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After nearly two decades of stalled negotiations, missed deadlines and political hesitations, India and the European Union on Monday announced the conclusion of a sweeping free trade agreement that both sides say could reshape global commerce at a moment when the world economy is fragmenting along geopolitical lines.

Will the Centre muster courage to act on its much desired political objective of installing a popular ministry in strife-scarred Manipur latest on February 13, 2026? Manipur was placed under President’s rule as usual initially for six months on February 13, 2025 and later circumstances forced New Delhi to extend President’s rule by six months with effect from August 13 2025 [Parliament had okayed the extension on August 5]. Which is to expire on February 12, 2026 and which means by then the state will have been under President’s rule for one year.

There is something faintly theatrical about the Washington Post’s recent report claiming that a U.S. diplomat in Dhaka openly told Bangladeshi journalists that Washington wants to cultivate relations with Jamaat-e-Islami and views Hefazat-e-Islam through a pragmatic lens. The report is built around alleged audio recordings from a closed-door meeting. It is presented with the authority of quotation marks and the confidence of a paper that has made its reputation by puncturing power. Yet the story collapses the moment one asks a basic question: if an American diplomat had truly said these things, why would the audio ever see the light of day?

A candidate's popularity or lack of it together with the organisational network, performance and promises made by the political party he/she represents are the yardsticks of electoral success or failure in India. But one must not overlook the spending capacity of a nominee which recent disclosures are pointers that the electoral battle is becoming increasingly unequal.

In today’s fractured world, fissures caused mostly by the ongoing Trumpomania, every nation is working post haste to forge new alliances particularly focussed on trade. The best example of this is the India-EU partnership FTA, to be formalized on January 27. The enhanced partnership is going to eliminate tariffs on more than 90% of traded goods, besides imparting a thrust to services and facilitate investments between the two sides.

India and European Union announcing on Tuesday the historic deal on Free Trade Agreement is a major achievement of the Indian Government in the present state of global turmoil after U.S. President Trump’s declaration of tariff war at global level.

With the purge of General Zhang Youxia, until now the vice-chairman of China’s all-powerful Central Military Commission, there remains just another member in the traditionally seven-member top body controlling China’s vast military outfit following the latest purges by the President Xi Jinping.

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.

Though the South Asia is well positioned to move from ad hoc bilateral coordination to more structured, institutionalized forms of regional collaboration, the region is facing numerous challenges in strengthening Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). Trust remains a critical enabler for both DPI adoption and interoperability across South Asia—but currently, trust in digital systems is fragile. Countries are experiencing infrastructure that is not resilient, data protection frameworks that are weak and outdated, unclear institutional accountability, uneven cybersecurity readiness, and lack of awareness. Multiple actors are pursuing piecemeal cybersecurity projects, awareness drives, and legal reforms without a shared framework that are weak and outdated, clear sequencing, or mutual recognition. This leaves critical gaps and risks embedding trust as an afterthought rather than a design principle.