolved elections two years later. The party won nine of the 60 seats - a modest total, but a platform from which to rebuild. The group was led by former MP and Welsh Office Minister Rod Richards, whose pugnacious style enlivened the assembly's early proceedings. But Mr Richards stepped down as leader after being accused of assaulting a young woman. Subsequently cleared, he stood down as an AM in 2002. His successor, law professor Nick Bourne - these days a peer and UK government minister - set about healing the rifts caused by the devolution referendum. He saw little point in retaining the party's anti-devolution stance, gradually moving the party (despite some internal resistance) to the position it now holds - in favour of a Welsh parliament with the fiscal powers to reduce taxes and boost enterprise. So committed was Mr Bourne to his project that he came within a whisker of leading the Conservatives into government in Cardiff Bay in 2007. Having increased the party's share of the seats to 11 in the 2003 election, the Tories went one better four years later, winning 12. A three-way coalition with Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats was on the cards - years of behind-the-scenes work meant a joint programme for government was put together relatively easily. But reluctance in the other two parties meant the grand plans eventually came to nothing. There was a silver lining - Plaid Cymru's decision to form a coalition with Labour instead meant the Conservatives cemented their position as the main opposition party in Cardiff Bay and, with the party's fortunes reviving across the UK, the 2011 assembly election saw the Conservatives win 14 seats, overtaking Plaid as the second largest party. The gains came at a cost, as Mr Bourne lost his seat on the regional list for Mid and West Wales. The subsequent leadership contest saw Andrew RT Davies defeat Nick Ramsay; Mr Davies continued Mr Bourne's direction of pushing for greater devolution as a means of implementing a Conservative vision for the economy and public services, albeit in a larger-than-life style than that favoured by his predecessor. Having enjoyed some success in highlighting perceived failures in Welsh Labour's record on the NHS, and making dramatic gains in last year's general election, the Welsh Conservatives are hoping for further gains in May. But with relations with Plaid Cymru having cooled considerably since 2007, it seems that getting into government will remain a tall order.

चुनावी आंकड़ों से पता चलता है कि कंज़र्वेटिव ने 1999 के बाद से भाग्य में एक महत्वपूर्ण अगर क्रमिक सुधार का आनंद लिया है-लेकिन संख्या केवल वेल्श राजनीति की अग्रिम पंक्ति में कभी-कभी ऊबड़-खाबड़ और अक्सर रंगीन यात्रा का हिस्सा बताती है।


Builder denies Buntingford new-homes digger destruction

Summary: A builder has denied ripping apart five new-build homes with a digger causing £4m of damage.

Daniel Neagu, 30, of Athelstone Road in Harrow, north-west London pleaded not guilty at St Albans Crown Court of causing criminal damage. He is accused of damaging homes at the McCarthy & Stone retirement home complex in Ermine Street, Buntingford in Hertfordshire on 11 August. Mr Neagu was remanded in custody ahead of a trial next February.

एक बिल्डर ने इस बात से इनकार किया है कि पांच नए-निर्मित घरों को एक खुदाई से 4 मिलियन पाउंड का नुकसान हुआ है।


Improvement notice for oil firm over offshore injury

Summary: An oil firm has been served with an improvement notice after a worker suffered a serious injury on a North Sea oil platform.

The incident happened on the Alba Northern installation on 6 May during lifting operations. It is claimed operator Chevron failed to ensure that lifting operations on the platform were properly planned and carried out in a safe manner. Chevron said it would work with the Health and Safety Executive. It said it would implement the recommendation "in a constructive and timely manner". The oil giant added: "We have created and defined agreed work scopes which address the areas covered within the recent notice and will continue to communicate our progress to the HSE until the matter has been resolved." The Alba field lies about 130 miles (210km) north east of Aberdeen.

उत्तरी सागर के तेल प्लेटफॉर्म पर एक कर्मचारी के गंभीर रूप से घायल होने के बाद एक तेल कंपनी को सुधार नोटिस दिया गया है।


Arrest after car drives into people outside Cardiff bar

Summary: A 27-year-old man has been arrested after a car was driven into a crowd of people outside a bar in Cardiff, injuring a man.

