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West Bengal CPI(M) is in a bind following a considerable section of its rank and file cosying up to their BJP counterparts. The reason is neither an ideological meltdown or desertion for fished or loaves but a desire for survival in the face of apparently overwhelming onslaught of Trinamool Congress activists.

At first glance, Islamic scholars discussing the religious legitimacy of the United Nations and the nation-state sounds esoteric. It's not. On the contrary, it’s potentially revolutionary.

Reports have been doing the rounds that Rahul Gandhi was planning a short break from the Bharat Jodo Yatra to mark Christmas. BJP spokespersons have been asking with sly grins what if Rahul Gandhi took a Christmas break and went to Bangkok? This, even as the ruling party was getting perturbed as the yatra ate up the miles, relentlessly leaving the BJP out of popular imagination.

China’s new COVID-19 outbreak threatens the rest of the world. Mathematical models predict one million or more deaths by early 2023, within 90 days from now. Epidemiologists estimate 60 per cent of the population of China and 10 per cent of the world are likely to be infected. This new crisis could shake the world, and India too cannot escape it, as we already experienced after Wuhan outbreak three years ago. Sudden spurt in new infections have also been noticed in Japan, South Korea, Brazil, and the US.

A relatively disappointing year-end and a possible less dramatic interplay between inflation and central bank intervention globally have India’s domestic gold trade keeping its fingers crossed over what could happen in 2023.

Lula da Silva’s victory in this year’s Brazilian presidential election marks a significant political shift not only in Brazil, which spent the past three years under the leadership of the far-right Bolsonaro administration, but on the global geopolitical stage.

Elon Musk asked his 122 million followers through a poll on Twitter whether he should step down as the chief executive of the social media giant he bought for $44 billion on October 28. Out of the total 17 million votes, 57.5% favored him stepping down while 42.5% polled against the move. Before the poll, Musk had promised that he would abide by the outcome but he did not give a timeline.

China’s zero-Covid policy is history and the virus is exacting revenge; taking Beijing and every major Chinese city in its deadly embrace. The very same people who protested the strict Covid restrictions are sharing their Covid-positive test results online. Offices are reporting "staff sick". Curiously, Chinese media have stopped reporting Covid, almost like they had been ordered to.

In a vibrant democracy, critique of policy a) makes for a) better policies, and b) helps correct mistakes as they occur. Official spokespersons will always argue that the government is doing the best under given circumstances. But today, the world is changing so fast that mistakes will occur because the past may not be a guide for the future. Further, full information is not available even about the present. So, policies are made in an uncertain environment, leading to heightened risk of policy failure. Democracy provides the self-correcting mechanism when mistakes occur.

Narendra Modi’s visit last week to Northeast region in public perception is meant to give a major thrust to the development projects in the region, but the main axiom behind this move has been to make nationalism the primary election agenda in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.