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On January 23, Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma announced a decision of the state cabinet to begin a major statewide drive to curb child marriages in the state.

On Monday, an eighteen-year-old Israeli named Tal Mitnick quoted on Twitter/X a particularly striking verse of “Have You Been to Jail for Justice?”, written by the late folk singer Anne Feeney. The song starts with a blunt statement that “laws are made by people” and “people can be wrong.” The lyrics continue with examples like laws against unions and laws allowing child labor in coal mines and laws denying women the right to vote. The conclusion is as simple as it is undeniable. Some laws need to be broken.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is embarking on his second walkathon, ‘Bharat Nyay Yatra', from Manipur in the north-east to Mumbai in western India, covering 14 states and 85 districts, beginning January 14. Rahul is undertaking this gruelling mission just after a year of the culmination of his first spirited walk, the Bharat Jodo Yatra, on January 30 in Kashmir.

Priyanka Gandhi, a severe critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is the latest political personality to be brought under the yoke of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a case of, what else, money laundering under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). It is for the judiciary to decide the legitimacy of the case, but there is no doubt of a political impact on the fortunes of the Congress. Even PM Modi will feel the ramifications.

The Communist Party of India will be a century old in another year. The party was formed on December 26, 1925. In 1920, the All India Trade Union Congress was formed with strikes and struggles of working masses, in the textile mills in Bombay, jute mills in Kolkata, and many other places. Emancipation from the shackles of an exploitative system became a goal. India was at the time, a colony of British imperialism.

The year 2023 ends with the dark shadow of the genocidal massacre of Palestinians in Gaza by the Israeli war-machine. Nearly three months of Israel’s brutal aggression has led to (till December 26) 20,915 people killed in Gaza, of which more than 8,000 are children; another 53,918 have been wounded and an unaccounted number of people are still buried in the debris of bombed buildings.

India and the UAE recently completed their first transaction in rupees for crude oil from the Emirates. A major shift in how global trade is conducted, typically done in dollars, this step is a significant boost to the growing trade between India and the UAE, which is likely to surpass the $100 billion target within a few years. Businesses and traders from both countries welcomed this move as an important part of their cooperation. It opens the door for better economic partnership and simplifies international financial dealings.

MicroStrategy's unwavering commitment to Bitcoin, evident in its recent $615 million purchase and overall holdings of $5.9 billion, has ignited a fiery debate. While supporters applaud CEO Michael Saylor's visionary leadership, critics like Peter Schiff paint a picture of reckless obsession.

The heat of the flames of violence that flared up in Manipur in May this year quickly reached the Supreme Court of India. It all started on March 27, when the Manipur High Court directed the state government to consider the inclusion of the Meitei community in the list of Scheduled Tribes. The Order created new incisions in old fissures in a region fraught with inter-community conflicts.

Javier Milei became Argentina’s president this month promising “shock therapy” to curb inflation and resolve the country’s foreign debt and currency reserve woes. Last Wednesday, the Argentine public got its first taste of what that therapy will look like. Declaring a state of economic emergency, the Milei administration issued a Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU) containing over 350 measures. Unless struck down by Congress, the plans will deregulate broad swathes of the economy, erode labor rights, and pave the way for mass privatization of state-owned enterprises like airline Aerolíneas Argentina and gas and oil company YPF.