The arrested man from the Ely area of Cardiff was held at Gatwick Airport and is being transferred to Cardiff for questioning. The incident happened outside the Miss Jones bar in the Whitchurch area of the city in the early hours Saturday. As a result of the incident, a 34-year-old man suffered a serious leg injury. He is recovering at home following surgery at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff.

कार्डिफ में एक बार के बाहर लोगों की भीड़ में एक कार घुसने के बाद एक 27 वर्षीय व्यक्ति को गिरफ्तार किया गया है, जिसमें एक व्यक्ति घायल हो गया है।


Fly-tipping cases 'doubled' in Gloucestershire woods

Summary: A wildlife trust says fly-tipping cases in Gloucestershire woods and nature reserves have doubled in the past year.

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust (GWT) also said it has seen a significant rise in vandalism on its land. A spokesman said people who have camped on its nature reserves have chopped down trees, smashed glass and set tents on fire and left them behind. Forest of Dean District Council says it has seen a 22% rise in fly-tipping since 2011. A spokesman said: "It's a shame that a small number of people decide to spoil the enjoyment of the countryside for others by dumping rubbish." The authority said it is investigating every case that is reported.

एक वन्यजीव ट्रस्ट का कहना है कि पिछले एक साल में ग्लूस्टरशायर के जंगलों और प्रकृति भंडारों में उड़ान भरने के मामले दोगुने हो गए हैं।


Graduate tax: Who stands where?

Summary: The Business Secretary Vince Cable has said a variable graduate tax, with higher earners paying higher rates, could be a fairer way for students to help fund their university education. What do university bodies, staff and unions think of the idea?

