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The Walk Free Foundation had mentioned in its report released in May 2023 that India topped in the list of the countries of the world with incidence of 11 million in modern slavery, with prevalence rate of 8 per 1000 people and rate of vulnerability at 56 per cent. Central Trade Unions have been opposing the controversial four labour codes of 2019 and 2020 out of fear that if they were implemented, workforce will be forced into modern slavery in even large numbers on account of their joblessness that has considerably worsened in the last 10 years.

Pakistan is left sans an announced victor after its recently held elections. It is time for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to take call. In doing so, the ECP will have to look the army in the eye. For it is the army which has engineered a fractured mandate by knocking out the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) before the people queued up before the polling booth.

In the next few days, lakhs of farmers unhappy with the Modi government will be making banner headlines in national and international media all over again and the Modi government’s Bharat Ratna for kisan leader, the former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, will be taken as a failed enterprise of a government in panic. Can’t blame Jayant Chaudhary because which Indian wouldn’t want a Bharat Ratna in the family? The Modi government can also be excused for believing such kneejerk tactics would deliver Jat votes on a platter to the BJP/NDA, whatever.

Notwithstanding making use of best efforts to hide behind the façade of not being partisan, the USA administration could not conceal its shock and aversion to Imran Khan, chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), emerging as the leader of the single largest group of PTI backed independents in the February 8 general elections. Joe Biden’s State department has to promise that it would work with the new Pakistani government as "Millions of Pakistanis made their voices heard at the polls on February 8”. It also assured “to advance our shared interests and strive to bolster democratic institutions and broaden political participation". But this pledge does not reflect the real dilemma of the US foreign policy makers in finding Imran Khan winning the largest number of seats against all odds.

The world of cryptocurrency is once again grabbing attention, with Bitcoin (BTC) crossing past the $ 48,000 mark last week and sustaining the level over the last two days. In the last seven days, BTC has gained 13.3%, and its fully diluted market cap is over a trillion dollars. The gain for BTC looks more substantive compared to levels from a year ago. Over the last year, BTC has gained a whopping 122.7%. When writing this report, 1 BTC is equivalent to Rs 39,85,026.

New Delhi: The former Congress President Sonia Gandhi appear to have decided to bid adieu to direct electoral process and instead would be enter Parliament through the upper House.

At the moment of writing this column, over 160 million views have been garnered on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) in a span of 24 hours by what’s now being touted as the most definitive interview of the decade, that of Russian President Vladimir Putin by the American journalist Tucker Carlson, inside the Kremlin, Moscow. Lasting about two hours and seven minutes, this unscripted, free-wheeling interview breaks many, many grounds in its geopolitical significance, and comes at a time when the Russia-Ukraine (NATO) war is nearing the end of its second year, and doesn’t look like it would be over anytime soon.

On June 21, 1991, the 70-year-old Congress veteran P V Narasimha Rao took oath as the Prime Minister of a minority government amidst massive political uncertainty over its longevity. The Congress had got only 232 seats as against the usual majority of 272 in the Lok Sabha with the total strength of 543. Only one month ago, on May 21, Rajiv Gandhi was killed in the course of campaign for the 1991 Lok Sabha elections. Sonia Gandhi was in mourning and Rao was also acting as the Congress president.

Pakistan's national elections held on February 8 have resulted in a hung parliament, meaning no party has enough seats to govern alone. A coalition government will need to be formed, and an immediate priority will be seeking financial assistance from the IMF.

The Supreme Court has issued a rather contrarian ruling on the grant of bail, by proclaiming that people accused under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) do not deserve bail as a rule. Such people must be granted only in exceptional cases, the court clarified. The court further said that delay in hearing of the case is no ground to grant bail.