View Articles

New Delhi: Former national Women’s Hockey Team goalkeeper, Yogita Bali, has hailed Hockey India’s holistic initiatives with a special emphasis on the National Women’s League.

By now it is well-established by several researchers that the real wage rate in rural India, whether of agricultural labour or of rural labour in general, remained virtually stagnant between 2014-15 and 2022-23 (Das and Usami in Review of Agrarian Studies, July-December 2023; Dreze and Khera’s findings reported in The Telegraph, April 21, 2024). The price index used for calculating real wage movements in such studies is the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (in the case of agricultural labourers) or the Consumer Price Index for Rural Labour (in the case of rural labour generally).

Recent discussions in the US Congress on the political situation in Pakistan have raised questions about the safety of the former Prime Minister Imran Khan presently lodged in prison..According to several sources familiar with the matter who spoke to The Intercept, the Senate Majority Leader emphasized to Pakistan's ambassador in Washington that ensuring the safety of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan is a top concern for the United States.

May Day 2024 falls during the on-going election campaign for 18th Lok Sabha in the country to decide the destiny of this great composite culture and civilization once again. We want that the people choose to vote out the disastrous rule of RSS-BJP and would resolve for prolonged battles ahead to put the country back to functional democracy, respect to core values of right to dissent and freedom of expression, respect and acceptance of the pluralism of religious beliefs, languages, culture, food and dress habits as enshrined in Indian Constitution.

The polling to the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala in the second phase of elections on April 26 is of crucial significance to the two communist parties CPI(M) and the CPI for their future role in the turbulent post election days of the Indian polity. The fight between the two INDIA bloc partners in the course of the intensive campaign has been full of acrimony as both the CPI(M) led Left Democratic Front and the Congress led United Democratic Front were fighting for establishing their political supremacy in the state, but finally, whoever wins will belong to the INDIA bloc. That is the most welcome factor in this state which boasts of a highly literate and politically agile electorate.

The prime minister’s vitriolic speech of April 21, delivered two days after the first phase of polling of the Lok Sabha elections, has been widely condemned both in India and abroad. The language and bigotry which he displayed to incite hatred against the Muslim community and the political parties whom he accused of favouring them were reminiscent of the rhetoric he employed in his speeches immediately after the Gujarat pogrom against Muslims that happened in 2002when he was the chief minister. It is important to analyse why he has felt the need to revert to them once again so early in this election campaign.

Will the Calcutta High Court hold West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee guilty of contempt of court? Political circles are abuzz with anticipation ever since Banerjee came out with her sensation allegation: “They (the BJP) have bought off the Calcutta] High Court.” Her disenchantment with the functioning of the Calcutta High Court was evident in her remark that the HC declared the 2016 SSC recruitment null and void under the influence of the Modi-led BJP, the ruling party in the Centre.

Robert J Oppenheimer was inspired by it, T.S. Eliot was fascinated by the slokas and now an independent candidate aspiring for the White House revealed he was egged on to put a fight for the top job by the Bhagawat Gita.

Skies are clear and the heat unbearable. Will people step outdoors to vote? The first phase saw some reluctance. One more lacklustre phase and Prime Minister Narendra will have nothing new to coin. But voting is being tied to the ‘mangalsutra’ and it ain’t different in Maharashtra where Uddhav Thackeray is under pressure to prove his Hindutva credentials.

With second phase of election on April 26, Lok Sabha election on all 25 constituencies in Rajasthan will conclude. In every constituency, the Congress has offered BJP tough electoral battles, which made none less than Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lose his cool, who out of frustration started communal tirade against the Congress during the second phase of election campaigns. In such a close electoral battle, we are bound to see the state bringing up surprises, and hence the certainty expressed about BJP’s winning all the seats has given way to uncertainties.