National Union of Students The NUS sees the graduate tax proposal as a milestone in a lengthy campaign by students to ensure fairer university funding. The current system of top-up fees is regressive, it says, because top earners pay the same rate as those on lower incomes. Graduate contributions should be based on actual earnings in the real world, the union says. NUS president Aaron Porter said: "A graduate tax is preferable to a market-based system of fees. We are keen to work with the government. If there are more tuition fee rises there could be a seismic backlash. Further detail of this plan is crucial to ensure that the system truly is a progressive alternative and not simply tuition fees by another name. Students and their families are not fools and will not be conned by rebranding exercises or marketing drives. A progressive graduate tax would be a signal of a just society, where people who benefit more pay more. University and College Union The union says the key test for students and their parents will be whether or not graduate debt goes up. It says the government should not rebrand student debt as a graduate tax and expect students to pick up the bill for its "punitive cuts agenda". The UCU has called for business to pay its fair share towards higher education by raising corporation tax to the G7 average. It is concerned about government plans for the future of university funding. UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said: "We were a little concerned to hear that Vince Cable was only now asking Lord Browne to look at graduate tax ideas. It certainly raises the worrying question of exactly what the review has been doing up until now." UCU is the largest union for lecturers and other academic staff in the UK. Russell Group of UK universities The group does not agree that a pure graduate tax would be a better or a fairer system. Graduates, employers and society all benefit from higher education, it says, but taxpayers currently foot the lion's share of the bill and that is unsustainable. The group says graduates should contribute more because they benefit significantly. It sees the current system as similar to a graduate tax, with no up-front payment by students and graduates only paying back a small fraction of their income when their earnings exceed £15,000. The current system has all the positive features of a graduate tax without the downsides, it says. Director general of the Russell Group Wendy Piatt said: "We are particularly concerned that it would be many years before revenue from a graduate tax becomes available, so until then there would be a requirement for a very major up-front investment in universities by government - a very costly solution." The Russell Group represents 20 of the UK's research-intensive universities, many of them older institutions including Oxford and Cambridge. Universities UK The body says because graduates benefit personally from their degrees, it is right that they make a direct contribution to the costs of study. Its submission to Lord Browne's review argued that the current tuition fee and loan system could more accurately be described as a "graduate contribution". It could be made more progressive, it says, with reforms such as charging a real rate of interest on student loans, which would reduce the taxpayer subsidy for higher earners. President of Universities UK Professor Steve Smith said: "With proposals for 'variable graduate contributions tied to earnings', the sector would want assurances that proceeds from such a system would be re-distributed to universities". Any changes to the system would have to promote student choice, secure the quality of the student experience and maintain the reputation of the higher education system, the group says. Universities UK is made up of more than 100 executive heads of UK higher education institutions. 1994 Group The 1994 Group says it wants to see a sensible and robust system of funding based on a "transparent, simple and fair system of graduate contributions tied directly to the education received". This should provide a long-term sustainable environment to ensure that UK's world-class universities can continue to deliver a very high quality academic experience to all students and meet business needs, it says. The group's chief executive director Paul Marshall said: "It is crucial that all students with the ability to go to university are able to access the top universities." The 1994 Group is made up of 19 research-intensive universities, including Exeter, East Anglia, St Andrews and Reading. University think tank Million Million+ say the most important challenge facing the secretary of state is ensuring that students and graduates "do not pay the price of cuts to universities". Chairman Les Ebdon said: "Regardless of whether the current system of graduate contributions is reformed or a graduate tax introduced, Vince Cable gave every indication that graduates would pay more. This has to be squared with the coalition government's commitment to social mobility. "A graduate tax may satisfy the left hand of the coalition and his proposals to introduce private providers may suit the right hand but the real question is what happens to people of all ages who want to study at university if student numbers are cut." Million+ is a think tank which grew out of an organisation for new universities. Pro vice-chancellor of Roehampton University Chris Cobb "Generally I welcome the introduction of a 'graduate contribution' as it is a more progressive approach than loan and is less off-putting to applicants. However, I'm still not certain whether it is intended to simply replace the tuition fee income or whether it will additionally replace the Hefce block grant which is currently resourced through general taxation. In other words: where will the balance of funding fall between state and student? "Also, does this spell the end of a market for domestic undergraduate students and variability of pricing - or will universities be able to charge fees in addition? If universities are restricted from charging fees thenwill some elite institutions question whether they should remain in the state sector?" Shadow universities minister David Lammy "This a PR exercise from a man whose party have just completed the biggest U-turn in their history. At the last election, and for the last decade, the Liberal Democrats have opposed any graduate contribution as an article of faith. Now they are in favour of an unlimited graduate contribution paid over the course of a life-time. "He's trying to pacify his party's MPs and membership and prepare the ground for them to accept higher fees."

व्यापार सचिव विंस केबल ने कहा है कि एक परिवर्तनीय स्नातक कर, जिसमें अधिक कमाई करने वाले उच्च दरों का भुगतान करते हैं, छात्रों के लिए अपनी विश्वविद्यालय शिक्षा के लिए धन जुटाने में मदद करने का एक बेहतर तरीका हो सकता है। विश्वविद्यालय निकाय, कर्मचारी और संघ इस विचार के बारे में क्या सोचते हैं?


What we've learnt about Africa, freedom and security

Summary: Africans are willing to give up their freedom to move around where they like and say what they think, and are willing to be watched if it means they get more security, according to a survey by research group Afrobarometer. Here are five of the key findings:

