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Debates alone don’t win a presidential election, but they can certainly influence the outcome in a closely contested race. The last presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris was marked by numerous arguments and counter-arguments, but much of the discussion focused on economics and how each candidate plans to address the aspirations, ambitions, and dreams of the American people.

The grim truth holds that everybody Indian belongs to some or the other caste. Even Muslims and Christians. Prime Minister Narendra Modi identifies with an OBC. A Chief Minister has a caste. Criminals also have caste. Caste equations play important political roles. There was the ‘MY’ before the ‘PDA’. Riding the PDA, Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party beat Yogi Adityanath’s BJP to second place.

The anti-fascist forces in Germany felt a big relief after the Sunday’s crucial elections to Brandenburg region showed that the beleaguered ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD) narrowly beat the surging far right party AFD defying all opinion polls about the AFD’s imminent victory. The SPD got 31 per cent as against AFD’s 29 per cent while the left leaning BSW got 13 per cent and the Christian Democrats 11 per cent.

The decision of national leadership of Congress to make Subhankar Sarkar the president of the party's West Bengal unit sends a message of cessation of hostilities with Trinamool Congress, the state's ruling party. For Sarkar who replaces Adhir Ranjan Choudhury as the state chief, has never been witnessed to have been engaged in a confrontation with TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.

Nirmala Sitharaman seems to have graduated from being a mere union finance minister to a lofty “management guru” and a spiritual leader.

India’s neighbour Sri Lanka has elected the Marxist-Leninist leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake as the next president in the intensely contested presidential elections held on Saturday, September 21. About 75 per cent of the total of 170 million population who voted, broke away decisively from the binary of two political formations through years and opted for the uncharted path of bringing the National People’s Power (NPP), coalition of 28 fringe left parties and civil society groups, to power at a time when the Sri Lankan economy is facing a major crisis.

It may look rather odd that the steel production in India, the world’s most populous country, reached only 140 million tons as against China’s output of 1.019 billion tons, last year. The main reason is that India’s housing and construction sector is not showing the robust growth which it badly needs. Such a growth will automatically push up the country’s steel and cement consumption. The infrastructure sector – both urban and rural – continues to be in a poor state.

The 'one nation one poll' idea is moving towards Parliament and public debate, with the Narendra Modi government deciding to force the issue last week. The cabinet decided to bring a bill to Parliament in the coming session. The concept has been debated many times in the past, but no political consensus has evolved.

Election campaign for the second phase of Jammu & Kashmir Vidhan Sabha Election on September 25 ended on Monday while it is nearing its peak for the third phase scheduled on October 1. All eyes are set on Pakistani refugee voters in the state who are going to poll for the first time since 1947 in the state (now Union Territory) elections. After abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India in 2019, they have been given voting rights for the first time. BJP hopes to gain from it, since it had given land rights to them just before the current election were announced, but can’t be sure of winning enough seat to form the government in the Union Territory.

The latest Quad Summit is largely seen as an effort by the US President Joe Biden to leave a lasting legacy. Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi ticked all boxes, yet nothing substantial for India was gained at the summit, apart from the optics.