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The Modi-Shah duo are determined to fulfil their quest to change the essential character of J&K based on their Hindutva convictions.

On July 1st of this year, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has turned 100 years old. Many living in the United States might scratch their heads and wonder how the CPC managed to not only survive but thrive after the dissolution of the USSR and the fall of the socialist governments of Eastern Europe. Riffing on Karl Marx, commentator Francis Fukuyama infamously dubbed 1989-91 to be the “end of history, signalling that liberal capitalism was the final stage in human evolution. So how has China defied Western expectations?

United States President Joe Biden has earned the appreciation of the progressives in America for his pro-people package in the domestic sector but in the area of foreign policy, no change has taken place in respect of Latin America. Despite presence of vocal left like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and the latest young brigade of women law makers in the Democratic Party, sanctions are still continuing against Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua and U.S. intelligence agencies are plotting against elected regimes.

In normal circumstances, the recent announcement by the new National Unity Government (NUG) in Myanmar that the displaced Rohingyas will be accepted as Burmese citizens once the army rule ends, would have been the best news in years for the world’s most harried, persecuted community. As it happens, the response from the average Rohingya, whether stranded in Bangladesh or elsewhere, is hardly jubilant.

Coronavirus has done at least one great service to the people of the country. It has enabled the poor to invent that they are unwanted creatures in the New India of Narendra Modi and in fact it is the home for the rich and affluent people who nurse an utter contempt and hatred for them, where the proletariat cannot hope to survive and have his share of the benefits that a welfare state is supposed to offer them.

Is there a single ghostly reason why we in India should bother about the centenary celebrations of the ruling party of a neighbouring country?

Speaking at the inaugural session of the centenary celebrations of the Communist Party of China at Tian'anmen Square before the giant portrait of Mao Zedong in Beijing, capital of the Peoples’ Republic of China, the President of PRC, Comrade Xi Jinping, who is also the general secretary of CPC central committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission assured, “Chinese people will never allow any foreign force to bully, oppress, or subjugate us.” He stressed, “We have brought about a historic resolution to the problem of absolute poverty in China, and we are now marching in confident strides toward the second centenary goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects.”

Last year when the pandemic caused countries to shut their borders, Sajan Prakash was stuck at his training base in Phuket’s Thanyapura Aquatic Centre. The lockdown in Thailand was so strict that, forget about swimming, Prakash could not even venture out of his room for close to three months.

Progressive organizations, led by the Poor People’s Campaign, the Institute for Policy Studies, and the Economic Policy Institute, are gathering organizational—and later individual—support for a $6 trillion-plus budget bill that “would meet all of our needs” in domestic spending, in United States.

On June 18, the Union Government proposed to introduce new changes into the existing Cinematograph Act, 1952. Its draft amendment bill for the same is open for public comments till July 2. However, many of the changes proposed by the bill are being seen as problematic. What are the proposed changes, and how will they affect the working of the film industry?