1. Many Africans are willing to trade freedom for security Afrobarometer suggests that giving an option of either freedom or security is a strategyused by governments to persuade people to accept restrictions on freedom. And, the survey suggests, it has proven a powerful argument - as more and more people are prepared to trade freedom to move where they like for a safer country. The majority of those surveyed - 62% - are willing to accept curfews and roadblocks in the interests of greater security. This is illustrated most starkly in Madagascar. Some 83% of those surveyed agreed with the statement "When faced with threats to public security, the government should be able to impose curfews and set up special roadblocks to prevent people from moving around". The motivation for answering this way, the research argues, may be because the country is "still trying to emerge from years of political turmoil and instability". 2. Fewer Africans feel free to say what they think In nearly all the countries surveyed, there has been a decline in the number of people who feel they can say what they think. Roughly two-thirds (68%) of those surveyed said that people must "often" or "always" be careful of what they say about politics. The country where there has been the biggest rise in cautiousness is Mali which, the research explains, has been in political crisis since a 2012 coup and an Islamist takeover of the north. The research also picks out Zambia and Tanzania as two countries where there has been a significant decline in the number of people who say they are free to say what they think. These two countries, the research explains, are "watched due to increasingly authoritarian behaviour by their current governments". 3. A significant number of Africans are willing to allow their private communications to be monitored Some 43% of those surveyed are willing to accept government monitoring in the interests of security. Mali stood out. Some 75% of those surveyed in Mali agreed with the statement that the government should be able to monitor private communications, for example on mobile phones, to make sure that people are not plotting violence. The research suggests that "violent extremists... may be taking a toll on popular commitment to individual liberties and civil rights". 4. Fewer Africans care about the right to join groups The survey reveals a decline in support for "the right to associate freely". This is the right to form and be part of a trade union, a political party or any another association or voluntary group. Or, to put it another way, the context needed in order to start a protest group, such as those which have recently ousted long-time authoritarian leaders in Sudan and Algeria. Some 61% of people surveyed agreed with the statement that "We should be able to join any organisation whether or not the government approves of it". That is a "modest" decline in support for freedom of association - from 66% a decade ago across 20 countries. But Zimbabwe saw a "significant" decline in support for the freedom of association. Since taking office in 2017, President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government has cracked down hard on protesters, especially in the main cities, who are opposed to his austerity policies. However, people in Zimbabwe, and its neighbours South Africa and Mozambique, were generally less supportive of trading freedom for security than residents of the other countries surveyed. 5. Support for religious freedom is evenly divided People are evenly divided on freedom of religious speech, with 49% backing complete freedom and 47% willing to tolerate government limits on religious speech. The lowest levels of support for freedom of religious speech were in Tunisia and Mali. More than 70% of people surveyed in these two countries agreed with the statement that "government should have the power to regulate what is said in places of worship, especially if preachers or congregants threaten public security". The research notes that these are both Muslim-majority countries that have been attacked by extremists - another example, perhaps, of people choosing security over freedom. More about the survey

अफ्रीकी लोग अपनी पसंद के स्थान पर घूमने और जो वे सोचते हैं उसे कहने की अपनी स्वतंत्रता को छोड़ने के लिए तैयार हैं, और यदि इसका मतलब है कि उन्हें अधिक सुरक्षा मिलती है, तो वे देखने के लिए तैयार हैं, शोध समूह एफ्रोबैरोमीटर के एक सर्वेक्षण के अनुसार। यहाँ पाँच प्रमुख निष्कर्ष दिए गए हैंः


Eden's decade in the spotlight

Summary: The Eden Project is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

The site was originally a china clay pit called Bodelva near St Blazey in mid-Cornwall. It was 160 years old and its resources had been exhausted. A few miles down the road at the former Cornwall home of the Tremayne family, now internationally known as the Lost Gardens of Heligan, Tim Smit was coming up with a plan that would make the dormant pit world famous. The idea was established as one of the Landmark Millennium Projects to mark the year 2000. But in the first two months of construction, building work was hampered by constant rainfall. More than 40 million gallons of rain water drained into the pit. This early incident prompted the engineers to come up with a subterranean drainage system. It now collects all the water coming on to the site and uses it to irrigate plants. The centre-piece of Tim Smit's dream were the biomes. You could fit the Tower of London in the Rainforest Biome. The biomes were built using hundreds of hexagonal and pentagonal, inflated, plastic cells supported by steel frames. The biomes entered the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest conservatories in the world. With the help of students from Reading University Eden made more than 83,000 tonnes of soil for the thousands of tropical plants held in and around the biomes. The Eden Project Visitor Centre opened to the public in May 2000, showing how Tim Smit's dream was becoming a reality. In March 2001 the full site opened for the first time. In the same year Brit-Pop band Pulp played the first ever Eden Sessions. Over the years several bands have used the biomes as their unique backdrop including Oasis, Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse. The Eden Project hosted the 'Africa Calling' concert of the Live 8 musical fundraiser on 2 July 2005. It was also used as a filming location for the 2002 James Bond film, Die Another Day. In December 2010 the Eden Project received permission to build a Geothermal electricity plant which will generate enough power for Eden and about 5000 households. In the last ten years 13m people have visited the Cornish attraction. When asked about the next ten years, founder Tim Smit, who received an honorary knighthood in January, said: "Eden should simply create constant memorable moments that inspire others to have the confidence to make their own."

