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Neo-liberalism propagates a set of outright falsehoods to present itself in a favourable light compared to the preceding dirigiste regime in India. The basic theme is to suggest that under neo-liberalism there has been such an acceleration of the growth rate of Gross Domestic Product that the people as a whole have become much better off, and vast masses of them have been lifted out of poverty (one particular enthusiast has even claimed that poverty now afflicts only 2 per cent of the population). Of course the dirigiste period was not all milk and honey, and nobody criticised it more trenchantly than the Left; but the claim that neo-liberalism represents an advance over it as far as the people’s living standard is concerned is a preposterous one.

New Delhi: Antim Panghal has been named the women’s Rising Star of the Year by United World Wrestling (UWW), the world governing body of the sport.

New Delhi: India's hope of making it to the final went up in smoke as they muffed chances galore and lost 1-4 to favourite Germany in the semi-finals of the Junior Hockey World Cup in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

The Supreme Court judgment on the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution and the dismantling of the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories is an egregious example of the constitutional court capitulating to the misuse of powers by the executive. Four years after the event, the three concurrent judgments of the five-member constitution bench, headed by the chief justice of India, have larger and long-lasting implications that strike at the roots of federalism and states’ rights.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s two day visit to Hanoi on December 12 and 13 opened a new chapter in the political and economic relations between two communist countries removing many of the misunderstandings between the two nations in the recent years.

It was a contradiction in terms. One of the largest producers of fossil fuels, UAE, was hosting the UN talks on limiting use of such fuels to cut down CO2 emissions and thereby help keep earth’s temperature rise within the stipulated 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

These days the multilateral agencies are increasingly losing their relevance. Take the UN system for example. Despite an overwhelming majority voting in favour of demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, the US blocked it by using its veto power. Interestingly, just a year back, Russia also used its veto power when the majority of the countries were demanding a ceasefire in Ukraine. Critics say the fact that five permanent members – USA, Russia, France, United Kingdom, and China – have the final say on a resolution renders the UN system helpless.

This is the second time in two decades that the security of Parliament has been breached. Nevertheless, the two incidents are distinctly different from each other in nature and probably in intention. The first was planned by terrorists “to wipe out the entire political leadership of India,” to quote the then home minister L K Advani. In that attack at least eleven persons had lost their lives.

The way PM Narendra Modi’s growth narrative is being boastfully brought forward is nothing but mere politics, since it tries to put the stark reality of incidents of hunger and malnutrition in the country under carpet. As per the growth narrative India is the fourth biggest economy of the world, growing at the fastest rate, and aiming at making the country a developed nation by 2047 under PM Modi’s leadership, but the new report released by UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has revealed that India still houses most of the hungry and malnourished people of the world, and hundreds of millions are either moderately or severely food insecure.

According to available data, there has been a steady decline in the availability of employment in agriculture and manufacturing. Growth of construction jobs have also been slow. The process of structural transformation, which had gained momentum post 2004-5, has almost stopped since 2016. There has been a spread of gloom especially among the educated youth since there is stagnation in hiring trend especially in sectors of hospitality. New job opportunities in AI sector and related fields have been mounting though at a relatively slower rate. Even after spending so much time and resources on getting specialized education, there is constant lack of quality non-farm jobs. This reality has shadowed up all hopes among the already disheartened labour force.