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United States of America’s presidential poll is due in November this year. Various opinion poll forecasted Trump’s returning as President of USA. He is assertive to impose 10 percent tariff on all imports and 60 percent on China. Wave of trepidation looms on Trump’s new approach to the global trade, besieged by protectionism.

At present, the Indian Navy is in possession of two aircraft carriers—the home grown INS Vikrant and Russian made INS Vikramaditya. The navy also has a fleet of 41 MiG-29K supersonic air dominance fighter jets of Russian origin, which it introduced into its fleet in 2010. While the MiG-29 has been sold to many countries, the MiG-29K Fulcrum D variant is exclusively operated by the Indian Navy.

With more sordid details emerging on the goings on behind BJP’s success in cornering the lion’s share of the electoral bonds proceeds in the wake of the unwavering stand taken by the Supreme Court on the issue, the criminal intent behind the scheme’s evolution is becoming increasingly clear.

Indian electorate have their own political mind and they don’t simply believe on the electoral promises and political guarantees being distributed freely for quite some time now by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his chief opponent Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. PM Modi has said all Congress guarantees in the past have fallen flat, while Rahul Gandhi has said trust in Modi is guarantee of betrayal. It is in this backdrop the very reliability of political guarantees has sharply been in focus and is under serious public scrutiny.

India, the world’s largest democracy, has unfortunately been witnessing a backsliding on human rights. It is in this context that the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC) will be undergoing its review for accreditation by a jury of its peers which is the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) in March 2024.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections slipping into top gear, Kerala is set for a no-holds-barred and bruising battle. The State is going to the polls on April 26.

In the pictures accompanying the report, everybody is smiling. Even the chubby baby. But behind the happiness, there’s unhappiness. We are talking of ‘Bharat, that is India’ and the World Happiness Report for 2024 which makes sad reading for Indians who have been thrown to the wolves because of a sick ranking in the World Happiness Index. At No.126, India is unhappier than Pakistan and Afghanistan. Worse, the unhappiness comes shining through with all its ugliness. Imagine 900 million unhappy voters lining up across the length and breadth of India in a month from now to vote in a new government for a happier India?

The late awakening of the Supreme Court headed by the Chief Justice of India Dr. D Y Chandrachud in seeing the quid pro quo relationship between the donors and the ruling party under the Electoral Bonds Scheme 2017 is welcome. The CJI has been firm in getting all the details from the State Bank of India by March 21 since the SBI has been dilly -dallying to furnish the crucial info contained in the unique code of bond. Once it is furnished by the SBI without hiding any details, the identity of the bond purchaser and the political party beneficiary will be known.

Politics of development has clearly emerged as a key narrative in the Lok Sabha election 2024 campaigns. Vikasit Bharat @ 2047 is the loudest high decibel bluff of PM Narendra Modi’s political campaign so far that has almost buried the three real concerns of the people – livelihood, healthcare, and education - though people are just not able to afford their cost. Over 81 crore people are dependent on free foodgrain supplied under Food Security Act 2013 and over 97 crore people are not able to afford healthy food. Obviously, the people who can’t even afford food how can they afford high healthcare and education costs that Modi’s regime has brought in the last 10 years? PM Modi does not only want us not to see this side of the coin, but also has been drawing our attention to India’s growing wealth and infrastructure and on his guarantee of a developed India by 2047, forming a key narrative of his election campaign.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s southern search for Lok Sabha seats to make up the targeted ‘370’ took him to Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. And just like in the north, the Bharatiya Janata Party hopes to take advantage of "Hindu sentiments" to secure for Prime Minister Narendra Modi a third straight term. Also, just so that people don't forget, the Prime Minister has been introducing himself in the local lingos, a smattering of a few words in each language learned by rote.