By Dr. Soma Marla Taking clues from finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s last year’s budget speech on the government’s intention to privatise a few PSU banks, media reports appeared last week on the government’s intention to introduce a Bill during the coming monsoon session to privatise them and relax the...
By Anjan Roy It is symptomatic of the ultra-nationalistic indoctrination of China under Xi that news of the attack on former Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, was greeted with celebrations on their internet social media. Shinzo Abe had reversed two of Japan’s self-inflicted restraints or flagellation. Shinzo Abe had...
By Sushil Kutty One servant to the other: Blame it on the British. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said July 7, that the education system India inherited was designed by the British Raj to create a “servant class”. The Prime Minister couldn’t have justified his ‘pradhan sevak’ title in a...
By Rahil Nora Chopra In a step forward, Congress is all set to look for a joint candidate of Opposition parties for the vice-presidential election. Congress has assigned the task to Mallikarjun Kharge, who is the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, to communicate with the opposition parties and...
By Arun Srivastava It is not yet clear whether the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s words would prove to be prophetic that Draupadi Murmu’s candidacy could become unifying factor in bringing together all parties, but one thing is certain that Nitish Kumar and Narendra Modi have started the process of...
By Gyan Pathak Social protection for rural workers in ‘remains a dream’ though 80 per cent of the poor of the world live in rural areas. Inadequate safety at work, low wage, lack of stability and security, and excessive working hours are the grinding stones for them in which...
By Prakash Karat THE drive to establish one-party authoritarian rule was clearly expressed by the union home minister, Amit Shah, at the national executive meeting of the BJP held in Hyderabad on July 2-3. Moving the political resolution, Amit Shah said that the next 30-40 years will be the...
By David Broder Boris Johnson’s downfall is the culmination of months of pressure on his leadership, punctuated by repeated scandals over his lying to the public and Parliament. Reports of sexual groping by deputy chief whip Chris Pincher — and Johnson’s knowledge of his past misconduct, before he appointed...
By Nick Wright The weather is hot, tempers are short and, once again, government is in crisis. It normally is — and this one will not be settled while Italians are heading for the beaches. Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio has split from the populist Movimento Cinque Stella...
By Sushil Kutty ‘Why do we obey rules?’ asks The New Yorker and then stretches the answer till one of the rules is about how everybody has the right to let go of the rules too strenuous to live by. And, from what is happening in our own country...
By P. Sreekumaran THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a quick move which has blunted the edge of the Opposition’s criticism, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has secured the resignation of Culture and Fisheries Minister Saji Cherian from his Cabinet. Cherian has had to resign a day after he made the controversial remarks...
By Dr. Gyan Pathak Political signals emanating from Bihar are important for two major reasons – first, these could drastically alter the contours of politics in the state, and secondly, it could potentially impact the communal politics across the country. The most recent changes include defection in All India...
By Gursimran Kaur Bakshi Supreme Court’s judgment in Zakia Jafri versus State of Gujarat came under critical scrutiny by many former civil servants who form the well-known civil society group, Constitutional Conduct Group (‘CCG’) on Tuesday. According to CCG, it is not the dismissal of the appeal that has...
By Satyaki Chakraborty The Ukraine war entered its 134th day on July 7 giving no signs of ending. In the initial days, there were some efforts for active negotiations but since then, it has been converted into an open confrontation between Russia and Ukraine backed by the USA and...
By Arun Srivastava US congress accepting a resolution commemorating the life of the rights defender and Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy, on his first death anniversary and seeking an independent investigation into his death has been a matter of disgrace for the Modi government which only a week back...
By Arun Kumar Shrivastav The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the global tourism industry left not only tourism companies but also the tourism-driven economy in dire straits. Shutdowns and travel restrictions led to the disappearance of international travel. For example, China opened international flights after nearly two years...
By K Raveendran The emergence of organised collection centres for scrap gold is introducing a new trend in the recycling of gold in the country. The new trend is spearheaded by major players such as MMTC-PAMP and Muthoot, which are setting up collection centres across the country. Organised scrap...
By Sushil Kutty The last time the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) piled on the heat on the Modi government was ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, promising to relegate the BJP to second or even third place. That did not happen. Other factors set the trend for...