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The migrant exodus of 2020, a direct result of an ill-conceived national lockdown announcement, was the heaviest human cost after the onset of COVID in the country. The reverse migration constituted a complex socio-economic phenomenon that was at its core a reflection of years of policy neglect. While it induced numerous knee-jerk reactions in the form of a renewed interest in the subject in policy spaces and a few ill-planned government schemes, a deep understanding of its nuanced nature remains elusive.

Even two years after the pandemic and support in its response to enable people survive, millions of families across the world still “cannot afford food or essential healthcare services” since they have been pushed deeper into poverty, says a new joint report by UNICEF and the World Bank while urging the countries across the world for rapid expansion of social protection systems and support for children and their families, a call that is most significant for India since it is significantly affected and heading towards winning the tag of home to the largest number of new poor in the world.

A trait common to all politicians, even the bright young ones, is a penchant for sycophancy. So, when AAP swept its one-state wonder tag out the Delhi window and took Punjab by the “vacuum cleaner”, Delhi AAP leader Raghav Chadha, who ran AAP’s Punjab poll campaign, couldn’t stop himself from blurting out, “Kejriwal will be Prime Minister.”

Election results to five state assemblies have exhibited many firsts. For the first time the Aam Admi Party sprang a surprised when it romped home with a majority in Punjab, leaving far behind the Congress, Akali Dal and other parties. This is also for the first time that APP has stepped out of Delhi. If Kejriwal’s party moves at this pace, it is certain to become a national party from a regional set up.

The results of the assembly elections to the five states – Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur – have shown that the Grand Old Party the Congress is on the decline. The Party has not only lost its ruling state Punjab miserably to the Aam Admi Party (AAP) but also done badly in the two states Goa and Manipur compared to the 2017 elections when the Party emerged as the largest group. In Uttarakhand, the Party has improved a bit in terms of seats but the BJP convincingly retained the state .In Uttar Pradesh, nobody expected any Congress miracle, but even with the hype generated by Priyanka Gandhi in the poll campaign, the Party ended with a miniscule tally of 2 to 3 out of 403 seats compared to 7 in last assembly elections.

New Delhi: Olympic bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain and Asian Championships bronze medalist Nikhat Zareen will spearhead 11-member Indian challenge at the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championship to be held in Istanbul from May 6-21.

New Delhi: Nivedita Karki and Tamanna registered contrasting victories to move into the finals of their respective categorizes while Renu ended her campaign with a bronze medal at the Asian Youth & Junior Boxing Championships in Amman, Jordan on Wednesday.

Forgetfulness is bliss. Of all faculties, the ability to forget is the basis of human progress, whether for an individual, institution, or a nation. It is the fountainhead of forgiveness, perhaps the greatest of all virtues. And Indians are particularly endowed with it, whether it is due to their obsession with spirituality, passed down from generation to generation, or due to sheer inertia to act differently, euphemistically called tolerance. Nobody knows this as well as prime minister Narendra Modi, who has experienced the sweetness of this virtue time and again.

I was in Byculla Jail, Mumbai, between February 2020 and December 2021. Prior to that, in Yerwada Jail, where I was lodged between November 2018 to February 2020, I had given an application to be permitted to help with legal aid, but that was refused, possibly since I and my co-accused Professor Shoma Sen, were lodged in separate cells in the Phansi Yard. We were not supposed to communicate with any others in the jail. But in Byculla Jail, we were in the barracks, and Byculla is an undertrial jail. Incidentally, the latest report on ‘Women In Prisons’ (2018) by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development states that 66.8 per cent of all women prisoners are undertrials.

Plight of Anganwadi workers continues across the country due to a range of issues including the very low amount of honourariums they are getting and the ever rising workload, especially after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic after March 2020. It is therefore the agitation of Anganwadi workers and helpers in Delhi will have rippling effect across India.