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COVID-19 crisis triggered school closure in India has induced learning poverty to such an extent that the country is set to suffer the worst in South Asia in absolute terms both in respect to jobs loss and decline in GDP, which in turn may accelerate each other creating together a vicious circle of shrinkage in both.

The one significant outcome of the Congress’s recent Chintan Shivir in Rajasthan was Rahul Gandhi’s acknowledgement that the party has lost touch with the people. Nothing demonstrated this disconnect more than the steep fall in the party’s Lok Sabha tally to 44 in 2014 and 53 five years later.

The decision by the Supreme Court this week that the powers of the Centre and the States to legislate on GST-related issues are equal debunks the idea that the Centre can ride roughshod over the states, as it has been happening to a large extent. The court’s judgment also strengthens the cause of the states, which have been complaining about the Centre’s unfair practices.

As India observes the 250th birth anniversary of Rammohan Roy, one of the earliest and greatest campaigners for modern India, on May 22, 2022, we are faced with one of history’s cruel ironies. The incumbent regime is pushing 21st century India into revenge-fuelled mass violence by distorting history and using the perceived wrongs committed by the Mughal dynasty that ruled India some three centuries ago. This paradoxical backdrop should help us appreciate the true significance of the battle that Rammohan and his contemporary reformers had to wage in the early nineteenth century to popularise the vision of a modern India in the face of aggressive colonial rule on one hand and fierce social and ideological resistance from within India on the other.

India’s domestic wheat market is on fire ever since the government said it was targeting record shipments this year after exports from the Black Sea region plunged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. Wheat prices in India rose to record high levels in the last three months. In some spot markets, prices moved up by as much as 25 percent to Rs.25,000 per metric tonne as against the government’s minimum support price of Rs.20,150. According to the export trade, India's wheat exports hit a record 7.85 million tonnes in 2021-22.

Recent directive of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In) requiring Virtual Private Network (VPN) service providers to store user data for five years, is yet another step to make India a full fledged surveillance state following all other internet based free flow of information having already been policed by the current fascist union government. Journalists, activists and others who use VPNs to hide their Internet footprint will now be in quandary to think whether to use such devices. According to official sources in the union government, for law enforcement agencies a move like this will make it easier to track criminals using VPNs to hide their internet identity.

The Communist Party of Chile PCCh supported Gabriel Boric during the general election, and he won the presidency after defeating the right-wing candidate whose family members had ties to Nazi Germany. PCCh has several key positions in Boric’s cabinet, driving some of the most ambitious “people’s projects” in the capital Santiago, especially in the Recoleta area, led by Mayor Jadue.

There had been few attempts at reviewing the Indian criminal justice system since its codification during British rule. But in 2000, a rejig was attempted when the Union Government entrusted a committee led by Justice V.S. Malimath to propose changes to the criminal justice system so it became more sensitive to a victim’s suffering – or au courant with details such as the very low rate of convictions in rape cases reaching trial. The Malimath Committee derived its basis from the 1985 United Nations (UN) Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power, and addressed important issues such as the burden of proof, role of public prosecutors, treatment of witnesses, best practices for investigation, and the justice system’s apathy towards women.

Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughter Misa Bharati was named after the infamous Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA). The dreaded MISA was invoked to send many to jail before it was consigned to the pages of history. Lalu himself has had several jail visits, and it was only recently that he stepped out of one. Nobody likes to be in jail, not even politicians, but some have fared well while in jail.

With China sinking into economic turmoil, the global supply chain industry is under dire threat. China is the global powerhouse, accounting for about one-fourth of the world supply chain manufacturing. Hamstrung by Covid-19, followed by unabated Russia-Ukraine war prompting global sanctions against Russia, China’s supply chain industry is under massive distress. However, this provides opportunity to other Asian nations to seize the unmet market of China. Eventually, the countries overtly dependent on China are looking for viable alternatives to resurrect their broken supply chain sources. Amidst the global volatility, Vietnam has emerged as a potential challenge to China.