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Prime Minister Modi’s rightwing Hindu nationalist party, guided by its moral compass, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has limited time to wrest Pakistan Occupied Kashmir from Pakistan, only a billion years! A supercomputer simulation by researchers at Japan’s Tohoku University came to the conclusion that life on earth will last for only a billion more years! Is that time enough for the RSS/BJP to snatch PoK from Pakistan?

The Supreme Court Bench comprising of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Mahadevan had earlier turned down the request of the Government of India to send the case relating to assent to bills by governors and president to a larger Constitution Bench on the ground that it involved ‘substantial questions of law’. Nevertheless, the Bench went ahead and announced its final verdict imposing deadline on governors and president on assent on bills.

The new Covid death data, released recently by the government, reveals everything that confirms what was feared at the time of the pandemic – a massive mismanagement on the part of the government. The new data from the Civil Registration System (CRS), published on May 7, show that about 21 lakh more deaths were registered in 2021, the year of the deadly Delta wave of Covid-19, compared to 2020. This number is about six times the official Covid 2019 death figure. In 2021, the data given by the union government was 3.32 lakh.

Sweet and short: that aptly describes Chief Justice Sanjeev Khanna’s stewardship of the Supreme Court. In a time when judicial personalities often become larger than the institution, Justice Khanna offered a quiet, yet powerful contrast. His tenure followed that of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, and together, the two presented an almost poetic inversion. While Chandrachud assumed office with an imposing reputation, he departed with much of it questioned; Khanna, on the other hand, began with modest public recognition but left behind a reputation both dignified and deeply respected. Chandrachud made his presence felt in speeches and interviews, his thoughts often aired in public forums beyond the courtroom, whereas Justice Khanna let his verdicts speak—and they did, resoundingly. Where one chased headlines, the other created them through the sheer weight of judicial reasoning, not personality.

The Indian Air Force is drawing kudos from all flying quarters except from fly-by-night operators in the Pakistani media and Pakistani intelligentsia along with retired Pakistani diplomats and Pakistani generals, for laying waste nine Pakistan Air bases and downing hundreds of Turkiye drones, in the "4-Day War" between the two nuclear armed neighbours, which Pakistan never fails to mention in any of its references to India, whether it is to the USA or to China or Turkiye, two countries which are "true friends" of Pakistan.

At a time when RSS-BJP clan has been politically opposing everything foreign in the name of Hindutva nationalism, designating a new date by PM Narendra Modi led government for celebrating Ayurveda Day on 23 September in the Gregorian Calendar in place of celebrating it traditionally on Dhanteras, the day of appearance of the physician of gods Dhanvantari as per Hindu Calendar, it clearly signals a shift in Hindutva politics, exposing the ideological contradictions within RSS-BJP clan, and perhaps the drifting apart of the RSS and BJP leaderships.

The ILO Convention On Domestic Workers (C189) was adopted in 2011 with India supporting it. Over a decade later, India continues to debate ratifying the convention despite being the largest employer of domestic workers across the world. Estimates vary that there are as many as between twenty-five and eighty million domestic workers in India. The main reason for non-ratification, as cited by the government of India, is that our existing legal framework does not provide the protections required under C189, particularly regarding the equal treatment of domestic workers with other workers in the country.

After the most welcome ceasefire announcement, one question kept resonating in my mind. I was baffled to see the role of Indian mainstream media during this emergency like situation. Their primary purpose is to provide information and keep the masses aware, but they proved to be TRP hungry corporate houses who would do anything to sell. My head hangs in shame looking at the buffonery they created with special effects showing war missiles, an anchor sitting inside a fake helicopter and what not. Their only excuse can be that even Pakistani media was similarly making false claims but that country has a reputation of making a fool of itself on international platform, biggest example being their defence minister recently who claimed social media to be a source of information.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Will Sunny Joseph, who has been named the new president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) can lead the Congress to power in the 2026 Assembly elections?

The western Press is egging United States President Donald Trump to press India for third-party mediation in the Kashmir imbroglio roiling India-Pakistan relations, while at the same time asserting that Trump has put India, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a "tight spot". Prime Minister Modi wasn't asked for his opinion and is Trump capable of putting India in a "tight spot", if at all!