View Articles

The far right parties of Europe have started massive joint campaign to sweep the elections to European Parliament scheduled for three days June 6 to June 9 this year. Presently, the EP is dominated by a combination of centrists mild right and various shades of Left. But in the last four years, the European Union members excluding Spain have seen the strengthening of the far right in the national elections. As a result, the combined strength of the far right parties is far more compared to the present position of the anti far right parties.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra should be out on his rump in a Puri thoroughfare for calling Lord Jagannath a 'bhakta' of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Poor fellow's hallucination went to his wayward tongue and the tongue slipped. The ‘Mahaprabhu’ of all of Odisha cannot be trifled with and Patra is the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Puri favoured to win the seat after Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned for him and the two did a roadshow riding the BJP’s election juggernaut.

KOLKATA: Marital discord deteriorating into divorce may not be an unusual occurrence, but when onetime spouses contest against each other in a Lok Sabha constituency, it hits headlines. Bishnupur constituency stands apart from other Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal and perhaps in the rest of the country where sitting BJP MP Soumitra Khan is pitted against Trinamool Congress nominee and his former wife, Sujata Mondal in electoral battle, scheduled on May 25 in the sixth phase.

Not only does growing big volumes of excess global steel capacity unsettle the market but the phenomenon has disturbing implications for the environment. OECD says: “Back-of-the-envelope calculations will show… reduction in global excess capacity by approximately one-third would lead to a reduction in emissions… in the range of 2 to 14 per cent and also much healthier business conditions for steel producers.” Alas, the pressure of overcapacity will become even more intense in the future. According to OECD, in the face of demand growth being clouded by economic headwinds, global steel capacity is to see significant rise in three years to 2026, “with 46m tonne addition underway and an additional 78m tonnes in the planning stage.”

Any prediction of the possible outcome of the ongoing Parliamentary election is becoming increasingly tough in the absence of a visible wave in favour of either the rightist Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) or its principal opposition, a 26-party political combine, Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). The latter is represented by chief ministers of as many as seven states and 142 members of the last Parliament. The falling voter turnout in the first three phases of election, this time, has become a further cause of concern for both the NDA and INDIA. An overall five to six percent voter dropout should seriously impact the number game of either the NDA or INDIA. Publicly, both the groups are aspiring to have a final strength of 300 members each although there are only 543 parliamentary constituencies. To form the next government, a political combine would need to win at least 272 seats. A government will look more stable if its number of Lok Sabha MPs surpasses 300.

The latest incident of helicopter crash involving Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has sparked a wave of speculation and concern both within Iran and internationally. Occurring in dense fog over the rugged terrain of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, the incident raises critical questions about the circumstances that led to such a dangerous situation for one of the country’s most protected figures.

Delhi's Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, has overcome numerous obstacles in the past decade. Yet, his unwavering resilience has been a beacon of inspiration. He and his party are currently facing the biggest crisis in the liquor policy case.

Rahul Gandhi reached the ’ constituency of Raebareli from Lucknow on May 20 and straight off went to a Hanuman Mandir, drawing quick reactions including the opinion that his choice of deity was fraught with risk. Lord Hanuman could have taken offence after Rahul Gandhi pointedly refused to visit the Ayodhya Ram Mandir despite being invited to the ‘Pran Prathistha’ of Lord Ram. The Charuwa Hanuman Mandir is special because praying at the temple fulfils wishes.

“Who gave you free foodgrain? Who gave you home? Who gave you toilets? Who gave you …,” went on saying an RSS-BJP joint election campaign team leaders, when they were just disrupted politely by quite peaceful and innocent people of the interior Jarga village saying, “You talk again about the BJP. Don’t come here to say it again.”

Recent developments in Dalit politics, especially in the ideological laboratory of Uttar Pradesh, are intriguing, to say the least. To begin with, we have Mayawati sacking her nephew Akash Anand, who she announced her successor just a couple of months back, at the behest of the BJP, thereby demonstrating her averseness towards the INDIA bloc. Moreover, Behenji’s non-mentoring of serious youth Dalit leaders, and her pliant attitude towards the BJP, have put a question mark before her future role in the progress and development of Dalit politics in India.