IPA Staff
16474 stories by IPA Staff
How A ₹1 Melody Toffee Became India’s Sweetest Soft-Power Gift
By T N Ashok The gift wrapped Melody chocolate seemed to sing a new jingle : Jab Melody hain, tho Meloni hain” to soft power India’s diplomatic thrust into a country where a saint was crucified and a great new religion was born that swept the world with millions...
Kerala UDF Govt. Scraps SilverLine Rail Project, Announces 100-Day Action Plan
By P. Sreekumaran THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an important policy decision, the V. D. Satheesan Government has decided to scrap the K-Rail (SilverLine) semi-high-speed railway project from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod. Addressing a press conference after the Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Satheesan said all the land acquired for the project would be...
World Health Organization Warning On Ebola Is A Call To Seal “Viral Frontiers”
By Tirthankar Mitra Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo has been declared to be an international public health emergency by World Health Organisation (WHO). It is much more than a timely medical alert. It is a call to seal “viral frontiers”. The epidemic in fragile states are no longer local...
Trump Plans International Summit To Take On Left And Liberals Globally
By Dave McKee NEW YORK: In what can only be described as an acceleration and expansion of the bellicose and dangerous far-right populist movement around the globe, the U.S. government of Donald Trump is reportedly seeking to build an international coalition to oppose the anti-fascist left. Washington says U.S....
British PM Starmer’s Crisis Needs The Search For A New Class Politics
By Ben Chacko LONDON: Former Welsh Labour leader Mark Drakeford is the latest figure to call for an orderly removal of Keir Starmer. The defenestration of the Prime Minister is now Westminster Labour’s default position as well as meeting the desires and expectations of most people. Drakeford’s measured intervention...
India, US Industry Clash At USTR Hearings Over Subsidies And Overcapacity
NEW DELHI: The Office of the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR’s) Section 301 hearings have turned into a fresh flashpoint in Indo-US trade ties, with American industry groups pushing for punitive tariffs on Indian goods over allegations of state-backed overcapacity and unfair subsidies, while Indian officials mount an aggressive...
India And Italy To Increase Bilateral Trade To €20 Billion By 2029
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi concluded his visit to Italy, the final leg of his five-nation foreign tour, on Wednesday, with India and Italy committing to raising annual bilateral trade to €20 billion by 2029. Following talks between PM Modi and his Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, in...
IMF Backs Targeted Relief Over Broad Subsidies Amid Oil Price Surge
NEW DELHI: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cautioned governments against resorting to broad-based subsidies to shield households from price shocks arising from the conflict in West Asia, holding that such measures could strain their already tight public finances. Instead, the IMF has suggested rolling out “temporary, targeted, timely...
RBI Lines Up $5 Billion Swap Auction To Aid Liquidity
MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday announced a $5-billion dollar-rupee buy/sell swap auction with a three-year tenor to inject durable liquidity into the banking system, as it grapples with tightening domestic liquidity conditions and mounting pressure on the rupee amid elevated crude oil prices. The auction,...
NITI Proposes State-Led Migration Systems To Tap Global Labour Demand
NEW DELHI: Indian states should begin treating overseas employment as an economic development strategy by setting up dedicated migration systems, including state-run recruitment agencies, foreign-language training programmes and digital dashboards tracking global labour demand, said a NITI Aayog working paper, released on Wednesday. The paper titled ‘States’ Framework: Advancing...
Cuba Is Under Siege By USA, But Neither Xi Jinping Nor Putin Taking It With Trump
By Nitya Chakraborty This is the season of high level summits. On May 14 and 15, U.S President Donald Trump visited Beijing and had ‘ fantastic’ talks, according to the U.S. President, Chinese media also went overboard explaining the great possibilities of China-US cooperation in political and economic spheres...
Congress In The Politically Sensitive And Emotionally Complicated Terrain
By Dr. Gyan Pathak History has again put the Congress in the politically very sensitive and emotionally complicated terrain. After the election result in Tamil Nadu, the Congress decided to support the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) led by Vijay. As chief minister of the state, Vijay on May 18,...
Supreme Court Ruling Forces Hard Reset On Stray Dog Policy
By K Raveendran Supreme Court’s endorsement of lawful euthanasia for rabid, incurably ill and demonstrably dangerous stray dogs marks a decisive shift in India’s long-running debate over public safety, animal welfare and the limits of sentiment in civic governance. The ruling does not license indiscriminate killing, nor does it...
Post-Poll Defeat, Trinamool Congress Gripped By Serious Organisational Crisis
By Tirthankar Mitra KOLKATA: Time was when Trinamool Congress stood on firm organisational foundations all over West Bengal with each and everyone of its leaders and activists looking up to party supremo Mamata Banerjee for helming them to electoral triumph. But the days when none dared to question Banerjee’s...
Bengal Has Plenty Of Resources And Talent For Industrial Revival
By Anjan Roy KOLKATA: Now that a “double-engine sarkar” is in the driving seat in Bengal, strong expectations have been roused about a revival of a long-hibernating economy of the state. The background is that once, almost beyond the living memory of the newer generations, Bengal was in the...
Why Weakening Trade Unions Produces The Labour Unrest It Claims To Prevent?
By Purbasha Panda, Rongeet Poddar On April 13, 2026, a demonstration led by garment factory workers in the Gautam Buddha Nagar district of Noida turned into a violent protest leading to fraught public order in several areas of the city. There were reported incidents of stone pelting, clashes between...
ICRA Sees Q4 GDP At A Three-Year Low Of 7 Per Cent
MUMBAI: Citing the early impact of the ongoing Iran war which has spiked energy prices massively apart from disrupting supply chains, rating agency Icra expects the March quarter growth to moderate to a three-quarter low of 7%, down from 7.8% in the previous quarter and the full-year growth to...
Rupee Weakens Past 96.5 Against $, Hits New Low For 7th Straight Session
MUMBAI: The rupee on Tuesday closed at a new low against the dollar for the seventh consecutive session, weighed down by elevated crude oil prices, hardening US Treasury yields, and sustained foreign fund outflows. The Indian currency settled at a record closing low of 96.53 per dollar, compared to...
