The Lost Art of Letter Writing
April is National Card and Letter Writing Month, founded by the USPS in 2001 to encourage the “personal touch” of handwritten communications. While they may seem quaint today, letters have helped to define the course of history, from St. Paul’s contributions in the New Testament to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail. So, at a time when emojis, memes, and abbreviations abound, why not take a pen to paper and address your thoughts in a more personal way?
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© Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com
King’s Philosophy of Nonviolence in Letter from the Birmingham Jail
Dick DeMarsico—NYWT&S/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (reproduction no. LC-USZ62-126559)
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India Heads to the Polls
The largest electorate in the world—more than 968 million registered voters—will head to the polls beginning Friday for India’s 2024 general election. The voting period lasts 44 days (to June 1) and will decide the majority party in the Lok Sabha (“House of the People”), India’s lower house of parliament. Some seats in the upper house of parliament, Rajya Sabha (“Council of States”), are also up for grabs. Here’s more on the election.
Stakes
In India, the party or coalition winning majority support in the Lok Sabha elections is asked by the president of India to form the government. The majority party nominates a leader, and the president of India appoints that leader as the prime minister.
Alliances
Prime Minister Narendra Modi leads the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which in turn leads the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a group of almost 40 right-leaning political parties from across the country. The BJP has set a target of winning 370 seats in this election, taking the target up to 400 when considering seats it aims to win with other NDA allies—an overwhelming majority of the Lok Sabha, which can have as many as 550 elected members. But the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) hopes to put up a strong fight. INDIA, led by the Indian National Congress, was formed in 2023 as an opposition front to contest the 2024 general election and prevent the BJP from coming to power for a third consecutive term.
Leadership
The list of the candidates from the Congress include Rahul Gandhi for Wayanad constituency, and Shashi Tharoor, a current member of parliament, for Thiruvananthapuram (both in Kerala state). Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi will contest from Varanasi, a constituency he won in the past two Lok Sabha elections. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will contest from Gandhinager, defense minister Rajnath Singh will contest from Lucknow, and Smriti Irani will contest from Amethi, Uttar Pradesh state, where she won against Rahul Gandhi in 2019.
Expectations
India Today’s Mood of the Nation survey, released in early February 2024, predicted that the BJP-led NDA, with Narendra Modi at the helm, is likely to win the Lok Sabha elections for a third time with a clear majority, even though it may fall short of its target of 400 seats.
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