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President Nicolas Maduro announced new security and defence measures across Venezuela on Tuesday to deal with the outbreak of far right violence in the country. Violence erupted on Monday following news that Mr Maduro had been re-elected president. Sunday’s vote has been verified by independent observers, but the opposition has issued its usual claim that the result was rigged.

The Middle East was thrown into an unprecedented turmoil on Wednesday as the news came of the killing of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Teheran in the morning by unidentified gunmen in his residence. Though the Iranian government said that they were investigating the killing and the Israeli government kept officially mum, the Palestine leaders termed it as ‘a treacherous Zionist raid’.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's response to the opposition's critique of the budget, coupled with Rahul Gandhi’s performance, has turned out to be the highlight of the debate on the budget in the Lok Sabha. The crux of the opposition's argument was that the budget disproportionately favoured Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, states of considerable political importance for the ruling BJP government, while neglecting others. Sitharaman’s rebuttal, while robust in defending the budget's allocations, seems to have been more focused on addressing the specific points raised rather than engaging with the underlying sentiment of the criticism.

Much was expected from the budget presented by the Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman on July 23, 2024. Since the BJP has lost majority in the Lok Sabha and is now dependent on others to continue to be in power, there was a hope that the budget will have some pro-people out look. But it turned out to be a damp squib. Health and education, the two key sectors for any nation’s development as well as for employment generation have been neglected in this budget.

After a recent rocket attack on a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, the question of whether the Middle East is on the verge of an all-out war has captured global attention. This attack, which resulted in the death of 12 people amid the ongoing Gaza conflict, has escalated tensions to a critical level. In response, Israeli forces carried out a drone strike in southern Lebanon, resulting in casualties. This attack was directly attributed to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese armed group. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in the United States at the time, swiftly returned to Israel and, after a meeting with the security cabinet, declared, "Hezbollah will have to pay a heavy price for this attack—a price they have never had to pay before."

Throwing a casteist slur against anyone is wrong. Moreover, when a former Union Minister does it against the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the House of the People, and the Prime Minister endorses the speech containing the slur, they do inflict a personal, social and political injury not only to the opposition but to the very national fabric of the country. Leaders of the ruling establishment did this only to oppose LoP’s demand of a Caste Census, while allying themselves with the political party that got a Caste Census in their state. What a rank hypocrisy!

Swami Vivekananda would have held his head in frustration, like Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did, when the Lok Sabha descended to the level of a caste-cauldron like Kerala used to be when Vivekananda visited God’s Own Country. But unlike Vivekananda, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thought the debate on ‘Caste’ went very well, especially for “younger colleague” Anurag Thakur, whose speech with a “perfect mix of facts and humour” was a “must-hear”.

Give a bad name to the dog and kill it. This is actually happening with the railways. Recurring train accidents are the best motives for marketing the train services to private sector. Selling a profit making organisation would invite severe public outcry and criticism. It would give a bad name to the government and turn it suspect in the eyes of the common people. Though the Narendra Modi government has handed over a chunk of railway operation and services to Adani group, it is the fear of public revolt against this move that prohibits Narendra Modi from gifting the entire railway to the private sector.

Rahul Gandhi’s speech in the Lok Sabha on the Union Budget 2024-25 on July 29, was not only an expose of the lotus trap, but also a voice given to the entrapped, the muted, and the people living constantly under fear. Avoiding jargons and the technical terms, he tried to explain the budget for the common people in the simple language they can understand, and hence was too disconcerting to the ruling benches, who intermittently disrupted his speech, and at times direct telecast was switched off lest people could get the political message of the Leader of the Opposition.

The corporate sector and the pink papers have largely welcomed the Union budget 2024–25. One can always wish for more but it is a relief if one is not hurt and there is a standstill. It was expected that after the recent election results, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government will introduce measures in the budget to bring back disaffected sections of the population into its fold. That required the budget to be pro-people— and such budgets are narrowly interpreted as anti-business by the Indian corporate sector.