By Harihar Swarup In the opaque ecosystem of the Congress, to be eyes and ears is as big a compliment as it gets. That’s what K C Venugopal is, party insiders say. The AICC general secretary in-charge of the organization is to Rahul Gandhi what the late Ahmed Patel...
By Sushil Kutty The Modi Government will not topple Maha Vikas Aghadi. Not when it’s plagued with indecisiveness, and Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut cannot with his utterances dissuade the Modi Government from targeting MVA ministers and legislators, members of the extended Thackeray family. Not as long...
By Arun Kumar Shrivastav Earlier this month, China announced a 7.1% increase in its defence budget to about $230 billion. The news generated concerns in relevant quarters in India. China maintains the highest number of active military personnel in the world and its defence budget is the 2nd largest...
By James M Dorsey Indonesia has emerged as a primary battleground between democratic and autocratic visions of Islam in the 21st century. The battle pits Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the world’s largest civil society movement with 90 million followers and powerful ministers in Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s cabinet, against Abdullah...
By Kalyani Shankar Will the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal emerge as a challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress Party, or both? No doubt winning Punjab will encourage him to spread his Aam Admi Party’s wings to other states, but can he achieve his ambition? It may...
By Anjan Roy The Reserve Bank governor, Shaktikanta Das, has reiterated that the primary objective of the monetary would continue to be price stability. In an environment of unprecedented uncertainty and flux, maintaining stable price line could be a daunting task. All principal variables which would critically determine the...
By P. Sreekumaran THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Clouds of confrontation have thickened over Kerala’s political sky with the Opposition deciding to intensify the agitation against the SilverLine project and the Government equally determined to go ahead with the project. An unfazed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has signalled his government’s intent to go...
By K R Sudhaman It really goes to the credit of Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan in crafting this year’s state budget in a manner to reign in on fiscal deficit at difficult covid times without burdening the common man with more and new taxes. There is...
By Dr. Gyan Pathak The COVID-19 pandemic has “severely affected” the education system in India, however, Modi government has failed so far to take proper remedial response in the post-pandemic grim situation that has taken all level of education under its grip. The response so far is much less...
By Sushil Kutty But for this one panel member, who could not bear to see his hard work swept under the carpet, nobody would have known the “truth” about the three farm laws. The three farm laws were opposed by a big chunk of farmers, but, says a SC-appointed...
By Arun Srivastava At a time when the common Muslim has been distancing himself from rigid religious beliefs, having faith in the rule of law, constitutional norms and be liberal, the verdict of the Karnataka High Court not to wear Hijab in school and colleges as it is not...
By Nantoo Banerjee There were writings on the wall. Only India’s official economists seemed to have failed to read and report to the government. Oil rally was expected to continue through 2022 as demand outstripped supply. By January 29, this year, oil posted its sixth straight weekly gain as...
By Sankar Ray The more the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan Niazi zooms in on 25 March (if not earlier),the fateful voting for no-confidence motion at the National Assembly, the more rattled is the hierarchical order of the main ruling party, Pakistan Tehreek-i- Insaf, headed by the PM....
By Dr. Gyan Pathak The pace at which India is moving forward in providing social safety net for workforce is too slow to cover entire workforce in years to come. The monthly provisional data just released by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) reveals that the situation is still...
By Sushil Kutty We’ve heard of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 56” chest, and we’ve heard of how Modi can stand on one leg and give Baba Ramdev a run for his Yoga. Modi’s superhuman exploits would fill a tome the size of a NYT bestseller, and if people never...
By Dr Arun Mitra The Under Graduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) of the National Medical Commission (NMC) in its video conference meeting held on 17th February 2022 has decided to replace the Hippocratic Oath taken by the doctors to affirm their commitment to medical ethics while treating the patients....
By James M Dorsey Three scantily dressed samba dancers wearing traditional feather headdresses laid bare the limits of social liberalisation in Saud Arabia when they earlier this year danced on the streets of Jizan, a historically conservative city on the border with Yemen. Invited to participate in the Jizan...
By Paras Ahuja The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 broadly classifies offences into two types: ‘bailable’ and ‘non-bailable’, under Section 2(a) read with Schedule 1. It is pertinent to note that while the grant of bail is a matter of right in case of bailable offences, as provided under...