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Portugal is facing the possibility of a snap election early next year as the Socialists Party Government led by Prime Minister Antonio Costa conceded defeat in Parliament on Wednesday after his budget was voted out by his allies, the Left bloc including the Portuguese Communist Party which has ten members .Ever since the last general elections in 2019, Costa was leading a coalition government with support from the Left bloc which was taking positions on economic issues, sometimes quite contrary to the ruling Party.

Trinamool Congress, which is trying to get a foothold in Tripura after ascending to power for the third consecutive time in West Bengal, has been claiming that its leaders are facing attacks in the north-eastern state while carrying out its political programmes. Recently, party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev’s car was attacked in Amtali Bazar of West Tripura. The allegations of TMC are against the ruling BJP.

After the sad happenings during COVID-19 which led to the death of 4 lakh people according to official figures (even though some independent agencies point out this number to be between 25-40 lakh), the news of vaccinating 100 crore people with first dose and 30 per cent population with second dose gave some respite. The data on how many doses were paid and how many free of cost is yet to be released by the government. In the past too India has to its credit several successful immunization programmes 100 per cent free of cost including the most worked out door to door Pulse Polio as well as small pox eradication.

The recently concluded visit of union home minister Amit Shah, his first since the special status of Jammu & Kashmir under Article 370was arbitrarily and unconstitutionally revoked in August 2019, has been one more addition to the long list of disillusionments as except rhetoric nothing came out of it. The claims made by Shah that since the abrogation of Article 370 and downgrading of a state with special status into two union territories, there has been progress in J&K, is nothing but a hoax.

Education in post-independence India was supposed not just to provide knowledge and skills to students, but also to facilitate the process of “nation-building” (to use a clumsy word). Since the concept of an “Indian nation”, although it existed in a rudimentary form earlier (going back even to the writings of Amir Khusrau), came into vogue only during India’s anti-colonial struggle, the “nation-building” role of education requires above all an awareness of this struggle, which in turn demands familiarity with the condition of India under colonial rule, and the facts of exploitation of its people. It is not just students of humanities and social sciences who need to have this familiarity, but all students, including those doing the natural sciences and engineering, if they are to become what Antonio Gramsci had called “organic intellectuals”, of the people of free India.

Sometimes the Supreme Court says something of great import and then leaves it behind like it was a no account fleeting thought. Take the archaic sedition law. Earlier this year, the apex court said it was time for India “to define the limits of the sedition law.” The Supreme Court was speaking in the context of media freedom. Now, the Yogi Adityanath Government has taken it in the context of the outcome of an India-Pakistan T-20 match.

Come 2022, India can anticipate serious incursions and incidents on the Indo-China border along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

New Delhi: Host India has been placed in a very tough Group A alongside eight-time champions China, two-time champions Chinese Taipei, and Iran in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup scheduled for January-February next year.

New Delhi: Seasoned campaigner Narender thrashed Sierra Leone’s Mohamed Kendeh to enter the pre-quarter-finals in the super heavyweight category of the AIBA Boxing Championships in Belgrade.

New Delhi: Dubai-based Arjun Gupta will spearhead the Indian challenge at the 12th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) slated at the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club, from 3-6 November.