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The friendly neighbourhood coronavirus ‘Omicron’ has claimed its first kill in the developed West—an unfortunate person in the United Kingdom, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced this in London when in India Prime Minister Narendra Modi was setting an example by going mask-less in the company of hundreds of similarly unmasked Indians in the holy city of Kashi—Modi’s parliamentary constituency Varanasi.

Lockdowns and containment measures imposed in 2020 to contain COVID-19 had greatly impacted all sectors of the country except crime which registered and increase. Crime like theft accounted for 76.6 percent of all offences against property, perhaps driven by a pressing need to fill the empty stomachs which the government could not do despite all assurances. Involvement of first timer offender youths is alarmingly high, and also disobedience against authority.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The standoff between Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government headed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over ‘political cronyism’ in university appointments is most unfortunate.

Former President Pranab Mukherjee, as leader of the House, vexed with the unruly behaviour of the Opposition (then it was BJP), observed that only three 'Ds'– Discussion, Debate and Dissent – have a place in Parliament and not the 'fourth 'D' -Disruptions. Unfortunately, both the houses today are only indulging in the "disruptions. As it is, the Covid had curtailed the sessions last and this year, and these disruptions have further impacted Parliament's functioning.

The two pieces of news – first, Modi government made provisions for merely five kilogram cereals for 800 million individuals per month who were not able to even get food on their own during the pandemic, and second, they written off over 2.03 lakh crore rupees of loans during the same fiscal ending March 2021 to business and industries including the wilful defaulter corporate – make us think that poor can hope only some pieces of bread, and the loans worth crores of rupees taken by handful of corporate could be written off under Modi Raj.

With the Kolkata city civic elections scheduled on next Sunday, citizens’ opinions remain divided over the possibility of reasonably free and fair polling on December 19. Trinamool Congress (TMC) General Secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee has set conversational mills rolling with a public appeal to party cadre to ensure fair elections. There must be no intimidation of voters, foul play or any kind of pressures applied on anyone, he said .Offenders would be sternly dealt with, he warned.

Finding tough challenge from main rival Samajwadi Party in the coming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders have sharpened attack against former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his party.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is not afraid—the ‘Hindu’ in him has taken over, and he is not scared of ‘Hindutva’. Gandhi travelled to Jaipur to clarify this division. Some would call it a “division of Hindu votes”, but Rahul Gandhi was on a larger point—the Gandhi scion isn’t happy that the “back-stabbers” have been in power for eight years and counting. He wants the “Hindu” to return to power though it is the Hindutvadis who hanker for “satta, power.”

Russia’s continuing support to help India build modern military ware, from guns to fighter jets, missiles and submarines, despite its growing critical defence supplies and technology tie-ups with China, is a clear example of the fact that the Indo-Russian relationship is unshakable by changing global power fulcrum. Trust is the key to the Indo-Russian defence and economic relationships. And, that played a key role in Russia’s fresh commitment to a 10-year military-technical cooperation pact that would see, among others, the manufacturing of AK-203 Kalashnikov rifles in India.

Chennai: Coimbatore veteran Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) and the Bengaluru schoolboy Chirag Ghorpade, hogged the limelight with dominating performances in their respective categories of the Indian National Car Racing Championship on a rain-marred day at the MMRT here on Sunday.