By Tirthankar Mitra People often do not find the profession they are suited to. But when eminent theatre director, Ebrahim Alkazi spotted a young girl essaying the role of Desdemona in a stage adaptation of Othello, he asked the upcoming actress to join his drama group, Theatre Group. From...
By Mark Gruenberg and John Wojcik WASHINGTON DC: From the governorship race down to the Secretary of State’s contest, progressive candidates—including current Democratic Socialists of America member Melat Kiros for Congress in Denver and former DSA member Manny Rutinel in a swing district north of Denver—won. Melat Kiros made...
By K Raveendran The arithmetic of India’s fuel market has long been sold as market-driven, but the latest price movements expose a more selective discipline. When crude oil rises, the pass-through to consumers and businesses is quick, stern and explained as unavoidable. When the same crude oil retreats, the...
By Nitya Chakraborty The Right wing resurgence in the political arena of Latin America continues with the victory of the far right candidate Keiko Fujimori in the Presidential elections in Peru. Keiko, daughter of the former President Alberto Fujimori won by only less than 50,000 votes in a neck...
By R. Suryamurthy There is an old assumption embedded deep within India’s governance system that democracy can be strengthened by multiplying procedures. Conduct more meetings. Circulate more notices. Upload more records. Build more digital platforms. Yet, the latest national study on Gram Sabha participation suggests that this administrative logic...
By Satyaki Chakraborty Communist Party of China has now 101.28 million members, the second highest party membership in the world after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of India which claims to have 180 million members. Both the countries have around 1.45 billion population. While the BJP’s membership increased at...
By Nigel Green Trump’s annual financial disclosure report shows that cryptocurrency is already part of mainstream finance. President Donald Trump disclosed more than $1 billion in crypto-related income in his latest federal financial filing, with digital asset ventures generating more revenue than much of the real estate empire he...
By T N Ashok Hollywood has conditioned audiences to expect diminishing returns from franchises. The first film dazzles, the second tries to outdo it, and by the third the series usually runs out of ideas. Jeethu Joseph’s Drishyam trilogy breaks that rule with remarkable confidence. If anything, Drishyam 3...
By Raju Kumar India’s education system today is grappling with more than shortages of resources, outdated curricula or institutional shortcomings. The deeper crisis is one of trust. Millions of students and their families spend years preparing for competitive examinations, investing enormous amounts of time, money and hope. When paper...
By Nitya Chakraborty The joint statement of the Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman issued in Beijing on June 26 following the visit of Tarique to China has drawn the attention of the global diplomatic circles due to the sweep of the nature of...
By Arun Srivastava Hindu organizations, including RSS, BJP, VHP are silent on the scam at Ram Mandir. They would. It is expected of them. It is wrong to believe that they are maintaining silence out of shame and public outrage. It is also not the fact that they are...
By T N Ashok In most countries, the question would sound absurd. “Can you prove you are a citizen?” A citizen reaches into a wallet, pulls out a passport and the conversation ends. Not in India anymore. A political and legal controversy erupted after External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar...
By Ashis Biswas KOLKATA: In recent years, migration has become more difficult for Bangladeshi immigrants, in the context of unsettled economic/political conditions worldwide, the continuing Ukraine war and the US/Iran conflict. Somewhat worryingly for the present BNP Government it seems the hard times will continue for Bangladeshis ,as the...
By T N Ashok For decades, the conventional wisdom of Indian cinema was remarkably simple. Producers discovered stories, assembled stars, hired directors, raised money, marketed the film and hoped for a blockbuster. Actors merely performed the role assigned to them. The producer carried the financial burden while the star...
By Ben Chacko LONDON: Heavy on rhetoric, light on detail, Andy Burnham set out his vision for “change,” delivered symbolically from the People’s History Museum in Manchester this morning. There was much to commend in the statement — a commitment to devolve power to the regions (“place first, party...
By Nantoo Banerjee West Bengal’s first ever Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government’s resolve to rebuild the state to its “old glory” sounds good though reversing decades of economic stagnation and industrial decline remains an incredibly difficult challenge. Economically, West Bengal’s rank among Indian states has dropped from No.1 till...
By Kalyani Shankar On June 19, the Shiv Sena marked its 60th anniversary. Since its inception, in the past 60 years. The party has experienced several splits, with the latest occurring on June 26. Shiv Sena’s 60th anniversary is contested by two factions—Thackeray’s Sena (UBT) and Eknath Shinde’s Sena—each...
By Satyaki Chakraborty Former CPI(M) politburo member Brinda Karat has alleged that the eight rules published by the centre for the implementation of the new VB-GRAMG Act replacing MGNREGA have been set without having any consultations with rural and MGNREGA workers associations. She has mentioned that the rules of...