By Romar Correa The record disbursal of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) profits to the government of India in May 2024 has been in the news. The magnitude of the disbursal caught everyone by surprise. There is a fair bit of confusion as well since many in the mainstream...
By K Raveendran The Union government’s decision to issue a fresh draft notification for nearly 56,825 sq km of the Western Ghats as an Eco-Sensitive Area (ESA) in the wake of the catastrophic landslides that ravaged Wayanad, flattening entire swathes of settlements, markets, and public spaces can only be...
By Harihar Swarup When newcomer Arvind Kejriwal defeated three—time chief minister Sheila Dikshit in her constituency of New Delhi in 2013 assembly polls, jubilant supporters took to streets, hailing the moment when a common man got an opportunity to master electoral politics. Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party soon became the...
By Tajul Islam On August 1, 2024, Bangladesh took a decisive step in its fight against terrorism and extremism by officially banning the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) party and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir. This action, undertaken under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009, follows widespread unrest and violent protests related...
By Arun Kumar Shrivastav Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies plummeted on Friday, mirroring a broader market sell-off triggered by a weaker-than-expected US jobs report. The digital asset’s attempt to rally early in the day was short-lived as investors opted for safer havens amid escalating economic uncertainties. Bitcoin tumbled over 4%...
By Mark Gruenberg WASHINGTON: U.S. President Bill Clinton forced a resisting Russian President Boris Yeltsin into signing a NATO-Russia pact in 1997 totally on U.S. terms, newly disclosed U.S. documents show. Further, the trove of U.S. documents adds, when Yeltsin demanded in return that NATO not expand eastwards towards...
By Dr. Gyan Pathak The verdict of the 7-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court of India allowing sub-quotas within the overall quota for Scheduled Castes (SCs) has a potential to twist the Indian politics in a new direction, since it paves the way for a new structured reservation...
By Sushil Kutty Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris’ ‘Indian heritage’ is being questioned while her allegedly fly-by-night ‘Black American heritage’ is being seen as for “convenience’s sake” only. Fact is, while Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is being berated by the media for introducing the “race card”...
By Rahil Nora Chopra After Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury stepped down as president of the West Bengal Congress committee, the speculation is rife on his political future, who has represented Baharampur in the Lok Sabha for 25 years and was also the Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha...
By P Sreekumaran THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: At a time when all energies should be directed to minimize the impact of the tragedy that struck Wayanad district in Kerala, the Bharatiya Janata Party is politicizing the tragedy to score brownie points. The blame game should have been avoided, at least for the...
By Sarah Khan A grainy picture of an ostensibly ‘Made in India’ part of a bomb in Gaza created a social media maelstrom last month and highlighted a growing concern about India’s arms exports exacerbating the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Although it has not had much direct...
By John Bachtell NEW YORK: Voters could elect a Trump administration that denies the climate crisis and whose policies are dictated by the fossil fuel industry. Or a Kamala Harris administration that builds on climate-friendly policies, curbs the power of the fossil fuel industry, accelerates a clean energy revolution,...
By Nitya Chakraborty The New Popular Front (NFP) has taken a major step towards forming a coalition government in France after the partners agreed to name independent socialist Lucie Castets as the Prime Minister candidate for forming the new government after the July 7 general elections led to a...
By P. Sudhir The decadal census, which was due in 2021, has not been held so far. In the union budget 2024-25, no substantial provision has been made for conducting the census. The centre has also not extended the deadline of June 2024 to freeze administrative boundaries which are...
By Arun Srivastava Left and Right politics do exist in America, but the divide has never been so pronounced as it is shaping up this time just ahead of the D-Day, when the Americans would be electing their next president in November this year. The blame for polarising this...
By Dr. Gyan Pathak Ransomware cyberattack on C-Edge, forcing the joint venture fintech platform of the State Bank of India (SBI) and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) down, affecting about 300 co-operative and regional banks for the last three days should be a wake-up call for India, in the backdrop...
By Arun Kumar Shrivastav Has Rahul Gandhi’s communications improved lately? From khatakhat to taka tak and tana tan, Rahul Gandhi seems to have honed his communication skills to effectively reach the Indian masses. His ability to connect with the people, despite being labelled as Sahajada, a leader born with...
By Sushil Kutty The Cabinet Secretary can take part in RSS activities. So can those who answer to him and to other government officials and their subordinates. This happened when in one fell stroke the Modi government lifted the 58-year-old ‘ban’ on government employees participating in the activities of...