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By Dr Arun Mitra Like other slogans much expectations have been raised from the highly advertised National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) – the Ayushman Bharat rolled out by the Prime Minister on 23rd September at Ranchi. It is said to be the biggest health insurance scheme in the world....
Sushil Kutty Monday September 24, is a ‘newsful’ day. Sikkim got its first and India its 100th airport. And a sub-jail in Kerala got its first Bishop inmate – Bishop Franco Mulackkal, accused of the serial rape of a nun. It’s sweet retribution for the nun-clan. More so, after...
By Arun Srivastava This is the most dangerous game the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is playing. The façade of RSS moving from the fringe to mainstream Indian nationalism primarily aims at keeping the liberal centrist Hindus and minorities under confusion. The entire exercise of Bhagwat at the RSS meet...
By Amulya Ganguli Mayawati may have botched her own chances of being one of the front-runners in the prime ministerial race among the national opposition parties by her self-serving manoeuvres in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. From now on, she will generally be perceived as being in the BJP’s corner...
By Nantoo Banerjee Last week, India’s defence ministry said “the government has stated earlier and again reiterates that it had no role in the selection of Reliance Defence as the offset partner” of Dassault Aviation. Ironically, the French government too said it had no role in choice of Indian...
By Anjan Roy As we were scurrying across to escape the relentless scorching sun into the cool comforts of the exhibition halls at Greater Noida Exposition Centre, Ms Helena Li was looking around rather wistfully. It was so much of wasted opportunity. She meant the sunshine. Helena Li is...
By B. Sivaraman The Central Statistics Office (CSO) said on 24 August 2018 that the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) added 1,07,54,348 new members from September 2017 to June 2018.But then the CSO also added that in the same period, 60,40,616 members ceased subscribing to EPF. The pro-government commentators...
By P. Sreekumaran Retribution has caught up with the Jalandhar bishop, Franco Mulakkal, who is facing charges of raping a nun. Shedding inhibitions and fending off pressure, the Kerala police has at last arrested the rape-accused bishop. In the process, a debilitating body blow has been dealt to entrenched...
By K Raveendran Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan claims to have sent a report to the PMO giving details of major bank default candidates, but apparently there was no action taken on it. There are two possible scenarios regarding the report. On perusal of the report Modi may have...
By Aditya Aamir What do you say if the decision to cancel the UNGA meet with Pakistan is compared with Smriti Irani’s attempt to trample on freedom of expression with her diktat to PIB and mainstream media? In both cases Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to step in as...
By Harihar Swarup If the 92-year-old RSS is seeking an image makeover, it is a welcome sign. The wind of change is blowing all over the world, and it is time the RSS, should also bring about reforms and shed its image of an obscurantist organization. Those who have...
By Sushil Kutty Bad behaviour is repeated until it is punished. With serial rapists and Pakistan, there is never a singular incidence of any really bad behaviour. Bad behaviour is in their DNA. But seems like Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided enough of the punishment, let’s give Pakistan another...
By Arun Srivastava Nitish Kumar has finally succeeded in getting his second in Command. Induction of his former electoral strategist Prashant Kishor into the Janata Dal United was initially presumed as a move by Nitish to work out a blue print of working policy and also to evolve a...
By Dr. Arun Mitra The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly. Two decades later, in 2001, the General Assembly unanimously voted to designate the Day as a period of non-violence and cease-fire. The United Nations invites all nations and people to...
By Mala Jay It’s always nice to have someone from the outside to give good counsel and issue timely warnings. Especially if, like Raghuram Rajan, the outsider is actually an insider who knows the system inside-out. The advice and warnings are all the more valuable in times of crisis,...
By P. Sreekumaran THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Politics can be unpredictable. It can be cruel, too. Ask Kerala Congress(M) chairman K M Mani. He will nod in vigorous agreement. Till the other day, Mani was sitting pretty. Three vigilance reports had given him a clean chit in the bar bribery case. The...
By Pradeep Kapoor LUCKNOW: Why is BSP national president Mayawati so scared of Chandra Shekhar Ravan of Bheem Sena, who was recently released by the Yogi government? The manner in which Mayawati reacted to her being referred as buaji (aunt) by Chandra Shekhar Ravan speaks for the total antipathy...
By Subrata Majumder While all the major countries, pinched by Trump’s unilateral high tariffs, took retaliatory measures by raising the tariff on imports from USA, India went one step forward and two steps back. Twice, it suspended its decision to impose high tariff on 29 items from the US....