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Amid all the heat and hype of electioneering in West Bengal, one fact stands out prominently and incontrovertibly. The Election Commission has totally failed to conduct peaceful polls in West Bengal. What happened at Sitalkuchi in North Bengal on April 10 has got nationwide publicity because five persons were killed but incidents of poll-related violence have been taking place from the beginning. It is ostensibly to prevent violence that the EC took the unusual decision of holding Bengal polls in eight phases. It is again to maintain peace that the EC requisitioned 80,000 Central paramilitary forces in West Bengal. It has requisitioned another 71,000 for the next four phases.

India has got a new Chief Election Commissioner. Sushil Chandra moved to the top post April 13, a Tuesday and notably ‘new year’ in the Hindu calendar. What’s striking is that in photographs, he looks like a 1960s Bollywood movie actor. One of those oily characters who come up with slick performances. The question is what kind of CEC will Sushil Chandra be? The point is, in the last nearly one decade, not one CEC has toed the people’s line, so to speak.

Should political parties in India play politics over Covid 19?

That is what is happening on vaccines' delivery in the past few days when a dangerous second wave is endangering to attack the country. It has resulted in a fight for more doses of vaccines between the opposition-ruled states and the Modi government. The former allege that they were getting stepmotherly treatment.

The foundation of growth of anyone into a successful human is laid in schools. The system of modern education was introduced in the British Empire era but children of upper strata were educated in the Ashram of the learned sage and children of lower strata had their family elders to give them insight of the family vocation. Ability to read and write was not considered o be a need in life time of poor as religion prohibited a change of the caste specific vocation. For 25 years after independence, good private schools had to wait for students seeking admissions but 1972 began to change to bring pressure to escape crowding parents with readiness to contribute the development share. Getting admission to the recognized famous school for their child was the key to opening many purse strings.

Last weekend marked the 53d anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination. Over half a century. Has America come any closer to his dream?

As India enters the third phase of its ambitious COVID-19 vaccination drive, many state governments are reporting vaccine shortages and are having to close down some of their vaccination centres, with supplies available for only 2 or 3 days. Most of these states are non-Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) ruled ones, but some BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh are also reporting impending shortages.

Internationally migrated people are among the most vulnerable groups to suffer disproportionally from COVID-19 pandemic. Due to repeated wave of infections destination countries and their people are hardening their policies and opinions about accepting the migrants. India is to greatly suffer in the present scenario posing a big challenge to the country.

The Left movement in Latin America got a big jolt on Sunday as the conservative banker Guillermo Lasso won the presidential elections in Ecuador in the run off by defeating the Left leaning candidate Andres Arauz who was much ahead in the opinion poll till the polling day. Arauz, the protégé of the former president Rafael Correa topped the first presidential poll on February 7 and was expected to win the run off on April 11, according to most political analysts.

The Modi government’s narrative surrounding Sitalkuchi police firing in which four labourers were killed has been critically exposed. The nefarious design of Vivek Dube, the special police observer to put the blame on the local people lies shattered. In his report Dubey a known supporter of BJP, deputed to Bengal by the Election Commission said a boy had fallen sick near a polling booth and some women were found taking care of him.

Any presumption that the construction of the Ayodhya temple marked the end of the BJP’s religion-centric politics, ensuring that the Hindus and Muslims would live happily ever after, was a foolhardy one. The BJP has made so much headway by its pursuit of a Hindu agenda that it apparently sees the programme of advancing the cause of the majority community as a goose that lays the golden electoral eggs. It will be unrealistic, therefore, to expect the party to step back from a path which pays so much political dividends.