IPA Special
The Soybean Gambit: How America’s Golden Bean Lost Its Lustre
By Ashok Nilakantan Ayers NEW YORK: In the flat expanse of Illinois farmland, where autumn skies stretch endlessly above golden fields, Dean Buchholz watches his soybean harvest with a gnawing unease that has become all too familiar. After decades of cultivating this protein-rich oilseed, he has witnessed his crop...
From Maharani To Jan Suraaj: The New Mood In Bihar’s Battle For Power
By R. Suryamurthy The battle for Bihar has entered its final, feverish act. The second phase of polling on November 11, covering 122 seats across the southern and central regions, will decide whether Nitish Kumar ends his two-decade innings as chief minister — or pulls off one last political...
Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2025 Is Being Opposed By All Sections
By Jag Mohan Thaken CHANDIGARH: Voices of protest against the India Government’s Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2025 have begun to emerge en masse stating it as anti-farmer, anti-consumer, and anti-employee. The power employees, engineers, farmers and consumers have started to come on the same page to oppose it. In a...
Bihar Polls: Gandhi Siblings & Amit Shah Exchange Barbs At Each Other
By Rahil Nora Chopra The political battle for Bihar has turned into a fierce war of words, with Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accusing the BJP and the Election Commission of stealing elections and Union home minister Amit Shah hitting back at the siblings. The Wayanad...
Karnataka’s Domestic Workers Bill Is Welcome, But Problems Remain
By Madhulika T, Mohan Mani The Karnataka Government recently released a draft Bill on domestic work (‘Bill’) for public feedback and comments. Since Independence, several attempts, mostly through private members’ Bills, have been made to introduce a comprehensive central law to regulate domestic work. None, however, have materialized. In...
Zohran Mamdani’s Victory As New York Mayor Has Given A Big Boost To Global Left
By Nitya Chakraborty The historic victory of the Democratic socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani in New York mayoral elections on November 4 night is acting as a big booster, not only to the left wingers in the Democratic Party belonging to the Bernie Sanders group, but also to the left...
NDA and MGB Fought A Very Close Electoral Battle In Bihar In The First Phase
By Dr. Gyan Pathak In the first phase of election on November 6 for 121 out of 243 Vidhan Sabha constituencies of Bihar, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Mahagathbandhan (MGB) fought a very tough electoral battle. There are about 20 seats where outcome seems to be very uncertain,...
Republicans Stunned As Tuesday’s Verdict Was A Referendum Against Trump
By T N Ashok NEW YORK: Democrats swept to decisive victories across the nation Tuesday night, winning every major contested race in what political analysts are calling the first significant electoral referendum on President Trump’s second-term economic policies. In the most closely watched contests, Democrats won both governor’s races...
Hate Filled ‘Othering’ Of RSS-BJP Will Have Diminishing Returns
By P. Sudhir Lord Curzon must be chuckling in his grave. Recently, in Karimganj district rechristened as Sribhumi in Barak valley, a local Congress leader sang Rabindranath Tagore’s iconic song “Amar Sonar Bangla, Ami tomaybhalobasi”. It immediately drew a sharp reaction from the Himanta Biswa Sarma government. The Chief...
Kerala To Seek Legal Redress Against SIR
By P. Sreekumaran THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala has decided to seek legal redress against the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) decision to conduct the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the State. This decision was taken at an all-party meeting convened by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government. Al...
Modi Govt’s Employment Policy Draft, 2025 Devalues Woman Role As Per Manusmriti
By Krishna Jha Continued fragmentation has been a reality of our society to meet the interest of the ‘haves’ as against ‘have-nots’. The exploitation comes in practice in the garb of Brahminical Mantra for salvation laid down by Manusmriti. Its one of the main themes is the concept of...
The Mamdani Moment: A Political Earthquake In America’s Largest City
By TN Ashok NEW YORK:When the polls closed at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, November 4, 2025, it took less than 40 minutes for the Associated Press to call the race. Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist and state assemblyman from Queens, had accomplished what many considered impossible just a...
Bench Hunting Scare Comes Back To Haunt The Apex Court
By K Raveendran Chief Justice B. R. Gavai’s sharp rebuke of the Union government for what he implies as attempt at “bench hunting” has reopened an old and uneasy debate about judicial independence and executive influence over India’s top court. The immediate trigger was the government’s demand to transfer...
Who Is To Investigate ‘Vote Theft’ Is Now The Real Question
By Dr. Gyan Pathak The Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi has now alleged ‘vote theft’ in Haryana Legislative Election 2024 and accused the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Union Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah that they have been hand in glove in...
Left Parties May Fare Well In Bihar Polls: All Eyes On CPI(ML) Liberation
By Rabindra Nath Sinha How will the Left parties fare in the Bihar Assembly elections the first phase of which covering 121 constituencies out of the total of 243 seats takes place on Thursday, November 6 ? In the fairly exhaustive coverage already seen in the print and...
Democrats’ 2025 Electoral Sweep: A Referendum On Trump’s America
By Ashok N Ayers The results arrived with unusual clarity. By midnight on November 5th, Democrats had swept every major contest on the ballot: gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia, New York City’s mayoralty, and California’s consequential redistricting measure. For President Donald Trump, governing from the White House...
India’s States Are Living Beyond Their Means, Borrowing Their Future
By R Surya Murthy When governments begin borrowing not to build roads but to pay salaries, something has gone very wrong. That is where most of India’s states now stand. Behind the glitter of welfare promises and populist giveaways lies a stark fiscal truth — India’s subnational governments are...
ISI-Dawood: Transnational ‘Narco-Jihad’ Threatens Regional Security
By Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury For decades a shadow economy of drugs, counterfeit currency and illicit cash flows has threaded its way across South Asia, North Africa and beyond. What makes this underground economy especially dangerous is not only its scale but the way statecraft, organized crime and violent...
