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Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh on Kargil Divas reiterated that Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) will be returned to India, and that POK remains an integral part of India. We’ve heard this before, umpteen number of times, more and more after the Bharatiya Janata Party came to rule at the Centre. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in one of his Independence Day speeches during his first term, spoke of getting back not only POK, but also freedom for ‘Balochistan’.

There is no secret now. Modi government has now brazenly said in the Parliament of India that the Centre has no plans to develop National Employment Policy (NEP). It has raised its veil from its true face on this issue ever since it came to power in 2014. Even till recently officials of the Union Ministry of Labour have been generating hopes among people by reportedly briefing the media that the government intends to bring the National Employment Policy in 2022 or latest by the Union Budget session 2023. However, the Centre has now turned its back.

An unprecedented event in January, 2018, saw four Supreme Court judges hold a Press conference – the first and last, in their view – to announce that democracy in India is in peril because “things are not in order” in the judiciary.

It is a matter of great concern that for the country’s millions of educated youth, degrees and certificates have become as useless as wastepapers as they fail to provide jobs and help brighten their future. Going by the official records, in the academic year of 2018 about 64.7 lakh students passed out of undergraduate courses and over 20 lakh passed out of post-graduate disciplines. These include conventional three-year degree courses and professional degrees (law, engineering, medicine, business and management courses).

It is true that the whole world was engulfed by the adverse economic consequences of corona during 2020-21 and 2021-22 and that even during 2022-23, there are lingering effects of the pandemic. Most of the countries are suffering, as India does, from the economic dislocations in various sectors at various production points, the primary concern is about the common man, gaining or losing in welfare.

The week ending July 2022 is an opportunity for India and the world to make a history by supporting a resolution in the United Nations General Assembly that seeks making the right to have a clean, healthy and sustainable environment a human right. Modi government must not repeat its mistake of abstention as in October 2021 when the resolution came to vote in the UN Human Rights Council with another three countries Russia, China and Japan, but the resolution was passed with 43 votes.

The rupee struck 80 and trespassed into the BJP’s ‘Margdarshak Mandal’ territory, and the opposition parties took note of it. But none from the BJP cared to respond, even when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a swipe, tweeting “Amritkaal at 80”, and newly-minted Congress Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Surjewala tweeted “Marg Darshak Mandal”, around the same time when on the other side of the planet, Fox News host Tucker Carlson asked “what if President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race?”

Congress hasn’t done any credit to itself by criticising prime minister Narendra Modi‘s ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ call to hoist the national flag atop homes to mark the 75th year of India’s independence under the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav campaign. It was somewhat uncharacteristic of him at this instance to mention that the first tricolour was unfurled by Pandit Nehru. In a tweet, he also recalled “the monumental courage and efforts of all those who dreamt of a flag for free India when we were fighting colonial rule. We reiterate our commitment to fulfil their vision and build the India of their dreams.”

The NDA’s Presidential pick Droupadi Murmu has been elected to the high office defeating her rival Yashwant Sinha, joint Opposition candidate. Hailing from a predominantly tribal district of Odisha, Mayurbhanj, Murmu’s work as a state functionary in various capacities is remembered as bold with grit and humility. Known for her unwavering connections to her tribal heritage, Murmu is revered. A progressive leader, she is said to be a believer in tradition, walking hand in hand with modernity. This was seen in multitudes of initiatives she under took during her tenure as a widely respected Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and as a governor of Jharkhand.

Bengaluru: Keeping her nerves at crucial moments, Seher Atwal fired a birdie on the 18th to win her first title of the season in the 10th leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour here Friday.