IPA Special
U.S. Blockade Of Venezuela Is Also An Indirect Attack On Cuba
By W. T. Whitney, Jr. NEW YORK: Hitting two birds with one stone, the U.S. government, top-level disturber of the peace now brandishing a Caribbean armada, is striking out against Venezuela—and Cuba too, indirectly. The U.S. military on December 10 seized a large oil tanker in the Caribbean bound...
Narendra Modi Govt Brings To An End Two Decade Old Rural Job Scheme MGNREGA
By Dr. Gyan Pathak Two decades old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 2005 is finally replaced by Viksit Bharat – Guarantee For Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill 2025 on the last day of the Winter Session of the Parliament on December 19....
Trump’s Tariff Hike Squeezes India’s Exports Leaving States Counting Losses
By T N Ashok India’s export-led growth strategy is facing its most severe test in years as sweeping U.S. tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump ripple through the country’s manufacturing heartland, triggering order cancellations, factory slowdowns and mounting job losses. Nowhere is the pain more visible than in Tamil...
World Bank Methodology On Poverty Estimation Ignores Ground Reality
By Utsa Patnaik Of late, there have been several academic papers and media writeups on the World Bank’s 2025 claim of steeply declining extreme poverty in the world, especially in Asia. It would be wonderful if this was true, but it is not true. This claim is spurious, arising...
U.S. Under Trump.2 Underlines That National Security Is Interlinked With Economic Security
By Asad Mirza The last week witnessed both a loss and a win for the Indian diplomacy. The win was being included in the latest proposal by the American President Donald Trump to form a new regional grouping called C-5, and the loss was India being denied a seat...
India’s Reengagement With China In Trade And Investment Is Benefitting Exporters
By T N Ashok When India quietly eased business visa rules for foreign engineers and technicians last month, the immediate beneficiaries were Indian manufacturers struggling with stalled factory lines and half-installed machinery. But the deeper signal was unmistakable: New Delhi is cautiously reopening channels with Beijing at a moment...
In Maharashtra Municipal Polls, Uddhav Sena And MNS Of Raj Thackeray To Join Hands
By Rahil Nora Chopra The formal alliance between the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray-headed MNS is expected soon in the run up to the elections to 29 municipal corporations of Maharashtra. Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut said “Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray had come together…we would...
Leading War Journalist Peter Arnett Knew Best How To Cover Conflict Zone
By Tirthankar Mitra Having dodged bullets and ducked bombs for a considerable part of his working life, trailblazing war journalist Peter Arnett died in his bed. He was 91. Arnett managed to stay ahead of death in the different theatres of war. In the process, he brought eye witnesses...
How A Disney Studio Animation Film “Zootopia 2” Is Boosting China-US Trade Agenda?
By Nitya Chakraborty Something incredible is happening in Beijing as also in other cities of China in the last five days. The cinema halls showing the American animation film “Zootopia 2” produced by the famous Disney studio are full and the Chinese cine lovers who have not yet seen...
Parliament And Its Complex Witness Strong Protests Over G Ram G Bill
By Dr. Gyan Pathak Lok Sabha passed the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee For Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill 2025 today December 18, 2025 which seeks to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act amid fierce opposition, uproar, and tearing of the copy of the...
Bangladesh Interim Chief Dr. Yunus Facing Severe Scrutiny From Western Nations
By Ashis Biswas In Bangladesh, the interim Government led by Chief Adviser Dr M. Yunus has not yet succeeded in establishing the requisite level of administrative control over the pre-poll situation. February 12 2026 is the date of polling. As expected old and new parties are carrying on a...
As War In Ukraine Completing Four Years In February, No Immediate Truce In Sight
By Ashok Nilakantan Ayers NEW YORK: Nearly four years since Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia still occupies roughly 20 percent of the country, and Russian President Vladimir Putin made clear Wednesday that he has no intention of compromising on his territorial demands despite President Donald Trump’s...
This Astronomical Level Of Inequality In India Is Unsustainable
By Nilotpal Basu Some time back, when Thomas Piketty, renowned for his work on inequality, had observed that inequality in India had surpassed the levels prevailing under the British Raj, all hell had broken loose. Now that the World Inequality Report, 2026 is out in the public domain, issues...
Poverty Alleviation And Climate Change Programme Are Intricately Linked
By Krishna Jha The Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2025, brought out recently by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and the United Nations Development Programme, is basically a caution against the looming danger, and not just a statistical update. It is a caution to the world’s...
Wuhan Lapse Was Not A Mistake — It Was A Governance Choice By Beijing!
By Aritra Banerjee The COVID-19 pandemic is often discussed as a tragedy of biology. In truth, it was a tragedy of governance. What unfolded in Wuhan in the winter of 2019–20 was not merely an administrative lapse or a momentary failure of judgment. It was the predictable outcome of...
Venezuela War Is About Oil Trump Admits, Imposes Blockade On Tankers
By C.J. Atkins NEW YORK: Oil, oil, oil, oil, oil—the word appeared five times in President Donald Trump’s Truth Social post on Tuesday announcing the U.S. military was imposing a “TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE” of sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela. The White House occupant’s inability...
Energy Markets Recalibrate As Geopolitics Reshapes Supply Calculus
By K Raveendran Oil prices slipping below $60 a barrel for the first time since February 2021 and a sharp easing in European gas prices mark more than a cyclical downturn in commodities. They signal a rapid repricing of geopolitical risk at a moment when diplomacy, rather than escalation,...
Political Heat Rises In West Bengal After Publication Of Draft Electoral Roll
By Dr. Gyan Pathak With the publication of Draft Electoral Rolls on December 16, 2025, political heat has considerably risen in West Bengal which is going to poll three months from now in March-April 2026. Over 58 lakh names have been deleted from the existing voter list during the...
