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In the last one hundred years since its founding, the RSS had never faced such an existential crisis as it is happening now with its row with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a former leading pracharak. In 2003 the RSS had faced a big fight with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, but that related to organisational issues. Vishwa Hindu Parishad forcing issues like acquiring land for the Ayodhya temple and its ‘Chetna Yatra’ were some of the major issues. However in May 2003, L K Advani, the then deputy prime minister, persuaded the RSS to agree to a ceasefire in view of the 2004 Lok Sabha polls.

Participation of Central Trade Unions (CTUs) in the pre-budget consultation exercise led by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday is a significant development signalling a relief for the India’s distressed workforce that the Union Budget 2024-25 may bring. The joint forum of ten central trade unions – including INTUC, AITUC, TUCC, SEWA, HMS, CITU, AICCTU, LPF, AIUTUC and UTUC, had boycotted the virtual pre-budget consultation with the Union Finance minister last year, because the representatives of CTUs were given only 3 minutes of time, which the forum had said a joke.

The snap election on June 28 is happening in Iran because President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash last month. On Sunday, June 9, Iran's Guardian Council, which is responsible for overseeing elections and laws, approved six candidates to run in the unscheduled presidential election on June 28.

Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has been thinking — a human trait which she had almost given up on over the past several years while the party slid into near total irrelevance even as her favourite nephew grew into her sandals. Of significance, however, is the fact that, as always happens, it is after the fact that wisdom dawns and the regret and sense of loss creeps in. Mayawati is no exception though in her bailiwick, she is Queen of all that she surveys.

BERLIN: Less than six months ago, the rank and file of Germany’s leading far-right party, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), was ecstatic. Founded a little over a decade ago as a Eurosceptic protest party, by early 2024 the AfD was polling at up to 23 percent — and nurtured justified hopes of becoming the strongest party in Germany in June’s vote for the European Union’s parliament.

The Indian Railways is no longer considered as the union government’s most important public contact platform. This is despite the fact that around 500 million passengers took train journeys across the country during last April alone. The number keeps on rising. The Railways loaded 128.29 million tonnes (MT) of freight during the month. Among the goods loaded were 57.64 MT of coal, 14.88 MT of iron ore, 5.24 MT of iron and steel, 6.79 MT of cement, 4.75 MT of clinkers, 3.85 MT of foodgrains, 4.1 MT of fertilisers, 4.16 MT of mineral oil and 6.57 MT of container cargoes. By any standard, it would appear to be a wonderful performance by the national carrier. Unfortunately, the government is not impressed. The national asset was set for privatization soon after the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government came to power in 2014.

Amidst a flurry of speculation and anticipation, the Congress party has made a strategic and significant move by fielding Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi in the by-elections in Wayanad. This seat became available after her brother Rahul Gandhi decided to retain Rae Bareily and step down from the Wayanad, both of which he had won. If successful, it could be a game-changer for Priyanka, her party and Indian politics. It has sparked excitement and scepticism among the public and political class.

In the last 30 days, unemployment in India has risen sharply to 8.9 per cent, at a time when Union Finance Minister has started consultations with various stakeholders for preparing Union Budget 2024-25. Such an unprecedented rise in working-class distress has made the budget making exercise more challenging than expected, necessitating major changes in the Interim Union Budget 2024-25 that was tabled in the Parliament of India on February 1, 2024.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the oath of Member of Parliament on June 24 days after he was sworn in as India’s Prime Minister for the third time. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party doesn’t have a majority but Modi heads the coalition NDA, a pre-poll arrangement which is the Modi government’s claim for legitimacy. Will Modi’s NDA government complete its five-year term? The Opposition is not betting on it, but Sonia Gandhi’s UPA coalition government was run by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for two five-year terms. If Manmohan Singh could do it, so can Narendra Modi even if Modi’s 56” chest has considerably shrunk in the 18th Lok Sabha.

KOLKATA: Roundly defeated by ruling Trinamool Congress in recently held Lok Sabha elections, BJP, Congress and CPI(M) leaderships in West Bengal have gone into brainstorming sessions to find out the cause of their respective electoral reverses. Though all the three parties are seeking to strike deeper roots with a larger section of the people, the game plans to hit the "come back trails" differ.