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.Economic Survey 2021-22 Lacks Credibility In Terms Of Growth Forecast
By Nantoo Banerjee India’s Economic Survey 2022 presented in Parliament on Monday somewhat lacks credibility when it comes to the GDP growth forecast of 8.0-8.5 for the coming financial year with certain riders. The projection is based on the assumption “that there will be no further debilitating pandemic related...
Shooting Oil Prices Can Upset Budget Projections
By Nantoo Banerjee High global oil and gas prices seem to have put the government in a fix as it is unable to pass on the increasing import price burden immediately on the country’s retail consumers mainly due to the crucial assembly election in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s largest...
Economic Survey 2021-22 — Economic Hardship Ahead In The Next Financial Year
By Dr. Gyan Pathak The financial year 2022-23 will be bringing hardship to the people of India, as it has been revealed in the data released by the Economic Survey 2021-22 tabled in the Parliament of India on January 31. Indian economy is expected to witness a 9.2 per...
Nirmala Is Saddled With More Problems Than Solutions In Budget 2022-23
By K R Sudhaman Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman is in an unenvious position as she gives finishing touches to general budget 2022 to be presented to Parliament on February one because there appears to be no easy solutions to manifold conflicting issues. At this juncture reigning in on macro-economic...
Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Time Ayega’ In This Budget Session Of Parliament
By Sushil Kutty The first day of Parliament’s Budget Session and our Pradhan Sevak Narendra Modi fervently wished the session will see serious and “engaging” discussions on vital issues. Does that mean Modi, the favourite politician and Prime Minister of opinion polls, will allow a “serious” discussion, engaging it...
Controversy Over Kerala Ordinance On Lok Ayukta Deepens
By P. Sreekumaran THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The controversy over the ordinance seeking to reduce the Lok Ayukta’s powers has deepened with Left-supported Independent MLA K T Jaleel leveling allegations against the Lok Ayukta. Jaleel, who was a minister in the first Pinarayi Vijayan Cabinet, had to resign following an adverse Lok...
Myanmar Junta Faces Increasing Resistance At The End Of One Year Of Coup
By Sankar Ray The so-called ‘Spring Revolution’, the caption of the military coup on 1 February 2021 in Yangon shows signs of nervous disorder due to an increasing opposition from the global community. Neighbouring countries like Thailand and Bangladesh are uneasy at developments. Multinational oil companies, USA-based Chevron, France’s...
Portugal’s Socialist Party Led By PM Antonio Costa Wins Majority In Snap Poll
By Satyaki Chakraborty Portugal’s centre-left Socialists led by the Prime Minister Antonio Costa won an outright parliamentary majority in Sunday’s snap general election defying all latest projections in the opinion poll. The slim majority in the 230 member Parliament is a big booster for the PM Costa who defeated...
Assam Can Be A Good Conduit For Expanding Trade With Bangladesh
By Ashis Biswas Bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh may have increased steadily in recent times but transactions involving the northern areas of Bangladesh and Northeast Indian states have not really taken off. Progress remains slow despite recent official efforts on both sides to increase overall business turnover, by...
New York Times Report On Pegasus Brings Narendra Modi Near His ’Watergate Moment’
By Nitya Chakraborty The New York Times has finally put the Narendra Modi Government on the dock. India officially bought Israeli spyware Pegasus as a part of the composite defence deal during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel in July 2017. For the last six...
Budget 2022-23 To Impact Workforce As Never Before
By Dr. Gyan Pathak It may be worst of times and it may be best of times, for workforce and the employers. Union Budget 2022-23 to be tabled on February 1 is being anxiously awaited by the workforce on the one hand and the employers on the other, for...
RPN Singh’s Exit From Congress To BJP Matters Little In Uttar Pradesh Polls
By Harihar Swarup RPN Singh’s exit from the Congress and entry into BJP has less to do with the Congress and more to do with BJP. Another leader leaving the Congress in Uttar Pradesh is hardly likely to make a difference to the party’s dim prospect in Uttar Pradesh....
Supreme Court’s Non-Committal Stand Points To Complexity Of Quota System
By K Raveendran The Supreme Court was expected to introduce some clarity on the issue of reservation for promotion in jobs for scheduled castes and tribes. In fact, the Centre had specifically requested the court to remove the prevailing confusion in the issue. But the court has not only...
Jats Of Western Uttar Pradesh Determined To Teach BJP A Big Lesson
By Sushil Kutty The Jats of western Uttar Pradesh are bent on teaching the Bharatiya Janata Party a lesson in losing elections! For the last week and more, the ruling party at the Centre, and in Uttar Pradesh, has been doing its best to change the thinking of the...
CPI Declares To Contest 20 Seats On Party Symbol
By Gurnam Kanwar CHANDIGARH: Punjab unit of CPI has declared to contest more than twenty seats in Punjab elections, if Samyukat Samaj Morcha leadership does not listen to Left’s concerns and goes on cornering the left forces which determinedly fought in recent peasant struggle. Addressing a press conference at...
Centre’s Denial Of Debate On Uniform Civil Code Unconstitutional
By Dr Saumya Saxena The vexed debate on a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) predictably picks up around election time. The issue ties up conversations on women’s rights, secularism and national integration in a single albeit unconvincing narrative. National unity is emphasised vociferously by those who often carry a record...
The Tragedy Of Macbeth Is A Cinematic Feast For Starving Film Lovers
By Eileen Jones It’s an amazing thing to watch Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, currently playing on Apple TV+, after seeing a lot of other new American movies recently. The film’s beauty, ambition, and impact are so much greater than what even gets attempted these days, it’s discombobulating...
The Big Lie Behind United States And NATO Policy In Europe
By David Cavendish In a speech in 1881, Wendell Phillips, the famous abolitionist and Native American rights activist, said that history is but “a series of lies agreed upon.” The expression originated in 18th century France, with both Voltaire and Napoleon Bonaparte, along with the American transcendentalist writer Ralph...
