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After a epoch making victory in 2020 assembly election in Bihar, in which the CPI(ML) Liberation won 12 out of 16 it contested, the party is quite hopeful of sending its representatives to the Lok Sabha this time. In that election the three main Left parties had won 16 of the 29 assembly constituencies they contested. The CPI and CPI(M) annexed two each of the six and four seats they contested respectively.

Election Commission of India (ECI) had announced “No Violence” stand in West Bengal on March 4, only 12 days before announcement of Lok Sabha general election 2024, on March 16. However, election related violence continued across the country in various shades with varied intensity of seriousness. Now, to control post-poll violence in Andhra Pradesh, ECI has directed the Union Ministry of Home to retain 25 companies of Central forces even after counting of votes on June 4 for 15 days. It all reveals how political intolerance triggered not only pre-poll violence but also continued during the poll, and are very much likely to continue after the counting of votes.

There are reports in the financial press that the International institutional investors are moving their funds out of the Indian technology scrip. The reason: there is the calculation that the Indian ITeS sector is not getting tuned to the new artificial intelligence tools and therefore likely to fall behind the market.

Gold has been hogging headlines with a certain monotonous regularity. In April alone, the precious metal clocked up 4 percent increase in price, despite lower imports by India, a key player in determining gold’s behaviour. One of the leading causes of the latest blip, however, is of Chinese origin.

Come June 4, the outcome of poll battle in Bongaon constituency of West Bengal will be a nay or nod to CAA NRC and related issues not only in the state but also in bordering states far away from it. Predominantly inhabited by Matuas, a Hindu dalit sub-sect, many of whom had trekked from erstwhile East Pakistan and thereafter from Bangladesh to a "secular India", citizenship issue and the sense of belonging emanating from it, is a deciding factor in elections.

AAP leader Atishi Marlena’s talent is to look straight into the camera and say the piece given to her. AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal’s talent is to get into controversies. But the best thing that could happen to Kejriwal was the INDI-Alliance, without which Arvind would have been left to fend for himself. A tongue-tied Kejriwal was saved by Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav who had his father Mulayam Singh Yadav to teach him the political ropes unlike Kejriwal who had only his wits and 'sly'.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), has asked health insurance companies to abolish the age limit of 65 years and provide it to everyone, regardless of their age. This sounds to be a good decision. The question however is whether insurance based healthcare system serves the needs of our citizens particularly the elderly.

Injured pride can be a major motivating factor and there is a lot riding on it in Maharashtra. The aggressive BJP had outsmarted master strategist Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, inheritor of Balasaheb Thackeray’s Maratha legacy, by supporting the split in their parties. For both leaders, the Lok Sabha battle is also a personal one to stay relevant.

US President Joe Biden doesn’t fit the mould of a high-risk gambler. Yet, gambling is the crux of his velvet glove dealings with Israel. With one eye on Israeli politics and the other on presidential elections in the United States in six months, Biden is walking a tightrope. The stakes and the costs couldn’t be higher.

Freebees, promised and actually delivered, have been by and large welcomed by the electorate over 40 years of age across the country throughout the first five phases of election campaigns. However, sharp fall in employment has made the unemployed youth little more concerned, though PM Narendra Modi tried his best to entice them with his guarantee of a developed India by 2047, a “world of opportunities awaits India’s youth”.