By Nantoo Banerjee The current pandemic and brewing border tension with China are set to change India’s future economic growth trend in a significant way. The share of industry, agriculture and allied services sectors together in the combined gross value added (GVA) promises to surpass the overwhelming...
By Amulya Ganguli First the Bombay high court said that “we are surprised to find there is no state control over electronic media”. Then the Supreme Court favoured the formation of a committee to set up standards for the media. Even if the background of the...
By Arun Srivastava More than the arrogance it is the sense of insecurity gripping the RJD, and especially its chief ministerial aspirant, Tejashvi Yadav that has been proving to be a major deterrent in giving a final shape to the opposition grand alliance (mahagathbandhan) in Bihar. Only fifteen...
By IPA Correspondent The National Democratic Alliance government has sought to liberalise the contract labour system in the country through labour codes introduced in Parliament on Saturday by giving companies a free hand to hire such workers, along with an easier licensing regime. The central trade unions...
By Mahua Moitra The Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Bill, 2020 is deeply problematic because it further weakens the rights and resources available to the states by taking away the statutory promises made under the new GST regime and while on the other...
By Indira Jaising Ruth Bader Ginsburg, RBG as she was known, has passed on. At 84, she said that she was amazed that people wanted to take pictures with her. This coded remark probably sought to undo several stereotypes–that only young, blond woman are attractive and that age...
By Harihar Swarup Before the start of the truncated Monsoon session of Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “this Parliament, particularly this session, has a special responsibility”. The PM is absolutely right, this Parliament does have a greater task – but that task and responsibility is not just...
By Arun Srivastava Modi government’s denial to accept the survey data provided by “non-government agency about the loss of jobs of 21 million salaried jobs between April and August, weeks after suggesting that 18.9 million salaried jobs were lost between April and July, has not come as...
By K Raveendran Covid has changed the way people shop, learn, and work. E-commerce is booming, brick-and-mortar retailers are shifting to digital platforms, and schools and offices have adopted online classes and working from home. With the use of digital platforms becoming part of daily life, hackers...
By Anjan Roy The political earthquake in parliament house on Thursday culminating in the resignation of the Shiromani Akali Dal’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal from union cabinet reflected the fault lines in the ruling coalition under pressure from entrenched vested interests. Siromani Akali Dal (SAD) has been a...
By Sushil Kutty To quote a TV anchor, not the one served with a privilege notice by the Maharashtra Assembly, “The future is unwritten and we’re in utterly uncharted territory.” This anchor wasn’t talking about the LAC and what would be unfolding there in the coming days. Nor...
By Ben Chacko Bolivia’s coup President Jeanine Añez has dropped out of next month’s presidential elections after polls showed her scraping just over 5 per cent of the vote. Añez, who was appointed by the army after it forced just re-elected president Evo Morales from power last...
By Prabhat Patnaik A striking aspect of the 24 per cent decline in GDP in the first quarter of 2020-21 compared to the previous year’s first quarter is the decline by 10.3 per cent in public administration, defence and other public services. This is a sector where...
By Arun Srivastava The Modi government is not averse to Supreme Court laying down guidelines for the digital media but is completely opposed to apex court laying down “any further guidelines’ for rest of mainstream media on the plea that there already exists sufficient framework and judicial pronouncements...
By Satyaki Chakraborty An estimated 6.6 million white collar professional jobs, including engineers, physicians, teachers, were lost between May and August, bringing their employment to the lowest level since 2016 and wiping out the gains made over the last four years while five million industrial workers were...
By Pradeep Kapoor Chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his party on one hand and opposition parties on the other are facing acid test during forthcoming by-elections for eight assembly seats. The results of these by elections will set the mood for assembly polls in 2022. Chief Minister...
By Rahil Nora Chopra Congress President Sonia Gandhi last week left for her annual medical checkup abroad, a day after she carried out a reshuffle of the organisation. There was a strong demand from Congress leaders both old and young that the 23 members who wrote a letter to...
By Annie Domini The nature of the State is best found in the nature of those it seeks to silence. To understand the Narendra Modi-led government in the centre, one must, therefore, parse the kind of men, women and others the Union wants to say shush to, the...