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Bhubaneswar: Defending champion Belgium overpowered the Netherlands 3-2 in dramatic shootout, after playing 2-2 in regulation period to set up title clash with Germany who stunned Australia 4-3 in the Hockey World Cup here this evening.

India is now the most populated country in the world with a very high rate of urbanization that is expected to reach 41 per cent by 2030 according to the latest estimate of the World Bank in 2022. In 2021, the urbanization rate was 35 per cent as against 26 per cent in 1991. Rapid urbanization has thus been coupled with rising population necessitating such a model of economic growth that creates a surge in transportation demand. High-speed rail (HSR) is naturally seen as a valuable tool to address this demand.

The results of yet another ‘Mood of the Nation’ survey is out and the summary is, if elections were held today, the Bharatiya Janata Party will rule again. That is standard gravy for those on the BJP gravy-train. Doesn’t matter that the hostage media no matter what the truth will jump to do the BJP’s bidding, and predict to keep Prime Minister Narendra Modi happy. So, the day after Modi told BJP leaders to fan out and become friends with Muslims, also to not speak “ill” of films, the so-called ‘Godi Media’ were falling over praising the Prime Minister’s Muslim outreach, and Pathaan's blockbuster opening.

The alacrity with which the Modi government used the law that cites ‘emergency’ provisions to stop Indians from watching the BBC Documentary “India: The Modi Question” — a narrative of the Gujarat pogrom that was carried out in 2002 by Hindutva bigots and the role of the then chef minister of the state, Narendra Modi— is quite intriguing.

The union budget for 2023-24 is to be presented before parliament on February 1, 2023 at a time when both the Indian as well as world economies face a grim situation. Notwithstanding the tall claims of the Modi government, India’s economy is yet to recover from the crippling effects of the Covid pandemic and the disastrous way in which it was handled by the government of India.

Bhubaneswar: Two-Time champion Germany chalked out stunning come from behind 4-3 penalty shootout victory, after drawing 2-2 in the dying minutes of the regular period, to setup a semi-final clash with three-time winner Australia in the Hockey World Cup here this evening.

India’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector continues to be fund starved and actual disbursal of funds under the Emergency Credit Linde Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) is too slow to enable them survive or revive. Only a little over two months are left when ECLGS would expire on March 31, 2023, but only Rs2.82 lakh crore were disbursed till September 30, 2022.

Charles Gurumukh Sobhraj had already acquired international notoriety when he drugged and robbed a group of French tourists, and killed one of them, in Delhi in June, 1986. He had already served his 10-year sentence when he escaped Tihar jail on March 16, 1986. His arrest 22 days later and further incarceration only helped him evade a much worse fate in Thailand. He had already been granted bail by the Delhi High Court in 1989 but managed to stay in Tihar jail till 1997, ensuring the lapse of the warrant for murder in Thailand that carried capital punishment.

For the Congress, ever since Rahul Gandhi set out on his 3,750 km long Bharat Jodo Yatra, it has been one step forward and two steps backward thanks to some very controversial remarks made by Congress leaders including by Rahul Gandhi himself. Remarks that confuse and confound and which make the average Indian with no particular preference for party to think!

In the first ever manifestation of tactical retreat, the Union Law Minister, Kiren Rijiju refrained from suggesting that charges of sedition should be slapped against the Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud. During its nine years in power, the Narendra Modi government has used recklessly the draconian provision, a pitiful colonial hangover. Anyone who has criticised or spoken against PM Modi, irrespective of their social and political stature, has been deemed seditious, and many have been framed under the archaic sedition law. The threatening tenor of the Law Minister’s reaction makes it explicitly clear that he desired to convey the message to the CJI that he has ‘compromised national security’ with his emphasis on transparency in the Collegium’s reply to the Union government and therefore displeased Rijiju’s political boss, Narendra Modi.