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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It was a bruising battle for the mind of Kerala’s voters for 20 Lok Sabha constituencies on April 26. The poll campaign saw no quarters being asked for and none given. But the enthusiasm witnessed in the run-up to polling did not reflect in the voting.

Gold prices have been scaling record levels and the momentum and magnitude of the price rises have been unprecedented. According to World Gold Council sources, while it took nearly a year for domestic prices to rise from Rs 50,000 per 10g to 60,000/10g, the next band of rise from 60,000 to 70,000 took only about five months.

“Supreme Court dismisses all petitions seeking 100% verification of VVPAT slip” did not come as a shock. By the time the top court declared the verdict “reserved”, the jolt was a spent force. The big news was the Electronic Voting Machine was here to stay and the top court broke the pen on the ballot paper with a hanged till death verdict.

The controversy over re-introduction of the inheritance tax, mooted by none other than yesteryears technology buff, Sam Pitroda, has landed the opposition Congress in a big dilemma in the current course of campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. However the furore created by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his latest election speeches is misplaced, because this is not a part of the election manifesto of the Congress and Sam Pitroda is not a senior leader of the Congress party.

India’s space programme has been in the spotlight ever since the Chandrayaan-3 mission landed on the Moon’s southern hemisphere on August 23, 2023. The mission—costing a meager $75 million—covered everything, from the rocket launch to the propulsion system and the lunar lander and rover expenses. This cost-effective approach is driving other developing countries eager to establish their own sustainable space programmes.

The central leadership of BJP including the party’s think tanks spent a lot of days in imparting some new dimensions to the election manifesto for 2024 Lok Sabha. The Sankalp Patra moved beyond traditional ideological promises to embrace new objectives like infrastructure development and enhanced service deliveries. There were cultural promises too, including plans to establish centres across the world in the name of Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar, promote the classical Tamil languages, and organize Ramayan festival globally. Notably, absent was any mention of the controversial national register of citizens, though the party reiterated its commitment to implanting a uniform civil code and ‘one nation, one poll’.

An Israeli ground offensive in the southern Gazan enclave of Rafah is a question of when, not if.

The Election Commission has forfeited all claims to be the national guardian of constitutional democracy by soft pedalling on the complaints against alleged hate speech by prime minister Narendra Modi in what the whole country was watching as a litmus test for the independence and integrity of the poll body.

Elon Musk's choice to delay his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has raised questions about the real reason behind Musk’s s decision to postpone the visit despite Tesla's commitment to establishing a manufacturing base in the country as a priority.

The electoral fate of Narendra Modi is in the hands of Lord Ram. But it seems that Lord Ram isn’t too keen to bestow his blessings on him. It is this realisation that he would eventually lose the election that has compelled Modi to rush to the doorsteps of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Nagpur and bow before the leadership.