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As India reaches closer to the Lok Sabha election 2024, the issues and campaign points are undergoing intermittent change. Political moves and counter-moves of PM Narendra Modi and the INDIA alliance are the chief causes behind it, making the country’s future politically uncertain. If PM Modi finds it an appropriate strategy to discredit opposition parties and their leaders on all issues concerning people, INDIA alliance's best defense and attack strategy is to unmask the real Modi hiding behind Hindutva.

As diplomatic efforts persist in addressing the ongoing border standoff between China and India, a fresh source of tension is emerging, centred around water resources. New Delhi is in the process of revitalizing 12 hydropower projects along the border, while China is actively constructing a substantial dam on Tibet's Yarlung Tsangpo, also known as Zangbo River. This river serves as the upper course of the trans-boundary Brahmaputra, flowing through dramatic gorges to eventually reach northeastern India and Bangladesh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two moves — first, convening the four-day special session of Parliament from September 18 to 22; and second, constituting a committee headed by the former president Ram Nath Kovind to examine the possibility of a ‘One Nation, One Election’ system, under which simultaneous elections would be held for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies — while are fraught with the ominous intentions, have also caused considerable dismay in the political circles.

The strong GDP growth in the first quarter of the current fiscal year is a hopeful augury, though there are some intriguing aspects in the detailed figures as well.

The G20 summit under India’s presidency to be held in New Delhi next week on September 9 and 10 could not have come at any time better for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to highlight the need to establish a new World order that is free from hunger and diseases for all. Though the focus is going to be geo-politics in the light of prolonged Russian-Ukraine war coupled with the strained Sino-US relations, promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth by converting challenges into opportunity would be emphasised by Modi to impress upon the members to move away from polarised geo-politics for the common good of the humanity.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Will the Left Democratic Front (LDF) score an upset victory in Puthuppally Assembly constituency, which is going to the polls on September 5? That is the million dollar question agitating the minds of Keralites.

It could be his last interview. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi answered questions as if he is here to stay even if Indians have yet to consider whether he is fit for a third term or not with their votes in 2024. The interviewer gave him an easy time with forgettable questions. Were they vetted before they were allowed? Why not, the entire exercise was to refurbish the Prime Minister’s image before general elections 2024. To be honest, this Prime Minister should have been put to the test but he wasn't, which speaks a lot about the integrity and commitment of the media and "government-monitored media agencies".

Born in a house in Ahiritola in the heart of north Kolkata on September 3, 1926, and growing up in a middle class joint family household in Bhowanipore, Arun Kumar Chattopadhayay did not quite stand out in a crowd when he first sought to essay the role of a silver screen hero in Tollygunge film studio. Flops and failures almost grounded his acting career almost before it had taken off and it was his grit and luck which transformed him into Uttam Kumar, whom almost every person watching him perform in the darkness of a cinema hall wanted to have as a member of his/her family.

A self effacing man with a deep commitment to egalitarianism who worked as a welding apprentice in Indian Railways, Shailendra would have been just another man in a crowd whose birth and passing do not deserve a mention had he not given vent to his penchant for poetry which Hindi screen legends lipped in songs on screen. As his centenary year passed by this week, one recalls there was no turning back for the man from Mathura whose lyrics enveloped profoundity in simplicity post his journey to the city of gold -Bombay.

The most significant political development this year is not the formation of the Indian Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), a congregation of forces opposed to the BJP. It isn’t the tentative alliance that BJP is seeking to build with its older and newer partners. It’s also not the G20 summit, which is much a diplomatic event as a political one to symbolize India’s success in the domain of international politics under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.