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Indian democracy presently suffers from its lack of a strong Opposition. Some feel that the secret weapon of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's success is the divided Opposition.

Indian politics takes a new turn with the fall of the BJP-led government in Bihar. The BJP-led NDA crumbled down there when the JD(U) bid farewell to BJP. Even though for several months, the conflict between BJP and JD(U) was brewing, nobody expected that it would pull down their government so swiftly. Within the time span of 24 hours, the BJP-led government was ousted and the Mahagathbandhan government came into power. This nature of the political churning process in India has its own lessons for the students of political science to learn.

Till recently, when commemorating the significant anniversaries of independence, we could cite the parliamentary democratic system as one of the major achievements of independent India. The adoption of a republican constitution in 1950 provided the scope for people’s participation and a voice in politics which reflected the aspirations of the Indian people in their struggle for national independence.

A week ahead of the 75th anniversary of Independence, India commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Quit India movement on 9 August 2022. The Congress leadership had been arrested immediately after giving the Quit India call from the All-India Congress Committee session in Mumbai, but the call triggered a popular upsurge in several parts of India and gave rise to even four parallel governments – Ballia in UP, Tamluk in Bengal, Talcher in Odisha and Satara in Maharashtra. The Satara parallel government in fact lasted till 1947, becoming the historical bridge between the Quit India movement and the final exit of the British colonial rulers.

In the fierce battle for buttressing political supremacy between the two Chanakyas, Amit Shah was made to bite dust by Nitish Kumar by aborting his mission Operation Lotus, an endeavour to remove Chief Minister Nitish from power and also restructure his task to finish yet another regional party, this time JD(U) of Nitish, and create a new Eknath Sinde in Bihar.

It might not be churlish to say that the celebration of the 75th year of Indian independence is more an official event associated with the BJP than a national occasion.

Veteran lawyer Kapil Sibal isn’t a happy lawyer. It was only a few days ago that the Supreme Court had asked him to be the court’s friend, help it understand the “freebies culture”, and what ought to be done with the pettifoggery that some political parties do to win sweeping electoral victories.

“My operation depends on your co-operation, otherwise there will be separation.” As Venkaiah Naidu, 73, demitted office as Vice-President of India on August 10, the Rajya Sabha of which was ex-officio Chairman, will be poorer for his quick wit and puns, many of which elicited laughter and served briefly unite the Treasury benches and Opposition benches at a time of brief discord and distrust between the two sides. His recent “operation-cooperation-separation” response was in response to frequent disruptions in the Upper House by Opposition members seeking discussion on price rise.

Chess became a craze after Celebrated Bengali Director Satyajit Ray's movie 'Shatranj ki Khiladi' created a big buzz in 1977. But the recent Netflix release " Queen's Gambit" took it to a different level worldwide.

The rate of urbanisation in India has so far been slower than other emerging countries. But this is expected to change drastically in the coming decades. So much so that in the next two decades, the country is expected to add a new city of the size of Los Angeles every year.