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Two important pieces of news this week may shock the conscience of many, but not the ruling establishment of India. The first is that Minimum pension for workers under one of the social security coverage given under Employment Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) remains at Rs 1000 per month since 2014, while the Centre boasted that India’s social protection coverage has doubled just within three years from 24.4 per cent in 2021 to 48.8 per cent in 2024. The second is that female employment showed to be doubled since 2014, but counting unpaid women helping in the family work without payment as workers.

President Donald Trump’s declaration of April 2, 2025, as “Liberation Day” marked a seismic shift in U.S. trade policy, with the imposition of sweeping reciprocal tariffs that have sent shockwaves through the global economy. The new measures include a universal 10% tariff on all imports, with punitive rates as high as 54% for China, 46% for Vietnam, and 20% for the European Union, alongside a separate 25% levy on foreign-made automobiles. Framed as a corrective to decades of “unfair” trade practices, the policy has been celebrated by the administration as a rebirth of American industry. Yet beneath the rhetoric lies a complex web of economic consequences, retaliatory threats, and a potential reordering of global trade dynamics that could leave the U.S. and its allies grappling with long-term instability.

Don’t doubt the intentions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the gentle warning to a fellow panelist from a BJP spokesperson, which caught the fancy of the anchor of the prime-time show who repeated the warning in a tone that brooked no defiance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after the passage of the Wakf Act 2025, has gone on to a different level of acceptability. For proof, supporters pointed to the raucous reception Modi received in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Saffron ecosystem must be feeling ecstatic at its achievement of having Waqf board under its belt, acquiring vast tract of land owned by it across the country and pushing the Muslims to the position of second grade citizens. A closer introspection nevertheless would make it explicit that the strategy of saffron retribution will prove to be boon in disguise for Muslims as it would witness emergence of a new type of Muslim politics, having different culture and tenet.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The 24th CPI(M) Party Congress has approved its political-tactical line laying stress on increasing the independent strength of the party even as it remained part of the state-specific secular and democratic front, including the Congress, to “defeat the neo-fascist regime” at the Centre.

LONDON: Buried underneath the Greenland ice sheet is the legacy of a spectacular American failure. Camp Century was a hidden US military base, a network of tunnels that was supposed to expand from its originally limited scope during the 1950s into a sprawling complex of missile silos and troop accommodation.

LONDON: Hungary’s withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC) is a warning. Both of the breakdown of respect for international law, and of the growing identification of far-right forces across Europe with the state of Israel.

The entire world is deepening into geopolitical tensions and increasing uncertainty in trade following the announcement made by the U.S. President Donald Trump the new tariff rates on April 2. The U.S. slapped 27 percent import tariff on India. President Trump exhilarated this as “discounted replication”, despite India imposing 52 percent and reckoned as worst tariff offender.

NEW YORK: Leading economists have reacted sharply to Trump's reciprocal tariffs on 180 countries allegedly feeding off America’s economy for years and weakening its GDP growth. They warned the tariffs could destabilize global markets, disrupt trade and ultimately increase costs for U.S. businesses and consumers.

Passage of Waqf Bill in the both houses of the Parliament of India has immediately created political ripples that was felt across India, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, and from Gujarat to Assam. Political parties on both sides – INDIA bloc and BJP led NDA – are trying to derive maximum political mileage out of it, but both sides will have also to readjust themselves to the new challenges that is likely to emerge.