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Two days after the BJP leaders waxed eloquent about protecting the Constitution in the debate in the Lok Sabha to mark the 75th anniversary of the framing of the Constitution, the Modi government has introduced a Constitution Amendment Bill, which seeks to damage the Constitution and the federal structure within it.

In 2025, in December, Communist Party of India completes a glorious century of a revolutionary past. It was a continual process, involving every single moment, in past, in present and also in future. Through prolonged popular struggles, it has been moving on, with power, without power. The history of communist movement also evolves, in stages, among people, struggling against the exploitative forces, to build a new society based on scientific principles.

When push comes to shove, there's no beating LoP in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, the only muscular MP in Parliament who can stand up to the ‘56” ki Chaati’ though there are pictures of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju flexing his muscles in a gym. But Rahul Gandhi’s push can be deadly to those in the way.

Within the span of this week, we have got two completely different and contrasting views of the Indian economy — one from the finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, and the other from the leader of the opposition Rahul Gandhi. Both could not be true at the same time; both could be false. They look like containing fragments of the truth.

An impression had gained ground that Uttar Pradesh is the stronghold of the rightist forces led by RSS and BJP and the saffron ecosystem intends to turn it into the Hindutva laboratory. While the results of the Lok Sabha have shattered this belief, the latest developments underline that the inability of the secular and socialist forces to fight for the cause of the Dalits and poor and their inability to take on the rightist forces head on have been primarily responsible for strengthening of the BJP in the state.

The twin bills introduced in the Lok Sabah on December 17 seeking ‘one nation and one election’ – ie simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas of the States and Union Territories –contains provisions of too much centralization of the governance in India that has potential risks of making irreparable damage to the federal structure of the country and ultimately to democracy.

The Reserve Bank of India has accounted for nearly half of all gold purchases by central bank in October this year. According to the World Gold Council, RBI bought 48 percent of all the gold that the central banks bought that month, adding a whopping 27 tonne to its gold reserves, taking the total tonnage to 882. That gold buying by all central banks totalled only 60 tonne in October shows a certain strategy by the Indian central bank.

KOLKATA: A fountainhead of criticism and opposition to Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo, Mamata Banerjee leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari is on a backfoot. And to make matters worse, it is in his own backyard Contai where the state's ruling dispensation’s most trenchant critic finds himself with his back to the wall.

One of the rationales brought forward by the Union Government of India for its pro-gold policy measures in the Budget 2024-25 was to address the vulnerabilities of the Indian Rupee, but today on December 17, 2024 it fell to a record low of Rs 84.93 per dollar in the morning trade. Another reason given that the gold would become more affordable, but its rate reached a record high of Rs 77,600 per 10 gram. Moreover, import of gold soared over four times widening the trade deficit to a record high at $37.9 billion in November.

“Like Grandfather Nehru…” posted a Pakistani politician who was a minister in the Imran Khan regime. Fawad Hussain, clearly in awe of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, whose Palestine Tote bag and black & white check sari made an emphatic if controversial political statement, and will likely launch a fashion trend, too, if not anywhere else, at least in her parliamentary constituency Wayanad and places nearby where “All eyes On Rafa” has been trending for months since Hamas terrorists fled to Rafa and the Israel Defence Forces followed in hot pursuit.