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Unprecedented unemployment crisis under PM Narendra Modi’s first two terms since 2014, is most likely to continue in his third term , unless the jobless growth model is changed. Out of about one billion working age population, the number of people in employment has been hovering around 40 crore for the last few years.

Nothing odd, but reports speak of unrest in the ranks of the Shinde Shiv Sena. The Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray Sena looks the better bet. Amidst this, the crowning of Narendra Damodardas Modi as the leader of the NDA parliamentary party. Were the Shinde Sena MPs present in the Central Hall of the Old Parliament when Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi held forth on what the prospects of an NDA government at the Centre holds for the states?

It was shocking to see incarnation of Lord Vishnu, who is even followed and revered by Lord Jagannath of Puri, prostrating before two mortal politicians Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu for their support to satiate his desire for becoming prime minister for third consecutive term. During a phase when the saints and religious gurus nurse earthly craving for enjoying political power, a politician certainly cannot be expected to perform a reverse role and behave like a saint.

A distinction is drawn in economics between demand-constrained systems and resource-constrained systems (which for simplicity and symmetry we shall call supply-constrained systems). In the former, an increase in output can occur if there is a rise in aggregate demand without causing any scarcity-induced inflation; in the latter, output is constrained either by capacity being fully used up, or by the scarcity of some critical input or of foodgrains or of the labour force, so that a rise in aggregate demand, instead of raising output, simply causes scarcity-induced inflation. Capitalism normally, that is, except in war times, is a demand-constrained system, while socialism that existed in the Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe was supply-constrained. In a demand-constrained system, employment too will rise if there is an increase in aggregate demand.

KOLKATA: The debacle of the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal was not at all unexpected. With only Malda (South) Lok Sabha constituency in Congress kitty out of 42 seats in the state, the Grand Old Party is a faint shadow of its former self in West Bengal. The reasons behind the retreat of Congress turning almost into a rout needs to be laid at the doors of its state and national leadership whose vacillation helped Trinamool Congress widen its support base at the expense of the Congress party.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, is currently in China for a five-day visit which kicked off on Tuesday (June 4). China is Pakistan’s closest and most significant partner. This is the prime minister’s first trip to China after the general elections held on February 8. The trip has caused a delay in the annual federal budget, which is typically presented in the first week of June. Now, it is expected to be presented next week after PM Sharif approves it upon his return, according to sources.

During the peak of election campaigning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks about Mahatma Gandhi created quite a buzz, with many criticizing his take that nobody in the world knew about Gandhi until the Richard Attenborough-directed film Gandhi came out in 1982. Many people think Gandhi is well-known and deeply revered across the world so, PM’s comments were off the mark.

As elections for the European Parliament get underway (June 6 to June 9), the parties of the Left have little to get excited about. In country after country, forces that ten years ago fronted what looked like a European-wide revolt against austerity are barely keeping their heads above water. Podemos in Spain and Die Linke in Germany are both polling between 2 and 3 percent. La France Insoumise, which won 22 percent in the 2022 presidential elections, is at 8 percent. In Greece, once the epicentre of the revolt, a Syriza now shorn of any pretensions to radicalism limps on at about 15 percent; it is uncertain that any of the various left-wing splits there will even win seats. Only in tiny Belgium, where the Workers’ Party (PTB) is polling around 17 percent — double its 2019 score — does the Left seem to be decisively bucking the trend.

In a span of three days this week, three largely populated countries — South Africa, Mexico and India got the results from the national elections and all three signalled the triumphant march of the vibrant democracy in each country. The results showed how the vigilant electorate punished the majority Hindu right party of India BJP by making into minority, brought down the majority of the African National Congress to 40 per cent and rewarded the leftwing MORENA coalition of Mexico by giving a resounding victory to its Presidential nominee for doing excellent work for improving the livelihood of the common people.

The fall of the far-rightist and hyper nationalist Hindutva Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recently concluded Lok Sabha Election in Uttar Pradesh and the rise of socialist Samajwadi Party (SP) and the centrist Indian National Congress (INC) alliance may be an early sign of far-reaching change in India’s political landscape in near future.