By Ben Chacko LONDON: NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte is on the warpath, much to the delight of Ukraine’s state-controlled mass media and politicians. Europe’s biggest-selling daily paper, Bild, reports his comments in the light of the Ukraine war: “I’ll tell you very clearly: we have to prepare for war.”...
By Mihir Desai On February 1, 2025, Zakia Jafri passed away at the age of 86, quietly resting in her sister’s home in Ahmedabad – a city that changed her life forever, but where she kept coming back. She was Zakiaappa to me, and I was her lawyer right...
By Nantoo Banerjee It would be wrong to underplay the impact of rising foreign disinvestments from the country’s secondary market on the economy and the very stability of Indian Rupee (INR). Both the domestic economy and INR have been constantly under pressure from large deficit trade balances year after...
By Dr. Gyan Pathak At a time when India’s labour market is undergoing an unprecedented crisis, with about 19 per cent of them are in unpaid employment but counted as employed by the government, non-availability of jobs in the job market has been pushing the people towards self-employment which...
By Sushil Kutty Parliament erupted February 3, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s ‘Budget 2025’ forgotten in the ruckus. The session went from ‘derailed’ to ‘stampede.’ Opposition MPs to a man (and ‘woman’) raised slogans against the ‘Modi and Yogi’ governments, holding the so-called ‘double-engine ki Sarkar’ in Uttar Pradesh responsible...
By Arun Srivastava Saffron ecosystem is desperate to project Narendra Modi’s 2025-26 budget as a significant effort to conjure the middle class to make a strong comeback in the politics of the country and give an exuberant push to the economy. Regrettably this is not even the half-truth. An...
By Girish Linganna India has allocated Rs 6.81 lakh crore (approximately US$82.6 billion) for defence in the financial year (FY) 2025-26, marking a 9.53 per cent increase from the previous year’s Budget of Rs 6.22 lakh crore. This increase highlights the country’s focus on modernizing the military and strengthening...
By Asad Mirza Like many of his recent illogical Presidential orders or statements, President Trump is trying to drive out Palestinians from the occupied territories, into other Arab nations. But the story has a twist, as it has emerged that the Palestinian land in the West Bank is being...
By Dr. Gyan Pathak Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman has emphasized on 100 per cent skilled labour with meaningful employment; 100 per cent quality, good school education; and access to quality, affordable and comprehensive healthcare as part of Vikasit Bharat initiative in her speech while presenting Union Budget...
By Anjan Roy The only big idea about the eighth budget of finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, is an announcement of an income tax exemption of upto Rs 12 lakhs. It is a big jump no doubt, from the exemption level of Rs 7 lakh earlier. There is a political...
By Sushil Kutty All those with a salary upto Rs 12 lakh per annum can tell Income Tax sharks to get the hell out to sea and not return. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman read out her eighth straight budget speech and beat Morarji Desai’s six-in-a-row record. More importantly, Prime...
By K Raveendran Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget announcement to establish five national Centres of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Education, with an allocation of Rs 500 crore, marks a significant step in India’s AI ambitions. These centres, developed through global partnerships and integrated into premier institutions like...
By Arun Srivastava Foreboding that the Hindutva fanatics and saffron ecosystem would convert India into a theocratic state and christen it as the Hindu Rashtra in 2025 appears to be taking a realistic shape and character with the Hindu saints and rightist forces unveiling the “Constitution of Akhand Hindu...
By Kunal Bose One state may call it business summit and another investor meet. But the commonalities in the publicity campaign preceding such conclaves – some states do it annually and some others like West Bengal have opted for once in two years – are striking. States big and...
By Aritra Banerjee In a rare and powerful display of naval strength, India’s two major naval forces—the Western and Eastern Fleets—came together during the ongoing TROPEX-25 exercise. This marks a major shift in India’s approach to maritime security, showing that the country is prepared to respond to threats in...
By Manish Rai Turkey’s proxy groups like the Syrian National Army (SNA) which is also part of a coalition of Syrian opposition groups led by Hayat Taheer Al-Sham (HTS) have been attacking the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in North Syrian since December 2024. In particular, fierce fighting along...
Parvesh Verma, the BJP’s candidate in the New Delhi assembly constituency, filed a complaint with the anti-corruption bureau against Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, accusing him of being involved in alleged corruption linked to the Delhi Sports University. Verma, the former BJP MP, will take on Arvind Kejriwal...
By Nitya Chakraborty What is happening to the proposed official visit of the Russian President Vladimir Putin to India early this year? Is the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to the Russian President to visit India given at the BRICS summit at Kazan on October 22 still valid? Doubts...