ईडन परियोजना अपनी 10वीं वर्षगांठ मना रही है।


Jailed British Ahmadi Masood Ahmad in Pakistan blasphemy appeal

Summary: A British man of the minority Ahmadi sect is appealing to the UK for help after being jailed in Pakistan on blasphemy charges. Human rights activists say laws in Pakistan, where Ahmadis are considered heretics, are being increasingly used to persecute the community, as the BBC's Saba Eitizaz reports.

It was a home video that turned a man viewed as the old neighbourhood doctor into a prisoner without bail. Masood Ahmad shuffles through the dank prison corridor, smiling when he greets me. He looks weak and speaks little. And he worries - but not for his freedom. "I just want you to tell my children that I am fine. It grieves me more that they must be so worried." He asks me to convey this message to his seven children living in Britain and Australia. Last month Mr Ahmad, 72, was arrested at his homeopathic clinic in Lahore on blasphemy charges. Two people posing as patients came to him for treatment and had a conversation about religion instead. They used mobile phones to secretly film him reciting a verse from the Koran, and then called the police to have him arrested. The homeopathy practitioner belongs to the Ahmadi minority sect that a large number of Pakistanis view with suspicion because of a law declaring them to be non-Muslims. Ahmadis, whose holy book is also the Koran, believe their own founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was a prophet, which most Muslims say contradicts mainstream Islamic teaching. Ahmadis can be jailed for up to three years in Pakistan for "behaving like Muslims", having Muslim names or using Islamic terms for their places of worship or religious rituals. Human rights activists say the law is now being used to push the Ahmadi community into a legal corner by right-wing religious groups in Pakistan. They are also open targets for sectarian violence by extremists. "When you formalise persecution of minorities, you should expect extremist elements to take advantage of that, because that is what they thrive on," says human rights lawyer Asma Jehangir, who has raised the issue at several international forums. Masood Ahmad says he felt "marked" even before he was picked up. "Somebody had painted a black mark on my car and outside my house a few weeks before I was arrested, so I knew I was being watched." He still did not see his arrest coming. After all, he had lived in the old neighbourhood of Anarkali since the late 1980s and had close ties with the community. He is a Pakistani-British dual national who says he returned with a desire to raise his children with Pakistani values and to help people through his medicine. According to police sources, almost 10 of his neighbours gave eyewitness testimony against him for preaching his faith. He tells me that many of them also came to see him in jail, concerned for his wellbeing. "I do not partake in religious debate. I am a doctor, a professional," he says. The official complaint registered is in the name of a local cleric who refused to speak to the BBC - but the phone number on it was traced to an activist called Mohammad Hasan Moawwiya, whose name appears in several similar cases against Ahmadis. He is associated with an emerging group called The Khattam-e-Nabuwwat Lawyer's Forum - an extended legal wing of Khattam-e-Nabuwwat - a right-wing religious group that has also been associated with distributing hate literature and actively campaigning against the Ahmadiyya community in the past. Mr Moawwiya says it is his legal and constitutional right to do so. "After the law of 1984 was made, it doesn't mean that it should be neglected, it should be implemented actively," he says. "They [Ahmadis] should name their religion and names as separate to us Muslims, otherwise it's a violation and we are allowed by the law of the country to carry on our work." However, huge mobs were reported outside the police station when Mr Ahmad was arrested, chanting "Be Qadri! Be Qadri!" This was a reference to Mumtaz Qadri, the bodyguard of former Punjab Governor Salman Taseer who he killed for speaking out against the blasphemy laws in 2011. He is currently in jail but revered by many. "The danger is not inside jail, the danger to me is outside," says Mr Ahmad, who is being kept under tight security in Lahore's District Jail. The same angry crowds are seen at every court hearing and Mr Ahmad fears the judges may feel pressurised while reaching a verdict. His lawyers have applied for bail twice, due to his old age and illness - but their attempts have failed. The court has cited "insufficient grounds for bail". Mr Ahmed is now appealing to the British High Commission. "Have I killed or robbed anyone? I request the British government to help me ensure a fair trial. That is all I ask." His daughter in Australia, Sophia Ahmad, says she is corresponding with the British High Commission and international legal charities to help her father. "He is recovering from cancer, he is sick and needs medication. We are very worried for him," she told the BBC in Skype conversation. According to Ahmadi groups, more than 20 cases have been registered against Ahmadis this year alone. Many others remain in jail. Another member of the community, Faisal, is still waiting for his 60-year-old father's release after he was jailed earlier this year for reading an Ahmadi newspaper. The complaint was filed by Mohammad Hasan Moawwiya. Faisal prays for his father at the Ahmadi mosque in Lahore that was violently attacked by militants with grenades and guns in 2010, killing more than 80 people. Two of the gunmen arrested at the scene have still not been convicted. The mosque now resembles an army barracks, with concrete blockades and volunteers from the community patrolling the area at Friday prayer time, shotguns and walkie-talkies at their sides, in order to protect worshippers. Close by is the Ahmadi graveyard, but you cannot tell from the outside. High walls and barbed wire are all you can see, as well as a sniper on the rooftop. Earlier this year, the entire western portion of the graveyard was destroyed by gunmen who broke through the walls, demolishing many gravestones. Now a fortress has been built to protect the Ahmadi dead. Meanwhile, Masood Ahmad waits for his verdict. "I used to read about minorities being targeted in the newspapers," he says. "Now I'm in the news."

