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The UNAIDs executive director, Winnie Byanyima had appealed before the 12th WTO Ministerial of WTO in Geneva that the world would face a grim future if patent waivers did not take place. At a press conference, Byanyima had said, "In a pandemic, sharing technology is life or death, and we are choosing death," In the 12th Ministerial of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which ended on June 17th, the rich countries did precisely that. They blocked almost all possibilities of providing cheap vaccines, anti-virals and diagnostics for the world. After two years in WTO of "postponing"—or blocking—the India-South Africa proposal for a waiver on patents for Covid-19vaccines and medicines, the club of the rich countries—the European Union, the US and the UK—ensured that no worthwhile patent waiver measure was passed. The profits of big pharma once again trumped the lives and health of the people. As it had done during the AIDS epidemic.

India is now at the cusp of getting back to high economic growth with positive signs witnessed in overall revival of the economy after two years of difficult covid times. One important and critical factor in evolving the economic strategy is to ensure that India’s foreign trade grows leaps and bounds. Basically trade is the X-factor in ensuring India sustained the high growth path for at least a decade or so. For this many macro economists have advocated the need to push free trade agreements, both bilateral and regional. The economists include former Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Arvind Panagariya and Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian. The response from the Indian government had been lukewarm to this proposal in the past few years. But now with India’s exports looking up after being stagnant in last few year, there appears to be a growing realization that protectionism even for geo-political considerations did no good to the economy.

Despite a few stray incidents, the bypolls for the four assembly seats in the northeastern state of Tripura have seen a voter turnout of more than 78%. The four seats where bypolls were held are — Agartala, Town Bardowali, Jubarajnagar and Surma (SC).

Now, there is one more reason why the Muslim minority will not trust the Supreme Court of India. Earlier, there was Afzal Guru, as cited by Afreen Javed, Prayagraj riots kingpin Muhammad Javed’s daughter. June 23, the apex court should have thought twice before it upheld the “clean chit” given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the Gujarat High Court in the “larger conspiracy” case slapped against him by Zakia Jafri whose husband Ehsan Jafri met a brutal end in the 2002 Gujarat riots.

The Agnipath scheme, which makes a radical departure in the nature of recruitment of soldiers to the armed forces, has met with widespread opposition from the youth and ex-servicemen of all categories. Despite this fierce opposition, the government has directed the armed forces to go ahead with the new recruitment programme.

There are reports, released by Oxfam a few months back, to be exact, on January 23, 2022, that reveal that seventy percent of the national wealth is in the hands of select ten per cent. For the rest, it is thirst, hunger and a bleak present. Dragging themselves towards the end of the road, they find the myth of the promise, the ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’. A mirage with a name under which the government has spelt out its economic policies, offering more concern than succour.

Rising prices and inflation in India are likely to remain above tolerance level of 6 per cent as visualized by the Union Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Retail inflation is expected to be much over this level in the medium term despite small moderation in domestic in May 2022, while the pass-through of rising input costs will keep the core inflation somewhat sticky on the one hand, and even push up the retail inflation on the other. A prospect of costlier imports and bad local weather conditions keeps both the Union Government and the RBI at tenterhooks.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The truce in Congress in Kerala resulting from the spectacular victory in the Thrikkakara assembly by-election is in danger of collapsing.

BJP’s latest move to throw out Maha Vikas Aghadi from power in Maharashtra has a different contour and political necessity. The move was driven not only with the maxim to have a BJP government and revenge the two year old action of Uddhav Thackeray to foil its effort to rule Maharashtra. Instead it was the anxiety of losing the presidential election that prompted the BJP leadership to use its all might to split the Shiv Sena and install its own government.

Uddhav Thackeray undid Bal Thackeray’s Hindutva legacy by linking up with the secular Congress and the NCP. And Aaditya Thackeray is being blamed for alienating Eknath Shinde. ‘UT’ was blind to ‘AT’ meddling in affairs out of his depth. But that would be diminishing Sanjay Raut’s role, hovering overhead!