By Prakash Karat As the election campaign for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls is in full swing with the first phase of elections be held on February 10 in western UP, it has become clear that the BJP is banking solely on the Hindutva communal plank for mobilising support....
By Pradeep Kapoor LUCKNOW: The polling in 58 assembly seats during first phase in Uttar Pradesh elections on February 10 will set the mood and trend for rest of the constituencies in UP. BJP is more under pressure to retain its seats as it has won 53 out of...
By Dr Arun Mitra We have faced serious health crisis in the last two years particularly due to the COVID Pandemic which has cost dearly precious lives, economy and pushed millions of people into joblessness and loss of livelihood adding to the already existing poverty. Large number of population...
By Sushil Kutty If reformation was the goal, the “bigoted” Bharatiya Janata Party would also have been invited to the all-parties’ meet to fight “bigotry and religious hegemony.” However, Joseph Stalin’s namesake, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, didn’t think his call to fight “bigotry and religious hegemony” would...
By P. Sreekumaran THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Union Budget has come as a huge disappointment for Kerala once again. The 18-point wish list of the Left Democratic Government , which had pinned great hopes on the Budget remains what it is: a mere wish list! The State’s disappointment is clear from...
By Amarjeet Kaur The whole exercise appeared to be a farce as it was claimed to be budget vision for 100 years of independence. In 2015 also the budget presentation was claimed to be for 25 years. The Finance Minister failed to give account of what happened to all...
By Kurt Hackbarth The new year 2022 is looking bright for Andrés Manuel LópezObrador and his party, MORENA. Despite a two-year pandemic that has taken its toll on other world leaders, his popularity rating remains high. After months of scuffles with the opposition, the recall election he promised to...
By W. T. Whitney Jr. Campaigning in Colombia began on January 15 for congressional elections on March 13, and for first-round voting for a new president on May 29. Gustavo Petro, leader of the progressive Humane Colombia movement, will likely be the Historical Pact coalition’s presidential candidate. A former...
By Nitya Chakraborty How does one characterize the budget 2022-23 of the Narendra Modi government presented by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 in Parliament? The budget was presented when the third wave of the pandemic is not yet over, but certainly the intensity is on decline...
By Dr. Gyan Pathak Hit hardest by the COVID-19 crisis and mishandling of the situation while implementing the containment measures for the last two years, the workforce in India have been keenly awaiting for relief in the Union Budget 2022-23, but the Modi government has let them down, at...
By Teesta Setalvad Dear Gauri, Two days from today you turn 60. What would we have done to celebrate this key milestone? There would surely have been anger and tears with the joys and spirits of celebration. We would have argued and bickered about how to be together in...
By Arun Srivastava Kairana Mission of BJP top leaders Narendra Modi and Amit Shah has failed to yield the desired result of polarisation of Hindu and Muslim. The back ground materials and the action paper which the saffron think tank and top intellectuals had prepared after putting nearly a...
By Arun Kumar Shrivastav Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made some much-awaited announcements about income from crypto transactions in the Union Budget 2022-23 presented on February 1, 2022. As per the budget proposals, the government intends to levy a flat 30% tax on profits earned on crypto transactions. This is...
By Anjan Roy Finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, has delivered a muscular and masculine budget with lots of enthusiasm in it. She has been ambitious and seeking to set the court for the country for the next 25 years, hidden in platitudes of Amrit Kaal. Ignoring the rising fiscal deficit...
By Harihar Swarup On the face of it, Bhagat Singh Mann, the newly anointed chief ministerial face of the Aam Admi Party in coming election in Punjab has a razor sharp wit directed towards the ruling dispensation, and the bluster. Be it in a village, a dhaba or a...
By Medea Benjamin It’s a historic new era for Honduras, where the people managed to defeat Juan Orlando Hernández’s narco state and elect Xiomara Castro, the country’s first-ever woman president, and a progressive to boot. As presidential candidate of the left-leaning Libre Party, Xiomara Castro won a landslide victory...
By James M. Dorsey Iran recently scored not one but two soccer successes. Fans celebrated after the country’s national team qualified for the third consecutive time for the World Cup after beating Iraq 1:0 last week. It wasn’t just men celebrating. It was men and women mingling freely in...
By Nantoo Banerjee The massive outlay for capital expenditure in the union budget is the boldest and most timely step taken by the government to ensure a speedy economic recovery. It will address the issue of unemployment and loss of individual income which plagued the economy through the two...