View Articles

Few will shed tears to sing the dirge of the dying year, 2020. It was a year of fear, the fear of a pandemic the like of which the world never experienced. Covid-19 sent the world into a big death trap and depression. Will the New Year be different? As for now, there is little sign of a strong recovery. The scare of a more deadly mutant Wuhan virus has spoilt the cherished Christmas in the United Kingdom. “Over the last few days, thanks to our world-class genomic capability, we have identified a new variant of the coronavirus, which may be associated with the faster spread in the South of England,” UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the House of Commons on December 14. The UK has already notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the variant. Europe and the rest of the world are worried.

The impact of Covid-19 in our lives is wide-ranging–loss of livelihoods and incomes, forced migration, increased unemployment, disruption of the education system, reduced access to routine healthcare services, interrupted work and home environments and restrictions on travel, meetings, leisure activities and visits to friends and relatives.

Utter confusion prevails over the priorities of the current regime. The nine months and a week duration of the lock down, a period equivalent to the pregnancy in which a new life in conceived and developed, no one is certain what would the pregnancy deliver. The regime is preparing on a war footing to raise a new symbol, a new Parliament House to replace the existing one in two years to coincide with the diamond jubilee celebration of India’s independence in 1922.

The Mumbai Police has wound a complicated path in its quest to discipline Republic TV, struggling to get a foothold, gaining it and then, inexplicably, losing it at that exact time when it looked like the cops were on top and the journalist was down in the dumps with his face in the mud! And now, in the unending Republic TV-Mumbai Police saga, with yet another twist to the narrative, it clouds the mind to fully comprehend that, at the end of the day, it all boiled down to what – an ugly war for supremacy between two media outlets – one established and hoary in age, the other way considerably younger and on the go with whatever it takes.

As the year 2020 drawing to a close, silver lines on the horizon have become visible. Some hopes have germinated on the economic front. India has somewhat been emboldened by her prospect to become the fifth-largest economy again by 2025, and third-largest by 2030. However, the stark present reality is distressing. India has lost its position of fifth largest country this year. The country fell two steps down the ladder of Human Development Index (HDI) and ranked far below at 131st among 189 nations of the world in 2019, and then came the dark year of 2020 with its most severe blow causing total shutdown. In place of economic growth, we have economic contraction by 8 per cent this year as has been revised a little upward from 9 per cent by IMF recently. With greatly dwindled income, deteriorated health, and education at halt, people are reeling under distress as never before.

Goa: Kerala Blasters dished out a complete performance as they edged Hyderabad 2-0 to secure their first win of the Hero Indian Super League season at the GMC Stadium, here on Sunday.

Fatorda, Goa: When Bengaluru and Jamshedpur face each other in the Hero Indian Super League at the Fatorda Stadium on Monday, one thing is for sure — the contest will be alive right until the final whistle.

The first Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was more of a dreamer and less of a visionary. He did not have around either Raghuram Rajan or his book ‘The Three Pillars’ to tell him on equal need and importance of three pillars, the state, the market and the community to make a better nation. He laid foundation for better and independent political institutions. He was not equally liberal with the economic structure to allow the market to contribute strength in building the Indian economic at the required pace.

Goa: Riding on German midfielder Matti Steinmann's brace East Bengal rallied to draw 2-2 with Chennaiyin in the Hero Indian Super League at the Tilak Maidan here on Saturday.

Goa: Kerala Blasters, still looking for their first victory in the Hero Indian Super League, will be aiming to end the year with three points when they clash against Hyderabad at the GMC Stadium, here on Sunday.