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In a vibrant parliamentary democracy like India, the political mood changes very fast and that is what the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is experiencing now after his seven years of undisputed stewardship. The latest survey done by the opinion agency C-Voter shows that the acceptability of the Prime Minister has nosedived from earlier 67 per cent to 35 per cent this month in the background of the Government’s gross failure in controlling the pandemic, especially after the second wave and the acute financial distress currently faced by the people.

The Union government may disagree but it is not in control of either the economy or the nation’s health. The government is increasingly facing the wrath of the public, opposition parties, NGOs and a large section of the media over its failure to manage the situation. In a way, the country’s economy is facing the spectre of 2020, when it contracted by anything between 7.7 percent and 9.6 percent. The country lost GDP worth well over Rs.10 trillion. The monthly per capita income level dropped to around Rs.10,000 from Rs. 11,254 in 2019-20. Income of factory workers is down. So are factory production and supplies. Poor transportation facility further adds to the problem. The government does not seem to have any clue about how to handle the situation. At the same time, the overall money supply with the public recorded a double digit increase. A select group of businessmen is minting money out of the situation. The inflation rate — both wholesale and retail — is on a fast forward mode. Prices are soaring almost every month.

New Delhi: Contesting for the second term Narinder Batra was re-elected as the International Hockey Federation (FIH) President as he piped Marc Coudron of Belgium by razor thin margin of two votes at the world body's virtual 47th Congress on Saturday.

New Delhi: Hockey is in my DNA and it was but natural that i got attracted to this game from the very start , said midfielder Jaskaran Singh.

India has four decades of experience in running a national immunisation programme for children and pregnant women. It has successfully conducted large-scale mass vaccination drives for many years for polio elimination. Therefore, there was every reason to believe it could deliver Covid-19 vaccines efficiently; however, the ongoing drive in India is faltering (and even that is an understatement).

We must not be misled by the figures of economic growth and revival being reported in the media now-a-days. Rather, we need to analyse them carefully, because they are being compared with a low base of the pandemic year 2020, to present a rosy picture of the economic revival which is yet fragile and uncertain due to the second wave of COVID-19 causing great loss to lives and livelihoods. Jobs and household incomes have been nosediving for weeks, which should make people and the government beware of the consequences. The new additions to the jobless and the households with only a little or without income also need special assistance immediately for survival.

Sunderlal Bahuguna is no more. The veteran environmentalist and Chipko movement leader passed away on May 21 around noon at a hospital in Rishikesh, where he had been admitted about two weeks ago following Covid-type symptoms.

Our first concept of self-reliance came out of our struggle for independence. It meant developing the indigenous capacity of our people, institutions and industry against the colonial control of the economy. The second self-reliance – Modi’s slogan of Atmanirbhar Bharat – means only local manufacturing. Without the other elements of self-reliance, it has failed to deliver even the vaccines that we need so urgently today. The first self-reliance broke the monopoly of multinational companies – Big Pharma – and gave us the generic pharmaceutical industry that made India the global pharmacy of the poor. Backed by the 1970 Indian Patent Act, the CSIR laboratories reverse-engineered the drugs. This is how the Indian public sector and other indigenous manufacturers developed the world’s biggest generic drug and vaccine manufacturing capacity.

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) has given a call to observe 26th may, 2021 as a Black Day for Indian Democracy. That is the day Narendra Modi Government took oath of office in 2014 and then again on 30th May in 2019. 26th May is the day when the Chalo Dilli Kisan Andolan completes 6 months. It is also the day when the All India Strike called by the Central Trade Unions on their continued demands for cash transfer to poor families, universally free rations to all needy, expansion of MGNREGA and new employment scheme for urban areas, against privatisation of PSUs and government departments, for scraping NPS and restoration of earlier pension scheme etc., becomes 6 month old.

West Bengal and North East Region (NER) are at the geographical heartland of India for the axis to Act East policy. The proximity of both to South East Asia and East Asia is the bedrock for strategic policies to promote India’s relations with these regions. Nevertheless, West Bengal has an edge over NER. While NER is hamstrung by issues like lacklustre connectivity and wide differences in cultural heritages with mainland of the country, West Bengal is poised as the lever for Act East policy.