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Even the limited signs of the revival of the Congress in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have revived the old apprehensions about the 133-year-old party’s penchant for dominance in the years immediately after independence.

The United States announces a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction in any country of any individual who committed, conspired, aided or abetted the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and Prime Minister Narendra Modi says at an election rally in Rajasthan four and a half years into his rule, six months to the next general elections, that his government will “not rest” till the perpetrators of 26/11 are brought to book.

Justice (retd) Markandey Katju wants a statue of LK Advani at the centre of Connaught Place in New Delhi “with this line from the Ramcharitmanas inscribed on it in gold ‘Taat Laat Ravan Mohe Maar.” Katju says this on his Facebook page. But he spells “statue” as “statute” and then implies in replies to comments that the “laat” Advani gets is that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Theresa May and her close accomplices in the European Union have laid bare the tactics they will deploy to bludgeon MPs into approving her EU withdrawal in name only. May backed EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker after he asserted: "This is the best deal possible for Britain, this is the best deal possible for Europe. This is the only deal possible.”

A concerted effort is being made by various farmers and peasant organisations to float a new movement, different in character and dynamics from the one in seventies, when the peasants agitation and farmers movement were two different streams. While the peasants movement symbolised the aspirations and needs of the poor and middle peasantry, the farmers’ movement reflected the demands of the rich and well off farmers’, represented by organisations like Shetkari Sanghathana.

BHOPAL: A visit by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to the RSS headquarters in Bhopal past midnight gave rise to the speculation that alarm signals are coming about the critical position of party candidates. Before the chief minister’s visit party president Amit Shah too held mid-night consultations with the local boss of the Sangh. Chouhan probably did not expect his visit to catch media’s attention, but one enterprising photo-journalist photographed the CM entering “Samidha”, as the RSS headquarters is known. The picture was published on the front page of a newspaper.

Time was when approval of public issues or initial public offerings (IPOs) by the market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), were taken seriously by both equity share issuers and investors. More so when they came with big premium tag. Companies were required to operate profitably for three consecutive years before its IPO to fix premium on the offer price of shares. That’s history, now. SEBI does not seem to be any longer concerned with IPO pricing, prospectus disclosures and risk factors. The ball is now almost entirely on the court of share issuers and investors. This explains why few are questioning SEBI for the poor performance of shares post their recent IPOs. Shares of 35 of the 60 companies that launched their IPOs since 2017 are currently trading below their IPO allotment price with over 20 of them losing more than 20 percent. Investors and the market lost billions of rupees, in the process.

Two NSSO (National Sample Survey Organisation) surveys, 68th round and 71st round of the Union Government, on economic and educational indicators for various religious groups of India reveal that Muslims continue to face vicious circle of poverty with no light beyond the tunnel. NSSO (68th round) survey provides estimates of education levels and job market indicators across major religious communities. NSSO survey (71st round) takes note of levels of education in all religious groups in the country.

The Hindu caste system and its tyranny is the talk of the town globally after Jack Dorsey sat down with a bunch of women journalists and unknowingly or knowingly placarded ‘Brahminical Patriarchy’ and got smashed for holding a view not voiced in India . Post that faux pas, a debate has been let loose on the semantics behind inserting ‘i’ and ‘a’ – you don’t spell ‘Brahmin’ with an ‘i’ if you’re talking of ‘Brahmanical Patriarchy’ because the ‘Brahmin’ is a ‘caste’ and if you attack the ‘Brahmin’, it’s attacking Hinduism, gotcha?

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The BJP-RSS combine is in an angry mood. Understandably so. The reason for their irritation is clear: Both the Left Democratic Front Government (LDF) and the Kerala High Court have called their Sabarimla bluff.