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With the purge of General Zhang Youxia, until now the vice-chairman of China’s all-powerful Central Military Commission, there remains just another member in the traditionally seven-member top body controlling China’s vast military outfit following the latest purges by the President Xi Jinping.

Every time we sleep peacefully at night, there is someone awake at the border, watching over us in the freezing cold or the scorching heat. When we go to school or college without fear, when our parents travel for work, or when we celebrate our festivals with joy, all of this is possible because somewhere, far away from the comfort of our homes, a soldier is standing guard. This is why the defence budget matters so much. It is not just a collection of large numbers on a piece of paper or boring financial talk that only adults discuss in newsrooms. It is fundamentally about the safety net that allows us to dream big and live freely in our own country. As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman prepares to present the Union Budget for the financial year 2026-27 on February 1, the question everyone is asking is simple yet critical: will our armed forces get what they truly need to keep us safe in an increasingly dangerous world?

Health and education are the most fundamental prerequisites for the development of any country and society. Only a well-educated, trained, and healthy population can meaningfully contribute to the nation’s economic and social progress. Unfortunately, India continues to fall far short on these basic parameters, as reflected in its poor performance on key human development indicators.

Though the South Asia is well positioned to move from ad hoc bilateral coordination to more structured, institutionalized forms of regional collaboration, the region is facing numerous challenges in strengthening Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). Trust remains a critical enabler for both DPI adoption and interoperability across South Asia—but currently, trust in digital systems is fragile. Countries are experiencing infrastructure that is not resilient, data protection frameworks that are weak and outdated, unclear institutional accountability, uneven cybersecurity readiness, and lack of awareness. Multiple actors are pursuing piecemeal cybersecurity projects, awareness drives, and legal reforms without a shared framework that are weak and outdated, clear sequencing, or mutual recognition. This leaves critical gaps and risks embedding trust as an afterthought rather than a design principle.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Nothing happens here. These are not fit for Kerala. That has been the criticism trotted out day in and day out by the Opposition parties in the State. Well, that criticism has been buried fathoms deep. That is for sure.

KOLKATA: When it comes to marine fishing, India seems to be well ahead of Bangladesh in terms of production and export earnings. Bangladesh authorities are looking for ways to improve and upgrade their coastal fishing — it has declined by nearly 80% during the last seven years!

LONDON: The term “fascism” has often been bandied around irresponsibly, used to describe any form of right-wing authoritarianism and sometimes any opponent at all. Whether today’s far right can be accurately described as fascist has been debated at length in international socialist circles. But there are mounting reasons to say so.

India’s transport sector, combining road, rail, air and water, is ready for a significant job boom, with the logistics industry alone projected to grow at a 10.7 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through the current year. The national budget for 2026-27, which is scheduled to be placed in Parliament on February 1, should strongly focus on the transport sector, especially on the under-tapped civil aviation field, and incentivize enthusiastic private entrepreneurs to play a growing role in this highly potential area of industry. The sector offers a tremendous opportunity to entrepreneurs – big, medium or small. The forthcoming budget should provide further stimulus to tap the opportunity, creating millions of new jobs, with the logistics sector specifically aiming to add up to 10 million job opportunities over the next two years.

The five day annual session of World Economic Forum at Davos ended on January 23 witnessing virtual collapse of the transatlantic alliance at the hands of Donald Trump and both German Chancellor Frederich Merz and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez saying that old order has gone, there is a need for a new order. But overcoming the bitter fight between the USA and the European nations at the meet, there were some concrete discussions at different panels showing how uncertain and complex is the present geopolitics.

Though the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment of India is working to rollout of the new labour codes for full implementation from April1, 2026, it seems uncertain because of stiff resistance from the Joint Platform of the 10 Central Trade Unions (CTUs) and many roadblocks that have unexpectedly come into the way since their notification on November 21, 2025. CTUs have demanded their withdrawal and are preparing for nationwide strike on February 12, while draft rules are expected to be finalised by mid-February. The government has received multiple suggestions to defer the operationalisation to the next financial year. Labour codes are to be implemented through digital framework, but they are still facing glitches, that employee unions have flagged. Government seems not fully prepared as of now, while only two months are left for announced full implementation.