Asserting that the grand alliance announced the sharing of seats for the Bihar Assembly polls in a hurry, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Sunday said that it should have got more seats in its kitty since JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar was declared the chief ministerial candidate.

“The leaders of coalition decided the seat sharing strategy. But the party workers and supporters of RJD feel that if Nitish Kumar got the chief ministerial post, their party’s share in assembly seats should have been more, people are disappointed with equal sharing,” said RJD leader Raghuvansh Singh.

“There has been hurry in announcing the sharing of seats for the coming election in Bihar,” he added.

Responding to a poser on whether the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) should have got a bigger share, Singh said, “The coalition leaders should take a call on NCP`s seat sharing and they should act mutually on it.”

The RJD and JD (U) will contest on 100 seats each, while the Congress will field candidates in 40 assembly constituencies.

The extent of government intervention in academic matters has become “extraordinarily common” and often “politically extreme” under the NDA regime, says Nobel laureate Amartya Sen.

He, however, says this is not the first time that a government has interfered in academic matters with its own views as the previous UPA government’s record in non- interference was “far from impeccable”.

“But the extent of intervention has become extraordinarily common and often politically extreme under the present regime,” 81-year-old Sen writes in his new book “The Country of First Boys”, in which he tries to seek an understanding of India’s history and the demands of its future.

“And often enough, the persons chosen for heading institutions of national importance have been exceptionally dedicated to promoting Hindutva priorities,” he adds.

The 1998 Economics Nobel winner then cites the example of the newly-appointed head of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), Yellapragada Sudershan Rao, saying he “may not be known for research in history, but his Hindutva- oriented opinions are well-known”.

Similarly, the new head of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR), Lokesh Chandra, has shared with us his view that Modi is, in fact, “a reincarnation of God”, he says.

Published by Oxford University Press, the book also has essays on justice, identity, deprivation, inequalities, gender politics, education, the media and the Nalanda University.

Sen alleges that the new government has been active in trying to impose its own views on many academic institutions, and Nalanda University is not the only such institution the intellectual independence of which has been under considerable threat in recent months.

On May 30, the government announced that former Foreign Minister of Singapore George Yeo will be the new Chancellor of the Nalanda University; over two months after Sen withdrew his candidature to the post for a second term, claiming the Narendra Modi government does not want him to continue.

According to Sen, it will remain “extremely important for

the government to live up to our hope that Yeo will have the independence he would need to make Nalanda an academic success in line with its vision, rather than its going down the sectarian way the ICHR and the ICCR have gone”.

Disappointed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurance that the government has accepted “in principle” their demand for ‘One Rank One Pension’ (OROP), ex-servicemen on Sunday announced intensification of their stir by deciding to launch an indefinite hunger strike from August 24.

“A group of ex-servicemen will start an indefinite fast here from August 24,” Col (Retd) Anil Kaul, media advisor to the United Front of Ex-Servicemen Movement, told as the agitation at Jantar Mantar entered the 63rd day.

The protestors have been on a relay hunger strike so far.

In his speech on Independence Day from Red Fort, Modi had not given a specific timeline for the implementation of OROP, but stressed that talks were in the final stages, drawing sharp reactions from ex-servicemen who vowed to step up their protest.

Meanwhile, AAP MLA Col (Retd) Devinder Sehrawat, who skipped the President’s at-home reception on Independence Day over the demand, has written to Pranab Mukherjee seeking his intervention on behalf of the protesting ex-servicemen.

“I have to inform you with a heavy heart that the ex- servicemen are languishing on the road, undergoing shabby and disgraceful treatment at the hands of police and municipal authorities, as they protest for their rightful demand of OROP.

“Pardon my audacity, but they do expect your intervention in the matter,” Sehrawat said in his letter yesterday to the President — who is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

The AAP legislator from Bijwasan constituency, Sehrawat also said he will “actively” participate in a dharna called by ex-servicemen over the OROP demand as no firm time-frame has been declared for its implementation.

Ex-servicemen are holding a protest at Jantar Mantar and in other parts of the country for two months demanding early implementation of OROP.