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"Have we got a centre-right coalition, have we got a right coalition, have we got a far-right coalition, or have we got a fascist coalition? I have seen all four printed, depending on who you read." This was said of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, but the Kind of coalition Prime Minister Narendra Modi leads can also depend on "who you read." Ask LoP Rahul Gandhi, who sat on the "fifth chair in the fifth row", listening to Modi's I-Day speech, and Gandhi might call Modi's NDA government a "fascist coalition."

A giant size corruption story is again at our threshold. Defeating all the claims by the government led by Narendra Modi about his fight against corruption, its untruth has been brought to light, and that too with blinding clarity. US based short seller Hindenburg is back with the research alleging Securities and Exchange Bureau of India (SEBI) chief Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband, Dhaval Buch, of having held “stakes in both the obscure offshore entities linked to the funds used in the Adani group’s alleged financial misconduct.”

By suggesting that the alleged Hindenburg offensive against the Adani group is an attack against India, the ruling party is, though inadvertently, acknowledging the sway the group has on the Modi government. This assertion not only underscores the influence wielded by Adani but also serves to validate Rahul Gandhi’s persistent criticism that the Modi administration prioritizes the interests of corporate giants like Adani and Ambani over the welfare of ordinary Indians.

Rape and murder of a woman doctor pursuing a postgraduate course at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital last week has struck a raw nerve in West Bengal. Crimes against women in this state have hit the headlines during both the Left Front regime and the Trinamool Congress dispensation.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is in denial mode and is not bothered about the changing public perception of her following her handling of a rape-cum-murder of a Kolkata trainee-doctor. Her INDIA bloc partner, Samajwadi Party Supremo Akhilesh Yadav, has not yet issued a statement as of writing this column.

India presents a unique case for bauxite. Though not as enormously large as they are in Guinea and Australia, bauxite resources (reserves plus deposits underneath to be explored) in India are big enough to sustain a large aluminium value chain. In fact, if anything unlike the official policy of Guinea and Australia, Indian authorities discourage exports of bauxite for value addition going up to high value aluminium products. According to the most recent alumina survey by Indian Bureau of Mines, India has 3.931bn tonnes of metallurgical grade bauxite resources with major concentration in the east coast states of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. Deposits are also found in Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. About 84% of bauxite mined in the country contains 40% to 45% AI2 O3. Besides medium to high grade bauxite going into the making of alumina, India has low-grade non-metallurgical deposits mined mostly in Gujarat and Maharashtra, mainly for exports.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi did the right thing by visiting the landslide-struck Wayanad. That the Prime Minister chose to make promises of all help is also welcome.

The latest inflation data, released by the union government on Monday, shows price rise at a lowest clip since 2019. This is good news. But it raises a series of questions as well. The last figure shows overall inflation rate of 3.54 per cent in July 2024, which is far lower than the inflation rate of 5.1 per cent in June.

The shocking incident of rape and murder of a trainee doctor on duty in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata has shaken the confidence of everyone – from patients and their attendants to doctors on duty, especially women. We need to restore it by eliminating the conditions that lead to endangering the security in hospitals, which is one of the demands of striking doctors across India.

None of the warring factions, Narendra Modi and RSS leadership, is willing to concede even an inch of political space to other. Five hour long high level meet of the top leaders of the BJP and the RSS leaders on Sunday at the residence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh failed to yield any tangible result. It was simply a sort of mood assessing exercise with leaders of both camps discussing relations between the party and the Sangh to the upcoming state elections.