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Nitin Gadkari has invested considerable political capital in presenting ethanol-blended petrol as a national solution to several problems at once. It is meant to cut India’s crude oil import bill, reduce emissions, support farmers, create a market for agricultural produce and strengthen energy security. Each of these objectives has merit. Yet the transport minister’s increasingly combative defence of E20 petrol is turning what should have been a carefully managed technological transition into a crisis of public confidence.

At a time when state is increasingly seen resorting to illegal detentions, imminent demolition, deportations, custodial violence and several other actions against common citizens at any time of the day and night, Supreme Court of India’s agreeing to consider framing of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to allow any common citizen, not alone the big people of the country, to knock on the door of the courts any time is a significant development in protecting people’s life and liberty against state highhandedness.

The developments in the BJP over the last ten days relating to the nomination of the party candidate for the Bankipur by poll in Bihar assembly reveal the tussle between the BJP President Nitin Nabin and the all powerful Home Minister Amit Shah. At the end, Shah prevailed by compelling Nabin to withdraw his own candidate and nominate Shah’s chosen Neeraj Kumar Sinha. Bankipur constituency fell vacant due to the resignation of Nitin Nabin as he was nominated President of BJP The polling date is July 30 this year.

Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin, who ignited a controversy in her country with her explosive writings against religious fundamentalism, authoritianism and curbs on freedom of expression, now plans to return to Kolkata, which she calls a home nearest to her heart, after living in European cities and Delhi for two decades since her exile. Her book Lajja was turned into a Bollywood movie with top actors.

Inflation – both wholesale and retail – in India has been rising sharply since January 2026. Wholesale inflation for all commodities rose from 1.19 per cent in January 2026 to 9.87 per cent in June 2026, while retail inflation during this period rose from 2.74 per cent to 4.38 per cent. It is obvious that the rise in wholesale inflation is not yet fully reflected in the retail inflation though it has accelerated this month, breaching the Reserve Bank’s 4% target for the first time in 17 months.

Democratic protest has lost its constitutional relevance and moral values in India and the various democratic institutions have been facing the threat of extinction, is clearly manifest in reluctance of the centre to talk to CJP protestors and especially Sonam Wangchuk, who has been on indefinite hunger strike for last 17 days in the support of CJP demands. Wangchuk has not resorted to hunger strike for some personal gain. He has been the voice of the 22 lakh students who have been the victims of the NEET paper leak.

The entry into force of the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) on July 15 has understandably been celebrated as a diplomatic triumph and an economic milestone. Yet the temptation to portray the agreement merely as another free trade pact promising higher exports and lower tariffs risks obscuring its far greater significance. CETA is less about dismantling customs duties than about exposing the structural strengths—and weaknesses—of two economies attempting to redefine their place in an increasingly fragmented global trading order.

The Ram Temple, run by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has initiated the search for its first-ever Chief Executive Officer (CEO), signalling a major shift towards professional management at a time when the temple is under intense public and judicial scrutiny over the alleged embezzlement of devotees' donations.

As elections approach, new controversies are often manufactured to divert public attention from pressing social and economic concerns. Instead of addressing unemployment, debt, education, healthcare, and development, political discourse is increasingly dominated by emotionally charged issues that deepen divisions and yield electoral gains for those in power.

BHOPAL: When Ashutosh Tiwari – the BJP candidate for the by-elections in the Datia Assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh – went to file his nomination papers on Monday, he was accompanied by chief minister Mohan Yadav, deputy chief minister Jagdish Devda, state BJP President Hemant Khandelwal and a host of top BJP leaders, including former Home Minister Narottam Mishra, who was widely presumed to be BJP's natural choice for candidature from the constituency, but was denied ticket at the last moment.