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How has China become an awe-inspiring manufacturing powerhouse backed by crude steel capacity of 1.078 billion tonnes and aluminium smelting capacity of 45.19 million tonnes? Any number of dissertations on the subject analysing the economic and political factors propelling the country’s rapid industrialization since the late 20th century are available. All scholarly inquiries into the subject will credit the “economic miracle” to Deng Xiaoping, the unquestioned leader of the People’s Republic of China for over a decade up to November 1989. The architect of modern China created favourable condition for foreign investment through an “open door policy.” China’s ascendance to being the world’s second largest economy is largely due to Deng era reforms.

As Terence McKenna said that culture is a mass hallucination, likewise the annual festival of Durga Puja is typically an immersive carnival of food, music, community get-togethers and cultural programmes that holds West Bengal in its thrall for five hedonistic days and nights. With Kolkata as its epicentre, the jamboree is celebrated all over the globe – from Lucknow to London, and from Bahrain to the Bahamas. Bengalis everywhere revel in gaiety during these days. This year, the festival spans from October 9 to 12.

SEBI would be a nice name for a new range of washing machines. The brand name is short, sweet and has good connect with its namesake market regulator, which has by far excelled in the act of cleaning. Additionally, the new range may not require a detergent, as the machine by itself is good enough to clean any dirt, when required.

September 25, 2024, is the tenth birth anniversary of Make in India. It was launched on September 25, 2014. PM Narendra Modi government has tried its best to promote ease of business in the country, but finding the scheme not getting desired momentum, it decriminalized 183 provisions in 2023, in the penultimate year 2023 its second term. Now in its third term, the Centre has identified 300 more provisions to be decriminalized to further promote ease of business in India, in the hope that it would make the country the manufacturing hub of the world.

India has extended an invitation to political and military opponents of Myanmar junta for a seminar in New Delhi. It is a signal of recalibrating Indian stance towards Myanmar conflict. It is a pointer to the fact that Indian policy towards its neighbour is undergoing a subtle but a transformational shift. For the invitation apparently innocuous, reflects geopolitical concerns and internal security interests.

The general secretary of the CPI-M, Sitaram Yechury, who passed away on September 12 at the age of 72, defied all the clichés one associates with hardcore “commies”. From his appearance to his demeanour, he was like “one of us”. Meaning, he didn’t shove his ideology down anybody’s throat, nor was he judgmental about capitalists in his group. He was evolved enough to accept diverse points of view, without compromising on his own political beliefs.

Bombay high court has quashed the amended Information and Technology rules that enable the Centre to set up its own Fact Check Unit (FCU). Justice AS Chandurkar’s order, which set aside the IT Amendment Rules, 2023, broke the tie of the split verdict given earlier by a two-judge bench of the high court regarding the validity of the IT amendment rules. Justice Chandurkar ruled that the terms like “fake or false or misleading news”, on the basis of which the government had sought to act against the social media contents, are not defined. He also declared that the Fact Check Unit is going to be arbiter of government’s own cause, and, therefore, the formation of the FCU itself was unconstitutional.

Creating a bad neighbourhood is unwise, especially through totally avoidable unrestrained speeches. However, the leaders from the ruling establishment in India have been in the habit of making unrestrained speeches aimed at winning domestic elections that hurt our neighbouring countries unnecessarily worsening already strained relationships at a time when India is in urgent need of creating good neighbourhood for resolving long standing issues with them.

The grim truth holds that everybody Indian belongs to some or the other caste. Even Muslims and Christians. Prime Minister Narendra Modi identifies with an OBC. A Chief Minister has a caste. Criminals also have caste. Caste equations play important political roles. There was the ‘MY’ before the ‘PDA’. Riding the PDA, Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party beat Yogi Adityanath’s BJP to second place.

The decision of national leadership of Congress to make Subhankar Sarkar the president of the party's West Bengal unit sends a message of cessation of hostilities with Trinamool Congress, the state's ruling party. For Sarkar who replaces Adhir Ranjan Choudhury as the state chief, has never been witnessed to have been engaged in a confrontation with TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.