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It was the part of the strategic move of the BJP to stifle the voice of secular and nationalist forces that a group of 62 individuals, all members of the saffron party, launched blistering attack on the group of 49 eminent persons of indulging in 'selective outrage and false narratives' on mob lynching.

When the Prime Minister told the nation in a special broadcast on March 27 that India had been able to develop an anti-satellite (A-SAT) missile which had shot down a low earth-orbiting satellite (one of India’s own), the country was in election mode and many thought it was an election gimmick. Few realized that it was not a one-off exercise but the first step in a well-thought-out plan to defend India from space attacks which had become a distinct and dangerous possibility with China developing a wide range of anti-satellite weapons – both kinetic and electro-magnetic.

The Nationalist Congress Party is going through a difficult time ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections going by the erosion taking place in the party in the past few days. The Assembly polls are due in October. The NCP chief Sharad Pawar has alleged that the defection from his party to the BJP/ Shiv Sena was because of the saffron party’s manipulations. Added to that, while Pawar is trying to do some damage control, recently the Election Commission has sent a notice to the NCP removing it from the list of national parties.

Under increasing pressure from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Bengal is yet to formulate an effective counter strategy. TMC supremo, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has met election strategist Mr. Prashant Kishore seeking expert advice several times, as a rare ‘first’. Significantly, only Abhishek, her MP nephew, attended these talks. More senior leaders were kept out, fuelling speculation within TMC ranks. In terms of tangible outcome, except for two programmes that involved amass mobilisation of supporters, nothing has followed.

Integration of South Asia still remains a distant dream. Pakistan seems to be the only irritant in the way of consolidation in the region. The bitterness between the two major powers, India and Pakistan, has stalled the process in the regional body, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Islamabad has denied India access to another SAARC country, Afghanistan. But Iran, which is not a South Asian country, has offered New Delhi to use its Chabahar port and transport goods to Afghanistan. India has partially developed the port and goods are being transported to Afghanistan. India has already developed a 240-km-long road connecting Chabahar with Afghanistan.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress supremo, is now finding herself entrapped in a political state — with credits fully going to her for creating this trap, which has now become a headache for her. Last year, on Trinamool's annual mega rally, held every year in 21st July, Mamata being confident about the defeat of Narendra Modi-led BJP declared that her party would play a major role after the results of 2019 elections — indirectly indicating there were chances that she herself would occupy the post prime minister.

The letter written by 49 celebrities, mostly representing the film industry, to the prime minister about mob lynching, appears to have created a greater stir among the BJP’s supporters than similar missives penned earlier by groups of retired bureaucrats.

A septuagenarian retired private sector employee, getting a minimum EPFO pension of Rs. 1,000 per month, has saved money for over 50 years since he took up his first job, mostly in government schemes — such as postal small savings certificates, fixed deposits with public sector banks, subscription to government bonds, railway bonds, housing finance companies of PSU banks and LIC pension, for safety of his life-long tax-paid savings — is asked by the income-tax department to submit a ‘balance sheet’ of his deposits and income along with the annual tax return. This is despite the fact that all his income from savings earns the government the statutory 10 percent tax at source (TDS). They are linked with his PAN number. But, the income-tax department, tom-toming ‘saral’ or simple format of tax return system, is not impressed.

It’s Bayamo’s turn this year on July 26. The capital city of Granma Province in eastern Cuba hosted Cuba’s Day of National Rebellion. President Miguel Díaz-Canel and other Cuban leaders presided over a day which celebrates young revolutionaries who, 66 years earlier on another July 26, attacked military barracks in Santiago de Cuba and in Bayamo.

Reserve Bank of India has further eased the norms for external commercial borrowings for the corporate sector. Among many other activities, the RBI now allows such ECBs for repaying rupee loans, including outstanding non-performing or sticky loans. These sticky loans could also be sold to willing overseas buyers of such portfolios.