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On May 6, the Panel of Judges appointed by Justice S.A. Bobde of the Supreme Court exonerated Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi of all allegations of sexual harassment levelled by an ex-employee of the Supreme Court and found ‘no substance’ in the woman’s complaint. The Committee comprised of Justice S.A. Bobde, Justice Indu Malhotra and Justice Indira Bannerjee, submitted its report to Supreme Court. However, astonishingly, the Committee did not give a copy of the report to the Complainant, citing an old case of Indira Jaising v. Supreme Court of India (2003) 5 SCC 494, wherein it was held that report of Committee constituted as part of the In-House Procedure, is not liable to be made public. But the same Committee thought it fit to give a copy of the report to the Chief Justice, against whom allegations of sexual harassment was made. Thus, curtains came down on the first part of the bizarre Kafkaesque drama that unfolded before the public in the last two weeks.

The BJP finds itself under a great duress in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha Election 2019. The five rounds of voting held in 425 constituencies so far, presents a political whirlpool that may suck the BJP and the NDA under its leadership. Saving the NDA from drowning has become a daunting task for Modi-Shah duo in the next two phases of election. Though the BJP seems to have emerged as the largest political party with a prospect of winning 132 seats, the gap from majority of 272 seats is too wide to be bridged in the next phases.

The political-cum-election narrative is shifting, has already shifted, With Wayanad behind and Amethi behind and five phases of the elections behind, opposing parties are in the home run and that means a final push. Rahul Gandhi’s fate is locked in ballot boxes north and south of the country. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s is still in limbo with Varanasi going to polls in the last phase.

India is an oil-import dependent nation. Over 90 percent of the oil requirement is met via import. India is the third biggest importer of crude oil in the world. Despite these factors, India is not feared to undergo oil convulsion with USA withdrawing waiver from the sanction on Iran oil from May.

Six Democratic presidential hopefuls, vying for workers’ support in the 2020 primaries, pushed hard for workers’ rights at an all-day forum in Las Vegas last month.

Every journey, filled with twists, sharp turns, peaks, and cliff edges, eventually comes to an end. How quickly depends on those involved. For Brexit, the end may come as early as Tuesday, following years of debate, virulent politics, and a divided public.

The tenth anniversary of inking of the Indo-US nuclear cooperation agreement – known as the 123 Agreement – quietly went away without even a formal celebration. The reasons are obvious and somewhat destined to have happened. A biting critique of the deal, ‘A Decade After the Nuclear Deal’, in a paper published in the India Forum, by M V Ramana, Professor and Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security and Director, Liu Institute for Global Issues, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, Canada, and co-authored by Prerna Gupta, PhD student in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the same university — termed the history of nuclear power growth as that of triple compromise of economics, safety and democracy at the cost of independent nuclear policy which for over four decades has been attuned to the independent foreign policy.

If it’s an idea born in the head of a movie screenwriter, the germ given substance and spine with fertile imagination, the plot thickening as twists and turns are added to keep the viewer glued to the screen, the film will be a blockbuster. A horror flick with elements of the thriller and drama in it.

At last, the recent appeal made to the Supreme Court by the distinguished organisation Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) , urging a more humane and legal approach to the complex issue of illegal foreigners in Assam , comes as a sorely missed voice of reason. If anything, such a rudimentary message to ensure even the minimal requirements of justice for some of the worst persecuted prisoners of the world has been long overdue.

Why has the RSS fallen silent? The last one heard from it was an advice to the BJP to focus on local issues instead of harping all the time on national security. After that brief intervention, the Nagpur patriarchs have chosen to keep their own counsel, ignoring the hurly-burly of the electoral scene.