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The decision of increasing minimum wages of unskilled, semi-skilled, and skilled workers in the National Capital Territory of Delhi followed by strong criticism by Workers Unions have brought the issue of unprecedented suffering of unorganized workers again in focus.

All is not well with India’s exports this financial year and the global uncertainties has made matters worse when one reads between the lines the data of exports of goods and services in the first half of this financial year 2023-24. This meant that India’s dream of achieving $ 1 trillion exports of goods and services in next year or two will get pushed further.

Time was when Calcutta as it was known then glorified itself in the title of ,"City of Palaces" owing to majestic buildings be it offices or grandees' mansions dotting it. Lamenting those glorious gone by days when merchant princes from the city ran the economy of the country and beyond stop during the four days of the puja as Kolkata is choc-a-bloc with palaces of cardboard and bamboo built on myriad themes ranging from the Somnath Temple to a story which fetched Ernest Hemingway a Nobel prize.

The news of the alleged beheading of Jewish babies and children by the fighters of Gaza administrator Hamas in the latest flare-up between Israel and Palestine spread like wildfire and has had a worldwide impact. However, more recent expositions have sought to establish the falsity of videos of Hamas beheading Israeli babies and using people, including children, as shields.

In an unexpected turn of events, the outlawed separatist United Liberation Front of Assam (pro Independence) faction, has threatened residing Bengalis in the three Barak valley districts with violence if they supported the call for an autonomous homeland. In a recent statement, the ULFA(I) declared that it will never allow any further division of Assam.

That Sachin Pilot does not like Ashok Gehlot must not be a difficult answer in Rajasthan. The late Rajesh Pilot’s son is a long time sufferer at the hands of the magician-turned-politician who says “the CM post won’t leave me”. If only Sachin Pilot knew this before he was conceived, he would have chosen not to be born in the first place. Today, just weeks short of another assembly election, Gehlot has made it clear he will be Chief Minister if the Congress returns to power in Rajasthan and it will be Sonia Gandhi’s job to announce the decision.

BHOPAL: Late night political scene in Madhya Pradesh has undone some surprise change for both BJP and Congress For BJP it was never expected that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi will directly appeal to M.P. voters “to support me by reposing confidence yet again in BJP to form a double engine government”.

LUCKNOW: Failure of seat sharing in Madhya Pradesh assembly elections has led to sharp bitterness in INDIA partners Samajwadi Party and Congress. As of now both the parties are adamant to confront each other in assembly polls on November 17 accusing the other party playing in the hands of BJP.

A newcomer with a handsome face needs no recommendation for entry into filmdom. Feted by Hollywood and nearer home at Bollywood to be one of the finest actors to perform before the camera, Om Puri who stood out in a crowd with a pockmarked face was an exception. He was at the height of his histrionic talents when he passed away. He was only 66 and certainly not an age for him to die. . He was born on October 18, 1950.

With the country inching closer to polls in five states followed by the parliamentary elections, the situation remains quite dire and critical. The sinister design of the powers to be to transform the country socially and politically in the mode of theocratic order of the Hindu Rashtra is already underway. Religious majoritarianism, curtailing press freedom, decimating the public sector to give leeway to private corporate interests, increased violence against historically marginalized communities, and heightened misogyny are just some of the phenomena in the long list of symptoms of a crumbling democracy. The prevailing reality looming large before all of us is the strangling of the ethos of justice, equality, and democracy, the cornerstone in the imagination of the new nation-state, India.