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Number of Bank frauds in 2022-23 in India reached 13,576 as against just 4306 in 2013-14, and has even broken the record of the last year in only first six months of the current financial year 2023-24 when the fraud cases have already risen to 14,483. Obviously, UPA government was no match to the NDA government led by PM Narendra Modi in banking frauds, though PM Narendra Modi has promised during his election campaigns that he would give a corruption free India.

Ziyad al-Nakhalah, the leader of Palestine Islamic Jihad, the second most significant militant Gazan group, arrived in Cairo this week for carefully timed talks with Egyptian intelligence chief General Abbas Kamel. A Palestinian source said Al-Nakhalah was discussing an end to the Gaza war that would involve an exchange of prisoners, the withdrawal of Israeli forces, and reconstruction of the devastated territory. On the table was a three-stage Egyptian proposal that falls short of mutually exclusive Israeli and Palestinian demands.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The central investigating agency, the enforcement Directorate (ED), which is on a rampage against the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government in Kerala, suffered a highly embarrassing double defeat in the Kerala High Court.

Famous as the first ‘Showman’ of Indian cinema, had Raj Kapoor been alive today, he would have celebrated in grand style his turning 100 this month. Facing the movie cameras after putting on the grease-paint and an attire which was a take on that of the inimitable Charlie Chaplin, he essayed the part of a hero when the country had just assumed its seat among newly independent nations.

The Indian defence manufacturing sector has advanced significantly, largely due to the government’s ‘Make in India’ policy and emphasis on self-sufficiency. But difficulties that can hinder development in 2024 need to be addressed. So like all significant nations, India has an Army, Navy and Air Force and these wings need among other essentials, ground vehicles, naval vessels, C4ISR, fixed-wing aircraft, rotary-wing aircraft, weapons and ammunition, protection and training and unmanned systems.

India has one of the largest defence industrial bases (DIB) on the planet; an extensive network of research and development (R&D); as well as, production entities. The DIBs employ scientists, engineers and other professionals. But the dominance of the public sector has resulted in lacklustre performance. Therefore, India’s continued reliance on external sources, a dependence that remains a cause of concern. India, in times of crisis, has found itself reaching out to friendly nations for emergency procurements.

The trade union movement in India may be heading for a year of reckoning in 2024. The first half of the year will see much intensified, aggressive, and confrontational protests against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led ruling establishment, especially till the Lok Sabha General elections conclude by May end. The course of the movement in the second half of the year would depend on the decision of the elected government on implementation of the four controversial labour codes, hitherto deferred by the Centre due to stiff resistance from the workers’ unions.

Imperialist hegemony over the third world is exercised not just through arms and economic might but also through the hegemony of ideas, by making the victims see the world the way imperialism wants them to see it. A prerequisite for freedom in the third world therefore is to shake off this colonisation of the mind, and to seek truth beyond the distortions of imperialism. The anti-colonial struggle was aware of this; in fact the struggle began with the dawning of this awareness. And since the imperialist project does not come to an end with formal political decolonisation, the education system in the newly independent ex-colonies must continuously aim to go beyond the falsehoods of imperialism.

Israeli defence forces continue bombing Gaza and blasting Hamas terror tunnel complexes, but what about the plan to flood underground tunnels with seawater? Nobody knows other than land weary Israeli ground forces who are religiously targeting tunnel networks, believing Hamas Chieftains still live in them and that there are pads for top Hamas functionaries many of whom ended up as corpses in the underground web.

Never having led a sporting side to a playing field, no eyebrows were raised among the fans of actor-turned-politician Vijaykanth when he became better known as “Captain” in the worlds of films and politics in Tamil Nadu. The honorific has stuck to him since 1991 on the release of his 100th film, 'Captain Prabhakaran'.