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Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale told the Parliament in a written reply early this week that the country has not seen any deaths due to manual scavenging but 233 persons died while undertaking hazardous cleaning of sewers in the past three years. In Haryana, after 20 workers died in about 10 months in similar hazardous cleaning, the state’s chief secretary has released a new standard operating process for sewer cleaning that makes the presence of an ambulance necessary while such cleaning activities are being undertaken.

In almost every act of development, there keeps flowing an undercurrent of loss. Every beginning is based on the negation of its preceding one. One glaring example is that of global warming. There is smog, wide spread and dense, erosion destroying the course of streams and rivers that had sheltered the human settlements for centuries, leading to ecological migration, ozone destruction, the clearing of tropical forest for timber and arable land to meet the demands of time, including that of Amazon, the collapse of ocean fisheries and other common-access resources, and heightened extinction rates. Here comes the relevance of what Frederick Engels had said, in his Dialectics of Nature elaborating on the human-nature antagonism, “...Men destroy it (the nature) in order to sow crops on the soil thus released, or to plant trees or vines.”

The Emirate of Afghanistan under the Taliban is in a deepening existentialist crisis due to continuity of economic blockade and diplomatic impasse. Till date, excepting Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and UAE, the ultra-Islamic government is yet to be accorded diplomatic recognition, even after 16 months of capture of power in Kabul, despite appeals to regional global powers. Even Qatar which carried on a protracted attempt for a mutual and peaceful settlement among warring political groups of the troubled-ridden state, hasn’t recognized the new regime that imbibes Political Islam.

The tendency to centralise administration and power – and thereby weaken the federal structure of the constitution – is a hallmark of the Narendra Modi government’s policy. One of the important ways in which the Modi government attempted to violate the constitutional powers of the states was by forming a ministry of cooperation and installing none other than Amit Shah as its minister.

Fixing political opponents by Narendra Modi government is not a secret by now. Jharkhand chief minister and JMM leader Hemant Soren leading UPA mahagathbandhan government has naturally become their target. Central investigating agencies were unleashed against him which included the Enforcement Directorate (ED). By now, ED has already unearthed a big illegal mining and quarrying network in Jharkhand causing hundreds of crores loss to the government but also irreparable damage to environment. The find is only a tip of the iceberg in which ED has named only Hemant Soren. The greater network of illegal miners and transporters is yet to be unearthed which may lead to even the Modi government’s ministers and BJP leaders.

The recently concluded state elections of Gujarat, Himachal along with MCD election in Delhi and By-elections give a mix-bagged signal towards 2024 general election. One can hardly draw a conclusion about the final shape of political outcome as well as political divides across the party lines. Nonetheless it was important as the opposition parties set out for a journey to create an alternative space of BJP.

China appears to have made a planned and heavy intrusion in the areas close to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh last week, which were repulsed by the Indian army forthwith. The Chinese have repeatedly forayed into the area to make gains in Arunachal Pradesh near Tawang.

The morning of December 14 ex-RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan hitched his wagon to Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra. The timing made sense. One, the Bharat Jodo Yatra was traversing through Congress-ruled Rajasthan. Two, the Congress had just a couple of days ago defeated the BJP in Himachal Pradesh. Three, of the three elections, the BJP had lost two; one of them, the Delhi-MCD polls. Four, looked like Prime Minister Narendra Modi had lost his invincibility tag?

A global survey of companies has revealed a serious shortage of tech talent when it comes to artificial intelligence, which is threatening to slow down the shift towards the new productivity tool.

Kolkata: Chandigarh based Karandeep Kochhar returned six-under 66 to emerge sole leader after first round of inaugural Rs. 1 crore SSP Chawrasia Invitational at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC) on Wednesday.