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In the deep shadows of Pandemic, the society faces a divide, etched in blood. The vast sections of the masses, fighting the acute scarcity and steep rise in prices of essentials, also realise that the challenges are inherent in the system itself. To surmount them needs a struggle at the basics. The French revolution in 1789 had started with a hike in taxes on loaves. The epoch-making change came only after miseries and the exploitation of the masses reached a quantitative saturation that was imperative for the qualitative change. People were burdened with unprecedented tax hike, rise in prices, without consideration for other interruptions in agrarian production. Starving and dying, they could not face another blow, and stood up to fight for justice.

Father Stan Swamy, 84 years old Jesuit priest, left us all, felled by institutional murder. His death is the direct outcome of the corporate-fascist nexus running amok in the country. Falsely labelled as an anti-national, incarcerated for eight months awaiting trial, Father Stan had dedicated his life and work for the fundamental rights of Adivasi people in the country, particularly in Jharkhand. His was one of the loudest voices opposing the loot of land and resources by the State and corporates. Born in Tiruchi, Tamil Nadu, Father Stan chose Jharkhand as his home. A champion of Adivasi life and dignity, his allyship with the community was marked by honesty and dedication.

The opening of a judicial probe in France on June 14, 2021, into suspected ‘corruption’, ‘influence-peddling’, ‘money laundering’, ‘favouritism and undue tax waivers’ surrounding the €7.87 billion Rafale-India deal has given new life to a major scandal that the Narendra Modi government has done its best to cover up. The decision of the French National Financial Prosecutor's Office (the parquet national financier or PNF) to support the opening of a judicial investigation into the deal was based on a complaint by Sherpa, an anti-corruption French NGO. The decision was triggered by a series of investigative articles (titled the “Rafale Papers”) published by Mediapart, the independent French online investigative journal.

Doubt if ex-health minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan has many fans. Maybe close kin, and a few good friends. But, is he the incompetent he’s made out to be because he was shown the door by Prime Minister Narendra Modi? The question includes almost all of the dozen ministers booted out of the Council of Ministers in the cabinet reshuffle done by PM on Wednesday evening.

New Delhi: Ace striker and two- time Olympian Jagbir Singh has exuded confidence that Manpreet Singh-led Indian hockey side will do at Tokyo Games what the previous teams couldn't do at the last nine Olympics.

Fr Stan Swamy will no more be present to move a bail petition and bother the judges to spare their precious time to listen to his sufferings. He is a liberated soul. It is for the Director of the NIA to undertake some extra amount of pain to locate his soul, whether it is in hell or heaven, to produce him before the court for being convicted for the crime he never committed in his life.

‘Fluid’ is the word that best describes the Maharashtra political situation with two old flames suddenly discovering that they cannot live apart, that the once live-in relationship ought to be rejuvenated just so that everybody and not just themselves could live happily ever after.

Fuel prices have already tested consumers’ capacity to pay, not necessarily due unduly high crude prices. But the oil market in the past few days have been witnessing wild swings, which also implied the potential for a further spike, which will be disastrous for the Indian consumer.

The recent victories of the left in a number of municipalities and in elections for the Constitutional Convention have set the stage for a categorical rejection of the legacy of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship and the building of a new Chile.

Seven years ago, a 11-year old boy in Jaipur excitedly watched Apurvi Chandela in her shooting gear train at the Jagatpura range. As India’s top woman rifle shooter, Chandela was the new sporting star in the city and inspiring for budding shooters, Divyanath Panwar was among them.