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[ हिंदी ] Before Supreme Court order to the Election Commission of India to include NOTA (None Of The Above) button on electronic voting machines (EVMs) citizens who did not want to vote for any candidate had hardly any choice. Using NOTA was not an easy or hassle-free option earlier. People like me who used NOTA earlier had to go through an ordeal to fight for our right to NOTA and make officers provide us the required register. Also it clearly meant making it publicly known we are using NOTA and causing almost an 'inconvenience' to busy poll staff on duty. So having NOTA button on EVM machines has surely changed a lot in reality and made it easier and practical for people who want to use it to exercise their right to vote in democracy. If a citizen does not want to vote for any candidate contesting a particular election she/ he should get a choice to register NOTA vote in democracy. And not just this, if number of votes polled by winning candidate are less than NOTA vot...

Dr Sandeep Pandey , Magsaysay Awardee and CNS Columnist Because of the fantastic performance in Gymnastics in the Rio Olympics in 2016 Dipa Karmakar was chosen along with P.V. Sindhu and Sakshi Malik, the two medal winners, by the Hyderabad Badminton Association to be awarded a BMW car which was presented by Sachin Tendulkar. Dipa has now returned the car saying the roads of Tripura where she lives are not broad enough for this car and there is no BMW service centre there. She has decided to buy a less expensive car which is suitable for the conditions where she lives. She requested V. Chamundeshwaranath, the President of HBA, who actually sponsored the cars, to either compensate her with the amount of the car or give her whatever amount he thinks appropriate. Dipa’s honesty is commendable. When she took a decision to return the car it was not certain that she will get its value back. She had no expectations from the sponsor of the car. In contrast when Sachin Tendulkar was given a Fer...