View Articles

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The more things change, the more they remain the same. This seems to be very true in the case of the Congress party in Kerala.

The recessionary trends in some of the advanced economies and the prolonged Ukraine-Russian war notwithstanding, India’s foreign trade continues to be on the upswing. After clocking over $400 billion merchandise exports for the first time in 2021-22, the new financial year has begun well with exports recording 24 per cent growth in the first quarter 2022-23 at $118.96 billion. This is a welcome development as FIEO President A Sakthivel says it has come amidst challenging geo-political and rising global uncertainties.

The new Webb telescope has shown that NASA’s $10 billion investment and 26 years are finally delivering their promise: pictures of the cosmos in depth, detail and quality far beyond what we had. The first images have captivated the public, and astrophysicists are drooling at the detail and spectra of distant objects, telling us what they actually are. For astrophysicists who started their careers even before the Hubble telescope, this is like witnessing two revolutions—Hubble and Webb—all in one generation.

The battlegrounds in eastern Ukraine are proving to be prey wars between two weapons systems — old Soviet type weapons and those advanced latest weapons developed in the west. The battle worthiness and the effective of the competing firepower would indicate a lot for the future of conventional warfare. These lessons from the fields should have an important being for India’s defence preparedness as well.

People’s power was displayed in a spectacular fashion in Sri Lanka on July 9 when tens of thousands of people stormed the Presidential Palace, the President’s Secretariat and the official residence of the prime minister and took them over, sweeping aside the police and soldiers guarding them.

Left Wing Extremism (LWEs), earlier known as Naxalism, is armed rebellion by tribals and others against the rule of law based system of constitutional democratic governance in the country considered as centuries of cumulative exploitations by the rulers in the form of gradual deprivation of the tribe’s inherent right to Jal (Water), Zameen (Land) and Jungle (Forests) for all round development of India. Deforestation for mining, industry and infrastructure is viewed by the LWEs as thecontinuing deprivation of their traditional habitats and livelihoods. Union Government in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in concert with the affected LWE States have been tackling the issues raised by the tribals to ensure peace and progress over the years. But their armed resistance has been continuing although, as claimed by the MHA, there has been perceptible improvement in the LWEs affected States.

The biggest labour reform in Independent India is yet again deferred owing to the multiple challenges that no stakeholder was fully prepared to face from July 1 deadline. Centre could not get the rules framed and notified by all the states, many of them are still hesitant over the rules, the joint platform or the Central Trade Unions threatening to offer even stiffer opposition if unilaterally implemented, and even majority of employees were not ready for the new rules. The fear of emergence of new challenges and perceived inability to handle them successfully at this time of multiple crises facing the country including joblessness and price rise contributed as additional factors that led to another uncertainty over the next deadline.

Bengaluru: Pranavi Urs carded 2-over 71 and with an aggregate par 138 for 36 holes, extended lead to three shots over nearest rival Sehar Atwal at the end of the second round of the 9th leg of the Hero WPGT at the Bangalore Golf Club on Thursday.

‘Ashamed’, ‘abused’, ‘corrupt’ and ‘betrayed’. These and other select words cannot be used in Parliament. Against each other and against the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman, starting Monday, July 18, the first day of the Monsoon Session. For example, honourable MPs cannot term the Prime Minister ‘Covid-spreader’, or ‘jumlajeevi’. The Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha will expunge.

India is making news of rains and floods. It seems the entire country from Kerala to the North-East and from Kashmir to Gujarat, India is wet and inundated. Visuals of the roaring flow of rivers and inundated farm and city areas have swarmed social media platforms. Neighboring countries Pakistan and Bangladesh are also witnessing heavy rainfalls and floods.