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Bestowing Bharat Ratna on former prime minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao, is a partial correction of neglect and, often, heaping of indignities on him. Well into his twilight era after his prime ministership, Rao used to lead a forlorn life in a bungalow on Man Singh Road, when hardly anybody would come to see him.

US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has found a hardened political landscape as he tours the Middle East for the fifth time since the Gaza war erupted. The war has toughened Israeli and Palestinian positions. At the same time, Saudi Arabia appears eager to finalise a comprehensive package deal that would include recognition of Israel.

Two-time Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is wheelchair-bound though mentally alert, will no longer be an active politician even if it’s a cinch that he will be sought out on occasion to get a quip on issues and people. Like, for example, on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is years younger than Manmohan Singh but has been quite free with bad vibes for the former Prime Minister whose quiet demeanour covered up for a steely resolve as displayed during the days of the contentious Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

The results of Pakistan election held on Thursday make it clear that it has been a vote for the underdog . It is also a vote against the Establishment meaning powerful Pakistan army.. Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) headed by an imprisoned Imran Khan has emerged on top. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, army backing notwithstanding, has failed to reach the top tier of victory stand.

The United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week, observed every year across the world from February 1 to 7, has ended without observation in India this year 2023. The Interfaith Harmony Week has not been observed since 2014. People are not aware of it generally. This is largely because of communal, discriminatory, divisive and religious polarizing majoritarian Hindutva politics of the RSS Pariwar union government and its ruled state governments.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown his nervousness in announcing the Bharat Ratna awards in a haste to two former Prime Ministers Choudhury Charan Singh and P V Narasimha Rao While choosing Charan Singh from western Uttar Pradesh, a Jat dominated region, Modi showered praise; “He dedicated his life to the rights and welfare of farmers. His dedication to our farmer brothers and sisters and his commitment to democracy during the Emergency are an inspiration to the entire nation.”

The Himalayan states, which have had comparatively less economic development due to various issues including security, have done reasonably well under Prime Minister Narendra Modi if one went by budget allocations in recent years. The Interim budget on February 1, 2024 is no different. The budget allocation for Jammu and Kashmir in particular after abrogation of article 370 on August 5, 2019, has been more pronounced to the envy of Kashmiris leaving across the border and under occupation of Pakistan. This has been acknowledged by Pakistani media as well where in one of the popular channels, a commentator said the interim budget in India has allocated as much as $16 billion for the development of Jammu and Kashmir when the entire Pakistan was struggling to get peanuts of $3 billion from International Monetary Fund.

Bhubaneswar: India led by Harmanpreet Singh is all set to begin their FIH Hockey Pro League 2023/24 campaign when they take on Spain in their first match here on Saturday.

Vizag: Sneha Singh picked up her second win in three starts despite two bogeys in the last three holes at the fourth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the East Point Club here on Friday.

The BJP government holds that truth is what Modi says; if evidence points otherwise then evidence must be wrong and should be suppressed. Modi says that India never had it so good as during the last decade of his government; but since official statistics contradict him, the statistics must be wrong and the statistical system must be changed. In this manner one of the finest statistical systems of the global south, built with great effort and care, is being demolished by this government.