View Articles

KOLKATA: A tug-of-war between Trinamool Congress and Congress to observe July 21 as Martyr's Day is an annual event in the political calendar of West Bengal. But what used to be an unequal contest between two political outfits has been joined by another political entity this year.

The fast of the activist educationist Sonam Wangchuk has completed more than two weeks. Without accountability and sensitivity of the government, his life faces a serious risk. There is growing support and solidarity from various student groups and the broad democratic and secular sections of the society. The fast has achieved the objective of bringing to focus, the dire state of Indian education. Resignation of the Education Minister is naturally the focal demand. But it encompasses the whole range of critical concerns that Indian education has come to suffer from.

LONDON: Sir Keir Starmer bid farewell to the House of Commons front bench on July 15 with spiteful smears against his predecessor as his successor deliberated how far he is willing to move beyond the failures of Starmerism.

LONDON: Thousands hit the streets in Durban, Johannesburg, and other cities in South Africa on June 30 to participate in over 120 separate marches demanding that all “illegal foreigners” leave the country. Over 900 participants were arrested, shops were looted in several places as the protests turned violent, and at least two people were killed. Further deaths in the aftermath of the marches are under investigation.

Nitin Gadkari has invested considerable political capital in presenting ethanol-blended petrol as a national solution to several problems at once. It is meant to cut India’s crude oil import bill, reduce emissions, support farmers, create a market for agricultural produce and strengthen energy security. Each of these objectives has merit. Yet the transport minister’s increasingly combative defence of E20 petrol is turning what should have been a carefully managed technological transition into a crisis of public confidence.

At a time when state is increasingly seen resorting to illegal detentions, imminent demolition, deportations, custodial violence and several other actions against common citizens at any time of the day and night, Supreme Court of India’s agreeing to consider framing of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to allow any common citizen, not alone the big people of the country, to knock on the door of the courts any time is a significant development in protecting people’s life and liberty against state highhandedness.

The developments in the BJP over the last ten days relating to the nomination of the party candidate for the Bankipur by poll in Bihar assembly reveal the tussle between the BJP President Nitin Nabin and the all powerful Home Minister Amit Shah. At the end, Shah prevailed by compelling Nabin to withdraw his own candidate and nominate Shah’s chosen Neeraj Kumar Sinha. Bankipur constituency fell vacant due to the resignation of Nitin Nabin as he was nominated President of BJP The polling date is July 30 this year.

Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin, who ignited a controversy in her country with her explosive writings against religious fundamentalism, authoritianism and curbs on freedom of expression, now plans to return to Kolkata, which she calls a home nearest to her heart, after living in European cities and Delhi for two decades since her exile. Her book Lajja was turned into a Bollywood movie with top actors.

LONDON: One man alone is responsible for the resumption of hostilities in the Persian Gulf — Donald Trump. The apparent breakdown of the ceasefire between the US and Iran is a consequence of the US president’s unwillingness to face up to the disaster of his strategy in the region.

NEW YORK: What would be the likely effects of massive introduction of artificial intelligence in the economy from the Marxist point of view?