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During the financial year 2023-24, bank loans worth Rs 1.70 lakh crore were written off, as revealed in Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary’s recent written reply in the Rajya Sabha. It makes the total written off amount to swell to Rs16.26 lakh crore since April 2014 to the end of March 2024. The biggest beneficiaries of these are big Indian corporates and businesses.

India seems to be filled with a giddy rapture as the Rs.11.12-lakh crore Tata group has ventured into semiconductor fab production by simultaneously taking up two projects – one in Gujarat and the other in Assam – to put the country on the world microchip makers’ map. The two plants will have a combined investment of Rs.1,18,000 crore. The government itself appears to be flushed with excitement as the country will soon have its own semiconductor fab production units. While the indigenously built Assam plant is expected to become operational next year, the giant Gujarat plant, in collaboration with Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (PSMC) from Taiwan, is likely to be in production by 2026 end.

The former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, abruptly left her country on August 5, causing immediate concern in her country and the region.

In the universe of metals ranging from aluminium to steel to copper, China has a domineering presence to the extent of it owning in many cases over half the global capacity and as a natural follow-up making more than half the production and using that locally. But as it would happen, this gigantic profile in metals is not backed by adequate domestic extraction and supply of minerals. Take bauxite for example, the raw material containing mostly aluminium oxide, from which is extracted alumina through Bayer process for finally white metal smelting.

Recent riots across several U.K. towns and cities following the killing of three children, Alice Aguiar (9), Bebe King (6) and Elsie Stancombe (7) and the injury of several others during a knife attack in Southport on July 29, makes one wonder how in a country which is known for changing its image as being multicultural and assimilating, such incidents happen.

Rightist forces are on prowl across the globe. What has been happening in UK and to some extent in Bangladesh are interrelated and are the components of the universal rightist design to consummate the secular and liberal forces.

When the Supreme Court Chief Justice of Supreme Chandrachud says people are fed up with the way our courts function, there cannot be a more serious indictment of the judicial system. His assertion that the judiciary should not be an institution run solely by judges for judges is a significant critique that underscores systemic issues within India’s legal framework. The perspective is not just a reflection of personal discontent but an observation that has been echoed in the Supreme Court’s various judgments and statements over time.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has thrown his hat into the quota within quota ring, that is set by a recent Supreme Court verdict. Though the verdict has allowed a structured reservation policy for SC in job and education by subcategorization of more backward castes for sub-quota relative to other castes in the group, it has wider implication for ST and OBC reservations too, especially in the light of the ‘creamy layer’ issue that it referred.

Social media is flooded with the messages deprecating Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Jagdeep Dhankar for his behaviour on Friday in the house and more for his obstinate observation for Samajwadi Party member Jaya Bachchan. While a message reads “he symbolises arrogance & impatience”, the other says “Dhankar is a misogynistic piece “. Yet another mentioned ”he is as shameless as any other sanghi”. Even a BJP sympathiser wrote “The Chair is to carry the team & not threaten. That is not a forte of any BJP leader!” There are numerous such messages.

Some people are trying to read the mind of ousted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Others are saying they do not know where Hasina is! The United States didn’t give her refuge. The United Kingdom point-blank refused. There was talk of France and Finland, but apparently they wheedled out. Maybe, Hasina might have to ask ‘X’ owner Elon Musk for a lift into Space.