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India’s stock markets have seen panic before. They have survived wars, sanctions, pandemics, banking collapses and political earthquakes. But the latest selloff triggered by the Iran-linked oil shock has exposed something far deeper and more structural inside Asia’s third-largest economy: India’s extraordinary vulnerability to imported energy.

In a significant development in the sphere of India-China economic cooperation, China has offered its assistance to India in dealing its energy security challenge in the context of the present US war in Iran and crisis in oil shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. IN a commentary in the official organ of the Chinese Communist Party Global Times, the view has been expressed that India can depend on the supplies from China in the areas of equipment and machinery related to renewable energy generation to bring down its dependence on energy imports.

It is deeply painful to witness the defeat of Left and Democratic Front (LDF), the only government led by the communists in the state of Kerala. Even more distressing is the growing marginalisation of the voice that has consistently spoken for the downtrodden — the working class, agricultural labourers, small farmers, students, youth, women, Dalits, minorities, and other vulnerable sections of society.

India’s continuous hesitancy to curb the retail oil consumption pattern despite a worldwide surge in fuel prices is inexplicable, if not unacceptable. The government, the biggest benefactor of large domestic fuel use by way of imposition of levies close to 50 percent of the retail oil prices, is not prepared to ration fuel consumption despite the fact that the country is nearly 90 percent crude oil import dependent. Last Friday, India's state-run fuel retailers raised petrol and diesel prices for the first time in four years by a little over three rupees per litre to recoup some of the losses incurred by oil marketing companies due to higher global crude oil prices. The country is one of the last major economies to raise retail fuel prices following the disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz by the war started by US-Israeli attacks on Iran. Most of the countries have already raised domestic oil prices. Others have adjusted local fuel subsidies to control the retail cost.

Though the April retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose only a little to 3.48 per cent from the March inflation 3.40, and year on year food inflation based on Consumer Food Price Index to 4.20 per cent from 3.87, which is still within the tolerable limit of 2-6 per cent, situation is likely to change for the worse within weeks. Wholesale inflation is rising sharply, and it will soon go beyond the ability and capacity of the Union government to prevent passing it to the consumers, which it has been doing in the last three months, chiefly on account of the elections in states.

The Congress Party faced major challenges within its ranks while choosing the Chief Minister of Kerala, a process that took 11 days and was crucial in settling disagreements among various party groups, demonstrating the importance of internal consensus for unity.

India’s first seizure of Captagon — the notorious “jihadi drug” of the Syrian conflict — is more than a sensational narcotics bust. It is a warning flare. Beneath the ₹182-crore seizure at Mundra Port and Delhi lies a far darker story: the merging of global terror finance, synthetic narcotics, organised crime and a new transnational drug economy that increasingly sees India not merely as a transit point, but as a strategic battleground.

KOLKATA: Amidst much kerfuffle, a "double engine" government has come to run West Bengal. After the 2026 assembly elections, this state which for nearly five decades has been the epicentre of Opposition politics is however no stranger to "double engine" government but it's experience with it has not been quite happy.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Free travel for women in Kerala State Road Tran sport Corporation (KSRTC) buses from June 15 and a 3000-rupee hike for ASHA workers. These are the first decisions announced by Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan after the first Cabinet meeting of the newly-installed UDF Government on Monday.

The recent Assembly Elections results (May 2026) were eagerly awaited. In Assam the delimitation helped the Himanta Biswa Sarma to win the elections yet again. His main message was about Ghuspatiye, (infiltrators) and other slogans were floated which spread hate. In Bengal the election looked more like an invasion of Bengal, with the fertile ground prepared by the Election Commission and later the presence of nearly 2.5 lakh paramilitary forces. Ironically the place where the forces were required most was Manipur, anyways.