Opinion
Appeal
The legacy of IPA, founded by Nikhil Chakravartty, the doyen of journalism in India, to keep the flag of independent media flying high, is facing the threat of extinction due to the effect of the Covid pandemic. Only an emergency funding can avert such an eventuality. We appeal to all those who believe in the freedom of expression to contribute to this noble cause.Why Modi’s Gamble In 2025-26 Budget On Mega Tax Relief Will Fail?
By Nitya Chakraborty The present euphoria among the BJP-led government ministers after the presentation of the 2025-26 budget in Parliament over the mega relief to the income tax payers of the country might be shared by the estimated one crore people in the country benefited due to the budget...
2025-26 Budget Contains Some Strategic Steps But Ignores Public Sector
By T N Ashok In 2025-26 budget some strategic steps have been taken to stimulate India’s business environment including reforms to remove bottlenecks in key business areas, reducing minimum capital requirement, and simplifying the process of obtaining necessary licenses. But the focus of this eight budget presented by the...
Big Talks On Budgetary Support To Agriculture, But Small Increase In Funds
By Dr. Gyan Pathak Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman talked big during her budget speech emphasizing “Agriculture as the first Engine” for India’s development journey announcing a slew of measures to spur agriculture growth and productivity benefitting the Annadata. However, farmers are not appeased. In contrast, they will be...
The Yogi-Guaranteed ‘X-Factor’ Will Be At Play In Delhi And Milkipur
By Sushil Kutty February 5, when Delhi votes to elect a new assembly, a factor that will have a say, but has been pushed to the back-burner, will be ‘Batenge toh katenge’, just like it had counted in the Haryana and Maharashtra assembly elections. This, even after Prime Minister...
Union Budget: Raw Deal To Kerala Once Again
By P. Sreekumaran THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is the same old story, infuriatingly repetitive year after year and Budget after Budget. Kerala continues to be at the receiving end of the Union Government’s callous neglect in the Budget. Kerala’s list of demands has been completely disregarded. The State’s hopes of securing...
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte Calls For Continuing Ukraine War
By Ben Chacko LONDON: NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte is on the warpath, much to the delight of Ukraine’s state-controlled mass media and politicians. Europe’s biggest-selling daily paper, Bild, reports his comments in the light of the Ukraine war: “I’ll tell you very clearly: we have to prepare for war.”...
Zakia Jafri’s Personal Battles Embodied India’s Secular Aspirations
By Mihir Desai On February 1, 2025, Zakia Jafri passed away at the age of 86, quietly resting in her sister’s home in Ahmedabad – a city that changed her life forever, but where she kept coming back. She was Zakiaappa to me, and I was her lawyer right...
Disenchanted Foreign Investors Make A Record Pre-Budget Stock Sale
By Nantoo Banerjee It would be wrong to underplay the impact of rising foreign disinvestments from the country’s secondary market on the economy and the very stability of Indian Rupee (INR). Both the domestic economy and INR have been constantly under pressure from large deficit trade balances year after...
Union Budget 2025-26 Is Frustrating For India’s Workforce
By Dr. Gyan Pathak At a time when India’s labour market is undergoing an unprecedented crisis, with about 19 per cent of them are in unpaid employment but counted as employed by the government, non-availability of jobs in the job market has been pushing the people towards self-employment which...
BJP Dreaming Of Defeating AAP In Delhi Polls Through ‘Budget Masterstrokë’
By Sushil Kutty Parliament erupted February 3, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s ‘Budget 2025’ forgotten in the ruckus. The session went from ‘derailed’ to ‘stampede.’ Opposition MPs to a man (and ‘woman’) raised slogans against the ‘Modi and Yogi’ governments, holding the so-called ‘double-engine ki Sarkar’ in Uttar Pradesh responsible...
2025-26 Budget Proposals Are Meant To Give A Boost To Modi’s Corporate Friends
By Arun Srivastava Saffron ecosystem is desperate to project Narendra Modi’s 2025-26 budget as a significant effort to conjure the middle class to make a strong comeback in the politics of the country and give an exuberant push to the economy. Regrettably this is not even the half-truth. An...
Strengthening National Security Gets Big Focus In 2025-26 Defence Budget
By Girish Linganna India has allocated Rs 6.81 lakh crore (approximately US$82.6 billion) for defence in the financial year (FY) 2025-26, marking a 9.53 per cent increase from the previous year’s Budget of Rs 6.22 lakh crore. This increase highlights the country’s focus on modernizing the military and strengthening...
U.S. President Donald Trump Is Aiming At A New Palestine Free Of Palestinians
By Asad Mirza Like many of his recent illogical Presidential orders or statements, President Trump is trying to drive out Palestinians from the occupied territories, into other Arab nations. But the story has a twist, as it has emerged that the Palestinian land in the West Bank is being...
Budget 2025-26 Gives No Guarantee For Generating Enough Jobs To Meet Present Crisis
By Dr. Gyan Pathak Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman has emphasized on 100 per cent skilled labour with meaningful employment; 100 per cent quality, good school education; and access to quality, affordable and comprehensive healthcare as part of Vikasit Bharat initiative in her speech while presenting Union Budget...
Just Tax Relief For Lower And Middle Class Not Adequate To Pep Up Demand
By Anjan Roy The only big idea about the eighth budget of finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, is an announcement of an income tax exemption of upto Rs 12 lakhs. It is a big jump no doubt, from the exemption level of Rs 7 lakh earlier. There is a political...
Will Income Tax Relief In Budget Before February 5 Delhi Polls Help BJP?
By Sushil Kutty All those with a salary upto Rs 12 lakh per annum can tell Income Tax sharks to get the hell out to sea and not return. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman read out her eighth straight budget speech and beat Morarji Desai’s six-in-a-row record. More importantly, Prime...
Time For India To Combine ‘Jugaad’ Culture With Ai To Catch Up With China
By K Raveendran Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget announcement to establish five national Centres of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Education, with an allocation of Rs 500 crore, marks a significant step in India’s AI ambitions. These centres, developed through global partnerships and integrated into premier institutions like...
Hindu Saints To Unveil Constitution Of Akhand Hindu Rashtra On February 2
By Arun Srivastava Foreboding that the Hindutva fanatics and saffron ecosystem would convert India into a theocratic state and christen it as the Hindu Rashtra in 2025 appears to be taking a realistic shape and character with the Hindu saints and rightist forces unveiling the “Constitution of Akhand Hindu...