अल्पसंख्यक अहमदी संप्रदाय का एक ब्रिटिश व्यक्ति ईशनिंदा के आरोप में पाकिस्तान में जेल जाने के बाद ब्रिटेन से मदद की अपील कर रहा है। मानवाधिकार कार्यकर्ताओं का कहना है कि पाकिस्तान में कानून, जहां अहमदियों को विधर्मी माना जाता है, का उपयोग समुदाय को प्रताड़ित करने के लिए किया जा रहा है, जैसा कि बीबीसी की सबा एतज़ाज़ रिपोर्ट करती है।


How Narendra Modi has reinvented Indian politics

Summary: Narendra Modi has scored a resounding victory in the Indian general election, securing a second five-year term. The BBC's Soutik Biswas looks at the main takeaways.

Soutik BiswasIndia correspondent 1. The second landside is all about Narendra Modi India's polarising prime minister made this an election all about himself. He should have faced some anti-incumbency. Joblessness has risen to a record high, farm incomes have plummeted and industrial production has slumped. Many Indians were hit hard by the currency ban (also known as demonetisation), which was designed to flush out undeclared wealth, and there were complaints about what critics said was a poorly-designed and complicated uniform sales tax. The results prove that people are not yet blaming Mr Modi for this. On the stump, the prime minister repeatedly told people that he needed more than five years to undo more than "60 years of mismanagement". Voters agreed to give him more time. Many Indians seem to believe that Mr Modi is a kind of messiah who will solve all their problems. A survey by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), a Delhi-based think tank, a third of BJP voters said they would have supported another party if Mr Modi was not the prime ministerial candidate. "This tells you how much this vote was for Mr Modi, more than the BJP. This election was all about Mr Modi's leadership above all else," Milan Vaishnav, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, told me. In a sense, Mr Modi's second successive landslide win echoes Ronald Reagan's abiding popularity as US president in the 1980s, when he somehow escaped blame for his country's economic woes. Reagan was called the Great Communicator and for being a "teflon" president whose mistakes never stuck to him. Mr Modi enjoys a similar reputation. Many say Mr Modi has made India's elections more presidential. But strong prime ministers have often overshadowed their parties - Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and Indira Gandhi are some obvious examples. "There is no question that Mr Modi is the most popular politician in India since Indira Gandhi. He is peerless when it comes to the national stage at the present," says Dr Vaishnav. The 2014 win was partly a vote in anger against the corruption-tainted Congress party. Thursday's win is an affirmation for Mr Modi. He has become the first leader since 1971 to secure a single party majority twice in a row. "This is a victory for Modi and his vision of a new India," says Mahesh Rangarajan, a professor of history at Ashoka University. 2. A cocktail of development and nationalism worked A combination of nationalist rhetoric, subtle religious polarisation and a slew of welfare programmes helped Mr Modi to coast to a second successive win. In a bitter and divisive campaign, Mr Modi effortlessly fused nationalism and development. He created binaries: the nationalists (his supporters) versus the anti-nationals (his political rivals and critics); the watchman (Modi himself, protecting the country on "land, air, and outer space") versus the entitled and the corrupt (an obvious dig at the main opposition Congress party). Aligned to this, deftly, was the promise of development. Mr Modi's targeted welfare schemes for the poor - homes, toilets, credit, cooking gas - have used technology for speedy delivery. However, the quality of these services and how much they have helped ameliorate deprivation is debatable. Mr Modi also mined national security and foreign policy as vote-getters in a manner never seen in a general election in recent history. After a suicide attack - claimed by Pakistan-based militants - which killed more than 40 Indian paramilitaries in disputed Kashmir and the retaliatory air strike against Pakistan in the run-up to the election, Mr Modi successfully convinced the masses that the country would be secure if he remained in power. People having no obvious interest in foreign policy - farmers, traders, labourers - told us during our campaign travels that India had won the respect of the outside world under Mr Modi. "It is all right if there's little development, but Modi is keeping the nation secure and keeping India's head high," a voter in the eastern city of Kolkata told me. 3. Modi's win signals a major shift in politics Mr Modi's persona has become larger than his cadre-based party, and a symbol of hope and aspiration for many. Under Mr Modi and his powerful aide Amit Shah, the BJP has developed into a ruthless party machine. "The geographical expansion of the BJP is a very significant development," says Mahesh Rangarajan. Traditionally, the BJP has found its strongest support in India's populous Hindi-speaking states in the north. (Of the 282 seats the party won in 2014, 193 came from these states.) The exceptions are Gujarat, Mr Modi's home state and a BJP bastion, and Maharashtra, where the BJP has governed in alliance with a local party. But since Mr Modi became PM, the BJP has formed governments in key north-eastern states like Assam and Tripura, which are primarily Assamese and Bengali-speaking. And in this election, the BJP - where it contested more seats than the Congress - has emerged as a force to reckon with in non-Hindi speaking states like Orissa and West Bengal in the east. The party's modest presence in southern India still doesn't make it a truly pan-Indian party like the Congress of yore, but the BJP is moving towards it. Twenty years ago when it was in power under Atal Behari Vajpayee, the BJP seemed content being the first among equals - the largest party in a group of parties which tried to run a stable government. Under Mr Modi, the BJP commands an overwhelming majority in parliament as the first party, and there are no equals. He and Amit Shah have adopted an aggressive take-no-prisoners style of politics. The party is not a seasonal machine that comes alive during elections. It appears to be in permanent political campaign mode. Political scientist Suhas Palshikar believes India could be moving towards a one-party dominant state like the Congress in the past. He calls it the "second dominant party system", with the BJP leading the pack, and the main opposition Congress remaining "weak and nominal" and the regional parties losing ground. 4. Nationalism and yearning for a strongman played a key role Mr Modi's strident nationalism as a main campaign plank seems to have overruled the more pressing economic problems facing voters. Some analysts believe that under Mr Modi, India could be inching towards a more "ethnic democracy", which requires the "mobilisation of the majority in order to preserve the ethnic nation". This would look more like Israel which sociologist Sammy Smooha characterised as a state that "endeavours to combine an ethnic identity (Jewish) and a parliamentary system drawing its inspiration from Western Europe". Will Hindu nationalism become the default mode of Indian politics and society? It will not be easy - India thrives on diversity. Hinduism is a diverse faith. Social and linguistic differences hold India together. Democracy is an additional glue. The BJP's strand of strident Hindu nationalism, conflating Hinduism and patriotism, may not appeal to all Indians. "There's no other place in the world where diversity is so spectral and a drive to homogenise so fraught," says Prof Rangarajan. Also India's shift to the right is not unique to India - it's happening with the new right in the Republican Party in the US, and the central ground of French and German politics has shifted rightwards. India's rightward shift is clearly part of a wider trend