By Arun Srivastava The political spectre looming over the country points to bad days. The recent political actions of Narendra Modi without any ambiguity underline the threat of India turning into an authoritarian state. Modi has turned so self-aggrandizer that he is reluctant to stand to his...
By Ashis Biswas While it has not been possible for the Border Security Force (BSF) and different state police authorities to reduce illegal cattle sales to Bangladesh to zero level, cow smuggling has declined sharply over the years. However, reports from Assam and West Bengal areas close to...
By Arun Srivastava It was certainly not a coincidence that on the day Prime Minister was addressing the Independence Day rally, Amit Shah in association with the senior BJP leaders and members of the core group of party was working on the design to throw out the...
By Nitya Chakraborty In 1960, at the global level, the most important development was the World Conference of the communist parties, the result of which was the 81 parties’ document. The conference laid bare the growing fissures within the once monolithic communist movement, as well as the...
By Dr. Gyan Pathak The ongoing freebies case in the Supreme Court of India has reached an interesting stage with the DMK seeking to be made a party into it. It clearly indicated that the presumption on which the ‘freebies’ is understood would decide its fate in favour...
By Sushil Kutty Monday, the eleven persons who gang-raped Bilkis Bano during the 2002 Gujarat communal riots walked free. The panel that let them off called it “remission”, which is different from “relapse”. And, with these ’11’, you never know when they’ll have a relapse. Anything is possible...
By James M Dorsey When Russia invaded Ukraine, it took itself off the map of Eurasian transport corridors linking China and Europe. At the same time, it breathed new life into moribund routes that would allow goods to travel across the Eurasian landmass without traversing Russia. It also...
By Harihar Swarup The Vice-President, Jagdeep Dhanker is a quick learner. Within months of joining the Sainik School in Rajasthan’s Chittorgarh, as a class five student, he became proficient in English. “During the summer vacation when he came home, he was asked before visiting government officials to display...
By David Cavendish On Wednesday, August 10, President Joe Biden signed the treaty to admit Sweden and Finland to membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This follows on the action last week of the Senate, which voted 95 to 1 (with one member voting “present”...
By Sushil Kutty Prime Minister Narendra Modi must have burned midnight oil to think up his five pledges to turn India into a country of his dreams by 2047, independent India’s centenary year. And the ’5 Modi Pledges’ appear to have limped away from the basic goals of...