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China’s sudden change of mind to uphold peace and tranquility with India at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and work for early resolution of outstanding issues should not be read beyond these words as framed at the joint declaration at the end of the 30th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs in Delhi, earlier this month. China seems to be willing to make a careful compromise on the border issue after a gap of almost four-and-a-half years, when the Chinese troops tried to aggressively change the status quo on the LAC in eastern Ladakh without much success.

What does the crystal ball reveal about the upcoming year 2025? The predictions are a mixed bag. Nostradamus, the famous French astrologer and seer, has made significant predictions regarding global affairs and India's future for 2025.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address in the Lok Sabha during special discussion on the 75th anniversary of adoption of the Constitution of India is magnanimous glorification of the past as a sort of veil behind which he tried to conceal the present misdeeds under his rule for over a decade. His speech and his actions, his political clan’s and his government’s words and actions, all are just utter mismatch, that is an indication of impending danger.

Pre-poll ablutions for the Delhi assembly elections are in full swing with the Aam Aadmi Party first off the block along with Delhi's YouTubers and social media influencers who aren't consuming the aftermath of the Maharashtra assembly elections, the Winter Session of Parliament and the brouhaha over the Constitution and Soros-Adani, giving AAP convener and ousted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal a clear field to showcase his election-winning prowess and fight from being reduced to an also-ran after spending time behind bars in Delhi’s high-security Tihar Jail.

India’s flagship Employment Linked Incentive (ELI) scheme announced in the Union Budget 2024-25 for decent job creation in the country did not take off even in mid-December 2024. Union Ministry of Finance is busy in making next Union Budget 2025-26, which will be tabled on February 1, 2025. India Inc is hesitant in joining the scheme, and Union Ministry of Labour and Employment is also not ready with the details of the scheme, which are likely to be notified in January 2025.

It was former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju who a month ago raised an alarm about former CJI Chandrachud’s role in unleashing the controversy surrounding the Places of Worship Act, 1991, which has manifested in the form multiple demands for the survey of mosques, claimed to have been built on destroyed temple4 sites. He had warned that the ex-CJI’s remarks would open the floodgates for litigations, which literally happened in the days that followed. The problem assumed such alarming proportions that the Supreme Court had to order a bar on acceptance of new civil suits or issuance of new orders in pending cases.

Halt all fresh suits, proceedings, and orders in relation to the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991, ordered a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India on December 12, implications of which will be far reaching since it would transcend beyond the legal boundaries to the social and political life of the people of the country. The order has kindled a new hope of survival of secularism in its battle with communalism being attacked socially, politically, and legally by the Hindutva forces, though the Places of Worship Act has a bar against raising such issues.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There is absolutely no let-up in the Union Government’s attempts to deny funds Kerala is entitled to despite judicial raps.

Maharashtra’s Mahayuti, the ruling NDA in the state, is still struggling to overcome a deep political trouble from within. The most serious political development is that Shiv Sena believes BJP and NCP are hand in glove in clipping the wings of their party and leader Eknath Shinde. It is a serious concern for the BJP leadership, since many political leaders believe that BJP is pursuing downsizing its allies one by one to go ahead with its dream of ‘one nation, one party’ approach in the long run.

The BJP is in hurry to appoint a new national president by December end. Electoral process for the election of the new president is underway. But the contentious issue whose candidate, either of the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat or of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will eventually occupy the office is still shrouded in the mystery. October meeting of the RSS national executive and later interaction of Bhagwat with some senior BJP leaders and also chief minister of UP, Yogi Adityanath had certainly turned the saffron ecosystem optimist of an agreement between the two before the year is out.