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The Communist Party of India will be a century old in another year. The party was formed on December 26, 1925. In 1920, the All India Trade Union Congress was formed with strikes and struggles of working masses, in the textile mills in Bombay, jute mills in Kolkata, and many other places. Emancipation from the shackles of an exploitative system became a goal. India was at the time, a colony of British imperialism.

The year 2023 ends with the dark shadow of the genocidal massacre of Palestinians in Gaza by the Israeli war-machine. Nearly three months of Israel’s brutal aggression has led to (till December 26) 20,915 people killed in Gaza, of which more than 8,000 are children; another 53,918 have been wounded and an unaccounted number of people are still buried in the debris of bombed buildings.

India and the UAE recently completed their first transaction in rupees for crude oil from the Emirates. A major shift in how global trade is conducted, typically done in dollars, this step is a significant boost to the growing trade between India and the UAE, which is likely to surpass the $100 billion target within a few years. Businesses and traders from both countries welcomed this move as an important part of their cooperation. It opens the door for better economic partnership and simplifies international financial dealings.

MicroStrategy's unwavering commitment to Bitcoin, evident in its recent $615 million purchase and overall holdings of $5.9 billion, has ignited a fiery debate. While supporters applaud CEO Michael Saylor's visionary leadership, critics like Peter Schiff paint a picture of reckless obsession.

The heat of the flames of violence that flared up in Manipur in May this year quickly reached the Supreme Court of India. It all started on March 27, when the Manipur High Court directed the state government to consider the inclusion of the Meitei community in the list of Scheduled Tribes. The Order created new incisions in old fissures in a region fraught with inter-community conflicts.

Javier Milei became Argentina’s president this month promising “shock therapy” to curb inflation and resolve the country’s foreign debt and currency reserve woes. Last Wednesday, the Argentine public got its first taste of what that therapy will look like. Declaring a state of economic emergency, the Milei administration issued a Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU) containing over 350 measures. Unless struck down by Congress, the plans will deregulate broad swathes of the economy, erode labor rights, and pave the way for mass privatization of state-owned enterprises like airline Aerolíneas Argentina and gas and oil company YPF.

Fallouts of a triangular love affair often lead to bloodshed and retaliatory violence. But that of Amrita Pritam, one of the most significant authors from Punjab, who was loved by poet-painter Indrajeet Chitrakar, better known as Imroz, and Sahir Ludhianvi, was an unusual love story.

Congress has come a long way from promising ‘NYAY’ (Nyuntam Aay Yojna) on the eve of Lok Sabha elections 2019 to ‘Bharat Nyay Yatra’, ahead of the 2024 general elections, from Manipur to Gujarat, beginning January 14, with focus on injustices inflicted upon common people under PM Narendra Modi’s authoritative regime.

Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s moves certainly did not amount to a major organisational reshuffle nor was it a step forward to revive the party. It was an inconsequential exercise based on which the leadership cannot aspire to take the BJP head-on in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Ram Mandir and Hindu revival are the talk of the town in the Hindi heartland. The BJP talks of a 400-plus Lok Sabha seats harvest in the 2024 general elections riding on the back of Ram Mandir, the symbol of Hindu revival. Can anyone stop the juggernaut? The Hindi heartland, to which recent BJP acquisitions – Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan – also belong, backs temple politics and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s return to power for yet another term of authoritarian streak.