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Every time we sleep peacefully at night, there is someone awake at the border, watching over us in the freezing cold or the scorching heat. When we go to school or college without fear, when our parents travel for work, or when we celebrate our festivals with joy, all of this is possible because somewhere, far away from the comfort of our homes, a soldier is standing guard. This is why the defence budget matters so much. It is not just a collection of large numbers on a piece of paper or boring financial talk that only adults discuss in newsrooms. It is fundamentally about the safety net that allows us to dream big and live freely in our own country. As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman prepares to present the Union Budget for the financial year 2026-27 on February 1, the question everyone is asking is simple yet critical: will our armed forces get what they truly need to keep us safe in an increasingly dangerous world?

Health and education are the most fundamental prerequisites for the development of any country and society. Only a well-educated, trained, and healthy population can meaningfully contribute to the nation’s economic and social progress. Unfortunately, India continues to fall far short on these basic parameters, as reflected in its poor performance on key human development indicators.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Nothing happens here. These are not fit for Kerala. That has been the criticism trotted out day in and day out by the Opposition parties in the State. Well, that criticism has been buried fathoms deep. That is for sure.

India’s transport sector, combining road, rail, air and water, is ready for a significant job boom, with the logistics industry alone projected to grow at a 10.7 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through the current year. The national budget for 2026-27, which is scheduled to be placed in Parliament on February 1, should strongly focus on the transport sector, especially on the under-tapped civil aviation field, and incentivize enthusiastic private entrepreneurs to play a growing role in this highly potential area of industry. The sector offers a tremendous opportunity to entrepreneurs – big, medium or small. The forthcoming budget should provide further stimulus to tap the opportunity, creating millions of new jobs, with the logistics sector specifically aiming to add up to 10 million job opportunities over the next two years.

Though the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment of India is working to rollout of the new labour codes for full implementation from April1, 2026, it seems uncertain because of stiff resistance from the Joint Platform of the 10 Central Trade Unions (CTUs) and many roadblocks that have unexpectedly come into the way since their notification on November 21, 2025. CTUs have demanded their withdrawal and are preparing for nationwide strike on February 12, while draft rules are expected to be finalised by mid-February. The government has received multiple suggestions to defer the operationalisation to the next financial year. Labour codes are to be implemented through digital framework, but they are still facing glitches, that employee unions have flagged. Government seems not fully prepared as of now, while only two months are left for announced full implementation.

Tamil Nadu does not announce political change with slogans or street eruptions. It signals it differently—through silence, fatigue, and a gradual withdrawal of emotional investment. Governments here are rarely voted out in anger; they are eased out when voters stop believing that power listens.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: He came. He saw. And he went back. That broadly sumps up Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s brief visit to Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.

Chinese steelmakers once again demonstrated a breathtaking agility in the year that recently closed with shipments of steel products to foreign destinations climbing to a record high of 119 million tonnes from 110.72 million tonnes in 2024 in an environment of growing trade restrictions. But the steel industry in China, which has always enjoyed official patronage, covert and overt, faced with tough trade barriers in Europe, the US and India too, made spirited forays in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. ASEAN, particularly the Philippines and Vietnam retained its significance as Chinese steel export destination.

CHANDIGARH: To go ahead for reforming the Electricity Sector, the central government, in a press release through PIB on November 22, 2025, claims that the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2025, is a major step toward transforming India’s power system to meet the needs of a rapidly growing economy. It aims to create a future-ready electricity sector that delivers reliable, affordable, and high-quality power to every consumer: farmers and households, to shops and industries.

Republican India presents a gloomy picture of the collapse of the rule of law based constitutional democratic system of governance on the 77th Republic Day on January 26, 2026. On this day in January 1950, the Constitution of India postulating Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity for all people equally and alike was promulgated, which stand almost decimated today. Only trappings of democracy are there. Since 2014, when the BJP led union government came to power, various international democracy watchdogs, political analysts and observers have recorded significant decline in India’s democracy, with some describing it as a shift from a free democracy or flawed democracy to an electoral autocracy. All the democratic roads now lead to the rise of fascism with entire power concentrated in the deified Prime Minister whose style of functioning is patterned on Mussolini and Hitler.