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With less than a month left for holding of the assembly election in Jharkhand, the INDIA bloc is gearing up to frustrate any attempt by Narendra Modi and his lieutenant Amit Shah to repeat Haryana results in this tribals dominated state.

The allegation by the Canadian Prime Minister Justine Trudeau involving Indian diplomats of the high commission in the killing of the Sikh extremist Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, last year and also in the assassination attempt on another Sikh lawyer G S Pannun in USA, has created a storm in the global diplomatic community. India-Canadian ties have reached its lowest ebb with the expulsion of diplomats by both governments. What is more, the name of the Indian Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, has come up in the mails accessed by the Canadian authorities in the course of investigation.

In view of the recent Global Hunger Index 2024 and UN’s Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2024, Narendra Modi government must not continue turning its blind eye to the serious level of hunger and poverty in the country, and the alarm sounded must not be shouted down referring its GDP without talking about the nature of its growth that has been sharply widening inequality.

Several international organisations are now engaged in the business of measuring what they call “poverty”. The World Bank has been in it for some time, but now we have a new measure of “Multidimensional Poverty” brought out by the UNDP and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI). Neither of these measures however actually measures poverty; they typically end up “prettifying” neo-liberal capitalism. In fact according to the World Bank’s estimate, the proportion of the world’s population that lives in “extreme poverty” (that is, below a daily per capita expenditure of $1.90 at 2011 purchasing power parity exchange rate) has gone down from over 30 per cent in the late 1990s to less than 10 per cent in 2022, suggesting that under neo-liberal capitalism “millions have been lifted out of poverty”. Let us see why this much-quoted World Bank’s measure is conceptually flawed.

Bahraich is Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s big test. How does he handle the crisis will be his ticket to success or failure in the 10 bypolls, and within the party? So far, he seems to be doing 'ok'. Enforcing law & order at any cost and a “danga-free Uttar Pradesh” and the effects of Bahraich on the soon-to-be held 10 bypolls will extend up to 2027, when assembly elections are due.

GIFT City, India's sole international financial services centre, continues to make significant strides in attracting global investment and fostering innovation. Recent developments by Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Anicut Capital highlight the growing confidence in GIFT City's potential. Established in 2007, this ambitious project has witnessed significant growth, attracting numerous financial institutions and investors.

With the establishment of National Terrorism Data Fusion and Analysis Centre (NTDFAC) for enabling of Big Data Analytics and facilitating the automation and digitization of the various investigative processes, and procedures at the headquarters of National Investigation Agency (NIA) at New Delhi, the efficiency, consistency and accountability of the premier national agency to prevent, nab, curb, arrest, prosecute and punish with iron hands, acts, suspected or real terrors, has been made most effective. NIA’s mandate includes investigation of incidents of terror attacks, funding of terrorism, terror related crimes and cases of sabotage, bomb blasts, untoward incidents and similar other occurrences including human trafficking and prohibited arms.

Making a mockery of the BJP slogan of ‘Beti Bachao’ (save our daughters), the last few months have seen an exponential and very disturbing increase in incidents of horrific violence against women and children. Many of the cases include rape and murder of the victims. India is now witnessing more than 86 cases of rape in a day and at least 49 cases of crimes against women every hour. Most of these incidents have been taking place in BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar. TMC-ruled West Bengal has also witnessed horrific crimes against women and minors. An MP in Karnataka who belongs to a powerful political party which is part of the NDA and who was defeated in the last Lok Sabha election was guilty of the rape and sexual abuse of hundreds of women which he filmed and saved on his mobile phone. Many of his victims belonged to his own party.

India, Pakistan open window: Cricket on the table. Foreign ministers hold talks. S Jaishankar and Muhammad Ishaq Dar speak twice in 24 hours at the SCO meet at Islamabad on October 15 and 16. The breakthrough came when the Pakistan Cricket Board chief joined them. Jay Shah should have been flown in, if reducing Indo-Pak relations to the level of cricketing ties was the intention.

Omar Abdullah has become the first Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir sans statehood. With it comes numerous challenges and responsibilities. Administering this Union Territory as chief minister will be just like serving two masters simultaneously – the Centre’s diktat on the one hand and People’s mandate to uphold democracy and federalism on the other.