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It began with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s advice to the Supreme Court judges in 2015 to be wary of the “five-star” activists who tried to push their social reforms agenda through the courts via public interest litigation. The advice was in keeping with the growing official impatience with non-government organisations (NGOs), especially those with foreign links since the government suspected their commitment to the ruling party’s policies.

The rising incidents of gold and US$ smuggling in and out of the country, following the downward exchange value of Indian Rupee, have become a source of major economic concern. They are threatening to further weaken the Indian currency. Recent reports from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) suggest that the greenback outflow through illegal channels is growing on account of smuggling. In fact, DRI has launched a nationwide crackdown on foreign exchange smuggling, particularly of US$. For long, legal gold inflow occupied an important position, after petroleum and natural gas, in the country’s total import basket. Weakening Rupee seems to have further pushed the domestic demand for gold, especially among the rich, to protect their wealth against the depreciating value of Rupee. This comes after high-value Rupee demonetisation in November 2016. Recent interceptions and seizures indicate gold smuggling has significantly gone up. How the government handles the new challenge to the currency stability is not clear. The latest government measure to partially raise import duties on certain products to reduce current account deficit (CAD) seems to have been done rather in a half-hearted manner. This is unlikely to stabilise Rupee.

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has stirred raw nerve by raking up the issue of possible increase in power tariff in the National Capital Region (NCR-Delhi) through central legislation, squarely blaming the BJP led NDA government.

If there are seminal moments in politics, Jeremy Corbyn’s speech at the 2018 Labour conference will go down as one of them. This was when the planet took centre stage. From the Kerala floods to the Saddleworth moorland fires and from California to Scandinavia, 2018 has been a roller coaster of extreme weather events. This is the shape of things to come, but it took Corbyn to make “one-planet economics” the centrepiece of tomorrow’s politics.

BJP president Amit Shah’s statement that the decision to cut fuel prices by Rs2.5 shows the sensitivity of the Narendra Modi government towards the country and people is the height of hypocrisy. The claim, which came within hours of the announcement of the price reduction, amounts to indirectly admitting that the Modi government had remained insensitive to the skyrocketing fuel prices all these months, just as it has been to many other issues which made life unbearable for the people. If anything has forced Modi to act after looking away all this while, it is not because of sensitivity, as claimed by Shah, but due to panic over the cumulative effect of popular discontent and the loss of the battle of perception, thanks to the constant pumping of heat by Rahul Gandhi on the Rafale deal, where the government now appears to be manifestly in the wrong.

The signing of the agreement for the purchase of a multi-billion S-400 missile defence system between India and Russia is a historical event, but more than that Russia taking the initiative to iron out differences between India and Pakistan would prove to be a major step towards changing the geopolitical situation in South East Asia.

Why BSP supremo Mayawati has backed out from an electoral alliance with the Congress for the coming assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh? Before she emphatically ruled out an electoral tie-up in the two key states, she forged a poll-pact with Congress rebel Ajit Jogi in Chhattisgarh. She has no chance in the three states but may damage the chances of Congress. And, what are the grounds on which she spurned alliance in the three key states in what is a precursor to next year’s Lok Sabha election? Her snub to Congress could also cast a shadow on efforts to forge a Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) of opposition parties, including BSP, Samajwadi party and the Congress in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Protests in Kerala against the Supreme Court order to do away with restrictions on women wanting to pray at Sabarimala should not surprise anybody. The ‘Ayappan mindset’ of the average Malayali is gender-neutral. Malayali men and women brought up in the Ayyappan tradition think alike. It has to do with faith, and diversity.

Hundreds of thousands of women filled the streets of cities and towns throughout Brazil last Saturday, in massive demonstrations against a possible victory of the extreme right in the upcoming October 7 national elections. The slogan of the demonstrations was “Ele nao,” Portuguese for “not him.” There will be another huge mobilization on the day before the first round of the elections. The street mobilizations have been coordinated with a massive outreach via Twitter and other social media.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There is no mistaking it. The Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government has lost the political initiative because of its shockingly inept handling of the Supreme Court verdict on the Sabarimala temple.