where the nature of nationalism is being redefined and cultural identity is being given renewed emphasis. How valid are fears that India is sliding into a majoritarian state under Mr Modi? He is not the first leader to be called a fascist and authoritarian by his critics; Mrs Gandhi was called both when she suspended civil liberties and imposed the Emergency in the mid-1970s. People voted her out after two years. Mr Modi is a strongman, and people possibly love him for that. A 2017 report by the CSDS showed that respondents who supported democracy in India had dropped from 70% to 63% between 2005 and 2017. A Pew report in 2017 found that 55% of respondents backed a "governing system in which a strong leader can make decisions without interference from parliament or the courts". But the yearning for a strongman is not unique to India. Look at Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Hungary's Viktor Orban, Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro or Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines. 5. India's Grand Old Party faces an existential crisis The Congress has suffered a second successive drubbing but for now is likely to remain the second largest party nationally. But it's way behind the BJP and is facing a major crisis: the shrinking of its geographical space. In Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal, India's most populous region, the party is virtually non-existent. The party is invisible in southern states like Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In the industrially developed west of India, the party last won a state election in Gujarat in 1990, and hasn't been in power in Maharashtra since Mr Modi became PM. Several questions are going to be asked after a second successive general election debacle. How can the party become more acceptable to more allies? How will the party be run? How does the party reduce its dependence on the Gandhi dynasty and open itself to younger leaders? (The Congress is still a party of second and third generation leaders in several states.) How does Congress build a grassroots network of workers to take on the BJP? "The Congress will likely muddle along, as it has in the last several election cycles. It is not a party known for deep introspection. But there are enough two-party states in India where the Congress is at odds with the BJP to create a floor for the Congress," says Milan Vaishnav. Political scientist Yogendra Yadav, who's also a politician these days, believes the Congress has outlived its utility and "must die". But parties are capable of reinvention and renewal. Only the future will tell whether the Congress can rebuild itself from the ruins. 6. A mixed future for India's regional parties In the bellwether state of Uttar Pradesh, which sends more MPs to parliament than any other, the BJP is looking at a repeat of its stunning 2014 performance when it won 71 of 80 seats. It is one of India's most socially divided and economically disadvantaged states. This time, Mr Modi's party was expected to face stiff competition from a formidable alliance of powerful regional parties, the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, which was aptly named the "mahagatbandhan" or grand alliance. Mr Modi's charisma and chemistry appear to have triumphed over the hard-nosed "social arithmetic" forged by these two regional parties who have always counted on the faithful votes of a section of lower caste Indians and untouchables (formerly known as Dalits). That faith is now broken, and it also proves that caste arithmetic is not immutable. India's regional parties must now rethink their strategies and offer a more compelling economic and social vision. Otherwise, more and more of their own voters will abandon them. Read more from Soutik Biswas Follow Soutik on Twitter at @soutikBBC

नरेंद्र मोदी ने भारतीय आम चुनाव में शानदार जीत हासिल की है और दूसरा पांच साल का कार्यकाल हासिल किया है। बीबीसी के सौतिक विश्वास मुख्य निष्कर्षों को देखते हैं।