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India's vaccine diplomacy has been steaming ahead and has set the pace for countering the Covid pandemic. It was indeed a big boost when as part of the first Quadrilateral Security Dialogue leaders' meeting, the US, India, Japan, and Australian leaders decided to help India produce at least 1 billion vaccine doses to the Asia Indo-Pacific region.

The unprecedented level of spike in COVID-19 infections in India one year after the lockdown of March 24, is an additional threat, not only in terms of infection and death but lives in general due to impending economic disruption, if India does not plan for the crucial next six months, ie upto September 2021. The latest UNICEF report on “Direct and indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and response in South Asia” contains the warning the country must heed to.

BERLIN: Germany, once viewed as an exaggerated model of exactitude and discipline, is currently in a muddle.

The outcome of the state assembly polls in Bengal may be the turning point for the Indian politics though it may push India to another spell of coalition politics. Indians may have to witness a fierce struggle within the ruling ensemble. The ouster of the chief minister Mamta Bannerji will certainly be celebrated as the BJP victory but the failure to do so would be paraded as the NaMo defeat. Hence the coming times will certainly be of fierce politics.

What appears to be an innocuous Bill, in fact, seeks to introduce a complete change in the way the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi is administered. The Bill introduced in parliament conceals more than it reveals, since it contains no substantive reference to the purpose of the Bill. Indeed, this Bill — in its Statement of Objects and Reasons — turns the issue on its head and undermines not only the 2018 judgment of the Supreme Court of India, but also certain provisions of the Constitution of India itself. In particular, Article 239AA.

BHOPAL: Both BJP and Congress organized programmes to mark the completion of one year of the overthrow of the Kamal Nath government.

Retired top cop Julio Ribeiro doesn't want to get into the cesspool. It's too murky and tricky, he says, refusing to take Sharad Pawar's bait. Devendra Fadnavis also wants Ribeiro to probe Param Bir Singh's litany of accusations against Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh. Pawar says Param Bir cannot be trusted, he was the one who appointed Sachin Vaze. And why did Param Bir Singh wait so long to slamdunk Deshmukh? Also, Singh's email is unsigned and that too is suspect, says the NCP heavyweight.

Outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent measures and policies of the government of India, including lockdown on March 24, 2020, and changes in labour rules in favour of business and industries, have disproportionately impacted women workforce of the country, whose participation had already declined in 2017-18 to its lowest level in the last five decades. Gender equity and economic empowerment of women is now at stake, which needs urgent attention from our policymakers.

There is no second opinion about the BJP’s remarkable organizational capability. Whenever a group of academics or retired bureaucrats come out with a statement criticizing the government, a rival group loses no time to put out a favourable assessment of the ruling party. The promptness of the rejoinder underlines an alert and widespread network which is loathe to allow any aspersion on the government go unchallenged.

The Myanmar army staged a coup d’etat and seized power on February 1 and declared a state of emergency for one year. The army dismissed the government of the National League for Democracy (NLD) which was returned to power for the third time in a row after the general elections of November 8, 2020. The excuse for the coup was that the army believed the elections had been “rigged” by the NLD. No evidence was produced. When you do a grossly unconstitutional and illegal act, no evidence is necessary to justify it. Following the coup all top leaders of the NLD were arrested, including Aung San Suu Kyi, chairman of the party and the State Counsellor of the country – a position analogous to that of a prime minister.