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One news report quoted Uddhav Thackeray saying just hours after he became Maharashtra chief minister that he “couldn’t believe it.” Only the second Sena leader to become Maharashtra CM, the other being veteran Manohar Joshi in 1995, Uddhav Thackeray, caught in the mire of the Covid-19 pandemic, is now seeking divine intervention to get out of the coronavirus mess even while keeping political allies and enemies both at bay, on their nimble sometimes shaky toes, with a few deft moves. Former ally BJP has been particularly targeted and that will either strike home or boomerang.

DD Kosambi uses a telling example to illustrate the crisis of Indian feudalism: at the third Battle of Panipat in 1761, the troops on one side had not had enough to eat, while the troops on the other side just managed to assuage hunger by looting villages in the neighbourhood; neither side in short had arranged provisions for its troops. Likewise the crisis of Indian capitalism is tellingly illustrated by a simple fact: in the midst of this dreadful pandemic, the medical staff in several hospitals in the nation’s capital has not even been paid its regular salary for some time.

Prasar Bharati (India’s Public Service Broadcasters) has established its own Recruitment Board with effect from July 1, 2020. A notification to this effect has been issued under Section 10 of the Prasar Bharti (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990 pursuant to the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Establishment of Recruitment Board Rules, 2020 notified by the Union Government in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting earlier on February 12, 2020, paving the way for appointment of persons to the posts carrying scale and pay less than that of a Joint Secretary to the Government of India.

Britain's Labour Party's national executive' decision to take for itself the power to change the rules by which it is constituted, is a demonstration, as if we needed one, that the character of the movement’s leadership is critically important.

Right from its beginning Communist Party of India has always tried to translate Marxist theory into programmes, policies and practices aimed at bringing about radical change in the society, both through popular mobilisation and the use of state power. While the centrist and broader social left parties of India chose to tread a conformist path, CPI preferred to fix high targets of social change and remained a constructive as well as questioning force. While taking on the bourgeois ways of fellow political parties in the country, CPI’s voice may have sounded irreverent to at least some.

The migrant workers who were treated like stray dogs and thrown out of their work place are now the most sought after commodity. The rich farmers and big business have opened their gates for them and these poor labourers are virtually being treated like newlywed grooms. The labour of these poor workers did not deserve any respect before the onslaught of the deadly corona virus. But now the same people are providing them preferential treatment and according the façade of respecting the value of their labour.

Till the outbreak of COVID 19, China was the biggest trade partner of India. Trade increased due to a surge in imports from China. It outsmarted oil rich countries and became the biggest source of imports. Imports from China accounted for over 13.7 percent of India’s total imports in 2019-20.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government champion a special style of functioning. Saying something and doing the opposite is the crux of it. Even in framing the slogan " sab ka sath sab ka vikas" this was the approach. During the last six years the country could witness many a time the ease of the Prime Minister doing this business. Atmanirbhar Bharat was the latest propaganda piece that came out from his storage of sloganeering. It came in the middle of crisis and hardships which the country is passing through. From next day onwards when the inspiring slogan was put into practice, his real intention was unveiled. The earth and the sky, along with everything around were put for sale. And FDI became the chanting mantra for the Atmanirbhar drive. The crisis faced by LIC today is to be understood in this background.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has undergone a drastic change in his basic perception of Indian beings or he has come under tremendous pressure of some invisible entity to transform the basic tenets of his governance in six years at the helm of national affairs. The wide variance in his approach and stances of his supporters in the ruling ensemble cannot be missed. The confirmation of this reality was easily discernible in his announcement that 800 million poor Indians will continue to receive free supply of food till November.

BHOPAL: It is now crystal clear that the BJP central leadership did not approve the list of probable ministers suggested by the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Thus it is for the third time that the process of cabinet expansion has been postponed. Despite spending two days in New Delhi on intense lobbying, meeting Home Minister Amit Shah, party chief J. P. Nadda and even the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chouhan drew blank and returned to Bhopal empty hand. On reaching Bhopal he remained tight-lipped and resumed consultation with state leaders. The only thing Chouhan said was that cabinet expansion will not take place on July 1.