View Articles

Even as the Congress in Kerala is luxuriating in its remarkable Lok Sabha election victory, the party is riven by virulent factionalism, submerged under an avalanche of complaints lodged by victorious party candidates, of active attempts at sabotage by rivals. Topping the list is senior Congress leader K. Muralidharan, who had the mortification of finishing a poor third in the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency. The infighting in the Congress found BJP candidate Suresh Gopi creating history by opening the BJP’s Lok Sabha account in Kerala.

A recent Supreme Court judgment affirming the “right to be free from adverse effects of climate change” as a fundamental Constitutional right has sparked a noteworthy debate. This landmark decision sits at the intersections of the urgent imperatives of biodiversity conservation, human rights and climate action. Central to the controversy is the conservation of the Great Indian Bustard habitat, which has been compromised by overhead power transmission lines.

Having been confirmed as the finance minister in the Modi 3:0 cabinet, Nirmala Sitharaman is more pressed for time compared to her other colleagues as the budget of the new government is hardly a month away. And her budget-making this time is more complex as she has to accommodate the compulsions of coalition politics as well. Overall, she faces a complex landscape of economic challenges.

Narendra Modi will likely start his third term as Prime Minister with an onslaught against him. That is if Raebareli MP Rahul Gandhi keeps faith with his charge that Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, had with their prediction of a post-election stock market rally, guided tens of thousands of gullible 'bhakts', and common folks, up the garden path and into financial ruin, with unsolicited investment advice. Rahul Gandhi has demanded a JPC probe to nail Modi and Shah to the charge.

India and Bangladesh will seek to cover new areas of bilateral cooperation and regional development with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visits Delhi later this month, or in July, to hold scheduled talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Going by recent reports/analyses in the Bangladeshi media, sharing the region’s water resources more effectively could receive top priority in the expanded bilateral dialogue.

Even 32 years after the passage of the 73rd amendment of the Constitution of India, Panchayati Raj as a system of governance is being systematically crippled by the higher political and bureaucratic layers. Moreover, digitalization has been adversely impacting the Panchayat’s power and functioning in a way that was not ever imagined before. Panchayats are far from the ideal of the amendment brought in 1992.

With Narendra Modi elected Prime Minister for the third time, this time at the head of a coalition government, the question at the uppermost on the people’s mind as he took the oath of office and secrecy at Rashtrapati Bhavan was: Could Modi be a coalition builder?

Narendra Modi is the first Prime Minister of India who occupied that high office for a third term after making blatant communal speeches while campaigning and maligning Muslims with his hate-filled remarks.

Growing cyber gaming frauds have prompted cyber wing of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to advise people to exercise caution when engaging in online gaming. The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (14C) of the MHA’s cautionary message says, “Play Smart, Play Safe, Stay Secure while gaming online”. The 14C wing has urged the people to download online apps only from authentic sources like Google Play Store, Apple Store and Official Websites. The 14C’s advice exhorts the people to “always check game app publishers to ensure website legitimacy. The warning calls upon the people to never fall in the trap of game in-app purchases and lucrative subscription offers.

Sikh separatist Amritpal Singh is the winner from Punjab’s Khadoor Sahib parliamentary constituency, putting the central government in a fix. The government appears undecided on what should be done with him. Speculation is rife over whether he would be released on interim bail from Dibrugarh Central jail in Assam, where he is being held, or other measures are under consideration.