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Within 10 days of India celebrating two days Bharat Drone Mahotsav 2022 on May 27-28, the technical analysis of drone seized by Indian security forces has revealed an alarming trend of increasing security threat for the country – Drones are being used in smuggling of drugs and weapons from the neighbouring countries into India. Though the present case already reported in media relates to Pakistan supported terrorist activities, India needs to be extra alert on its entire border since a number of terrorists and anti-national, and criminal groups have been reportedly operating who can smuggle contrabands to destabilize our country.

The monolithic dictatorship of the Taliban shows cracks as the compulsion for compromises on certain issues looms large. There is bitter opposition within the top leadership. It was apparent months ago when the Taliban's deputy foreign minister, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, publicly pulled up the Taliban high command for banning girls from attending secondary school. Formerly head of Taliban’s political office in Qatar, he said “We must aim for winning the hearts of our people rather than ruling over them with batons”. Michael Semple, professor at Queen’s University Belfast and former European Union and United Nations adviser in Afghanistan finds the rift in the Taliban leadership something ‘unprecedented’.

With Panchayat elections due early next year in West Bengal, there are ominous signs that the polling process could be just as violent and troublesome as the last time in 2018. That year parties opposing the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) could not put up candidates for 34% of the seats in contention, provoking a massive outrage.

BHOPAL: With the announcement of election schedule of local bodies, Madhya Pradesh is in the grip of election fever. Because of Covid-19 election is late by two years. During the last two years local bodies were being governed by officials.

Will a caste census trigger a disaster or settle the demand of many political parties? While it plays such a dominant role in our social, economic, and political life, it is strange that no credible Caste data has existed since 1931. Also, the prominent four main castes, Brahmin, Kshatriyas, Vaishya, and Shudra, have produced hundreds of subcastes and continue to create more sub-sections.

RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat’s sermons which appear to be virtuous having high quality of sense of morality are simply façades to assuage the feelings of the liberal Hindus and to provide protection to the Hindutva fringe has given birth to and to fortify it against criticism from the liberals and centrist forces.

Occasionally, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is seen to be engaged in calming down the Hindutva hotheads. What prompts him to undertake such an exercise is generally beyond the understanding of impartial observers. But the Sangh Parivar leader’s effort is laudable and undeniable.

It is a matter of serious concern that India’s public debt level is among the highest in emerging economies while the country’s debt affordability is among the weakest. Generally, the average threshold limit prescribed for public debt-to-GDP ratio is 77 percent with each additional percentage point of debt costs 0.017 percentage points of annual real growth. The effect is even more pronounced in emerging markets where the threshold for debt-to-GDP ratio is preferred at 64 percent. India recorded a government debt-to-GDP ratio at 73.95 percent in 2020. According to Moody’s Investor Service, “with the exception of Chile, most of the 11 emerging markets have weak government effectiveness, suggesting potential risks executing fiscal reforms or consolidation plans.” The global rating agency further states that India’s (rated Baa3 negative) debt affordably is among the weakest alongside Ghana. Across the 11 emerging markets, India, South Africa and Ghana have the highest public debt and weakest debt affordability,” the agency added.

The Bhima Koregaon case prisoners complete four years of their arrests in jails on June 6, 2022 and on this very day, the jailed activists issued an open letter to the people of the country and those who still love freedom for human rights activities. In this poignant statement, they have asserted that their suffering is nothing compared to many other prisoners who have spent years together with a smile on their face.

Narendra Modi government has just completed 8 years in power that PM Narendra Modi has referred to as the years of great achievements. While inaugurating the iconic week (June 6-11) celebrations of the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Corporate affairs on June 6, he even said, “A large part of the world expects India to solve problems. This is possible because in the last 8 years we have trusted the wisdom of the common Indian.” However, the SDG data shows his claims are misleading, and India actually lost 8 precious years and went out of track in achieving SDG targets even in the next 8 year by 2030.