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Malicious and capricious violence and killing of the rivals has acquired the quintessence character of new political ethos. Erosion of the traditional political ethics has been so intense that the basic culture of politics has become indiscernible. There is a common notion that politics is the game of urban areas. But it is not correct to a greater interest. Contrarily it is the rural India that witnesses toxic political culture. Whether it is Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal or any other state, political genocide has been a common thing.

It's been a month since Russia invaded Ukraine. So long in the battlefield and even Changez Khan’s hordes would have ended their campaign and returned home to the Manchurian steppe. But Putin’s army is not returning home even as we are being told that the Russian troops do not have their hearts in the war because it's not their war. It’s Putin’s War!

The announcement by the Gujarat education minister that the Bhagavad Gita would be taught in schools as part of the syllabus for class 6 to class 12 students from the academic year 2022-23, is a flagrant breach of the secular principle of the State.

Indonesia has emerged as a primary battleground between democratic and autocratic visions of Islam in the 21st century.

Earlier this month, China announced a 7.1% increase in its defence budget to about $230 billion. The news generated concerns in relevant quarters in India. China maintains the highest number of active military personnel in the world and its defence budget is the 2nd largest in the world for many years now. This has been China’s seventh consecutive defence budget hike in as many years. When the Chinese military has more money to spend, what does it do? It builds roads and bridges in remote places like Doklam and Pangong Lake areas. When China does so, India gets edgy about its security and reacts.

The Modi Government will not topple Maha Vikas Aghadi. Not when it’s plagued with indecisiveness, and Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut cannot with his utterances dissuade the Modi Government from targeting MVA ministers and legislators, members of the extended Thackeray family. Not as long as there are central enforcement agencies like the Enforcement Directorate, and the IT department to do the bidding.

In the opaque ecosystem of the Congress, to be eyes and ears is as big a compliment as it gets. That’s what K C Venugopal is, party insiders say. The AICC general secretary in-charge of the organization is to Rahul Gandhi what the late Ahmed Patel was to Sonia Gandhi.

World Air Quality Report 2021 has unmasked the Modi government showing its ugly face which has been masked since April 7, 2015 by a so called flagship scheme to monitor air pollution in the country with the launch of National Air Quality Index. Despite the big claims, air quality in the country continued deteriorating, reflecting unpardonable dismal performance of the Centre Pollution Control Board responsible for monitoring, and functioning directly under the Union Government, turning Delhi into World’s most polluted national capital and no city left without disastrous level of pollution, with 11 of them dominated 15 in the Central and South Asia and 63 dominated 100 most polluted cities of the world. The economic impact is loss of over $150 billion yearly, while three deaths every minute linked to it.

As predicted, the ’synchronised’ fraud by the Modi government and the petroleum marketing companies has resumed even before the state assemblies which went to poll in the recent round have been officially constituted. The open market policy, which has been kept in ‘suspended animation’ has come alive and the results are already visible. For three consecutive days, retail prices of petrol and diesel have been raised, coupled with that of the cooking gas and by all indications this is just the beginning.

Will the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal emerge as a challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress Party, or both? No doubt winning Punjab will encourage him to spread his Aam Admi Party’s wings to other states, but can he achieve his ambition? It may be difficult as the other regional satraps have a firm hold on their fiefdoms to check his rise.