By Nantoo Banerjee It is disturbing to note that the government has chosen an easy option to raise the domestic cooking gas prices at will to benefit a handful of public sector oil companies at the cost of nearly 337-million active domestic LPG consumers. This is despite the fact...
By Asad Mirza The historic June 2026 US-Iran framework agreement marks a volatile culmination to over 100 days of devastating attrition, fundamentally shifting Middle Eastern security paradigms while altering India’s energy and strategic landscape. The announcement of the comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in mid-June 2026—slated for a formal...
By Ashok Nilakantan Ayers NEW YORK: On the evening of his 80th birthday on June 14, while most men his age would be discussing grandchildren, medications and retirement plans, the most powerful man in the world was watching cage fighters batter one another inside an octagon erected on the...
By Kalyani Shankar The INDIA bloc, representing a coalition of opposition parties, recently gathered in Delhi to reflect on their journey so far and to share hopes for the future. On June 8, during a meeting organised by the Congress party, 23 out of the original 27 members expressed...
By T N Ashok SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. On June 12, 2026, the company pulled off a blockbuster initial public offering, selling about 5% of its shares at $135 apiece and raising roughly $75 billion. That frenzy sent SpaceX’s market value soaring to around...
By K Raveendran The promise of a ‘great settlement’ from President Trump has been enough to pull oil prices lower, calm equity markets and revive hopes that the Strait of Hormuz may return to normal traffic. Yet it shows how fragile the relief remains. A diplomatic opening can move...
By R. Suryamurthy India’s political class loves to talk about financial inclusion. Governments boast about hundreds of millions of bank accounts opened under Jan Dhan. Ministers celebrate record digital transactions. Banks advertise their expanding reach. Fintech companies promise to democratize credit. Every budget speech, economic survey and policy document...
By Sagarneel Sinha The rebellion within the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, the erstwhile ruling party of West Bengal, has been the discussion of mainstream media for days now. The party has split in two ways — MLAs led by Ritabrata Banerjee and Lok Sabha MPs led by Kakoli Ghosh...
By Dr. Gyan Pathak India once again restricted Central Trade Union’s delegates to attend the 114th Session of the International Labour Conference (1-12 June 2026) organized by the International Laobur Organization (ILO) at Geneva, Switzerland. The country has been adopting this policy of restriction since 2018, and the ILO’s...
By Tirthankar Mitra A month ahead of scheduled local elections, peoples’ protests have erupted in the streets of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).At least, 15 persons have been killed after security forces fired on protestors at Rawalkot. The firing triggered fresh protests in several towns, including Khai Gala in PoK’s...
By Rabindra Nath Sinha KOLKATA: The resignation of Assam’s Barak Valley’s Silchar-based politician Sushmita Dev from the Trinamool Congress and Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, June 10 throws light on the kind of politics Sushmita has been practicing over the last five years as also her organisational capabilities. However, in...
By T N Ashok Bollywood has always been a kingdom ruled by queens, but unlike monarchies, its queens seldom die. They merely refuse to abdicate. In the golden decades from the 1950s through the 1980s, heroines enjoyed surprisingly long reigns. Actresses such as Nargis, Madhubala, Waheeda Rehman, Hema Malini...
By L S Herdenia BHOPAL: Despite having more than the required number of votes, the Congress failed to get its candidate Meenakshi Natarajan elected to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh. All the three vacant seats went to the BJP, though it had the numbers to win just two....
By Shishu Ranjan & Niranjan K.S. In the past few months, paper leaks, examination glitches, discrepancies in the computation of marks, and mismanagement in conducting the examinations have become alarmingly commonplace. On May 30, 2026, due to a technical glitch, around 3,765 students couldn’t appear for the CUET (UG)...
By Dr. Nilanjan Banik The Indian economy, to quote from Charles Dickens’ novel, looks like A Tale of Two Cities. Recent estimates suggest India’s real GDP expanded by 7.8%, with strong growth noted across sectors: services (9.3%), manufacturing (10.7%), and construction (7.4%). Consumption expenditure, which is the largest component...
By Dr. Gyan Pathak Dismissal of the writ petition filed by Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan for Rajya Sabha Election from Madhya Pradesh against allegedly unfair rejection of her nomination papers by the Returning Officer is a significant development, since it was only yesterday June 11, the Supreme Court of...
By T N Ashok Only six months ago, India appeared to be enjoying what Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra described as a “Goldilocks moment” — inflation was under control, growth was among the highest in the world, foreign exchange reserves were comfortable, and the Narendra Modi government...