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The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on March 24 the petition filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) to stop the sale of electoral bonds till the issue is decided by the apex court. This hearing on the eve of the state assembly polls beginning on March 27 is of crucial importance to the national politics of the country as the next tranche of the bonds is expected for sale shortly.

It will be suicidal to privatise India’s state-controlled banks at the current stage of its development. India has a long way to go to become a sustainable capitalist economy. Even capitalist economies have state-owned banks and financial institutions. India’s state-sector banks, financial institutions and public enterprises (PSEs) have contributed enormously to whatever the country has achieved in the economic front today. They have also helped a massive growth of the private sector industry and financial systems in the country over the years.

The Covid pandemic has brought cataclysmic changes to the world. People have responded in varying ways and shown their strong ability to adapt and survive. The Indian judicial system has shown mixed achievements in this respect.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala has been sent into a tizzy by RSS ideologue and former editor of Organiser, R Balashankar, who accused the party of reaching a tacit understanding with the CPI(M) to ensure the victory of party’s state president K. Surendran in Konni Assembly constituency.

Every man has a certain fixed pattern. Narendra Modi is fixated on four hours. The time he gives from announcement to implementation of snap decisions. Demonetization left us crowding ATMs for four hours, from 8pm to 12am. Came coronavirus, and deja vu! Modi stuck to his habitual 4-hour deadline.

At a time when green shoots had begun showing up in the economy, the resurgence of Covid infection across the country is indeed bad news. According to the latest numbers released by the Union health ministry, the country has just recorded the highest single-day rise recorded in 111 days. The renewed intensity in infection has some of the state governments, particularly Maharashtra, actively considering enforcement of lockdown once again. The date for the reopening of educational institutions have again been changed to March 31, while restrictions in social gatherings and entertainment venues have been reintroduced.

People’s Democracy, the weekly journal of the CPI(M), has carried a political commentary in its 14 March, 2021 issue accusing the CPI(ML) of taking a ‘wrong turn’ in West Bengal. The same issue also contains a ‘PB communique’ issued by the CPI(M) Polit Bureau following its online meeting held on March 11, 2021. Apropos the forthcoming elections to the Assemblies of Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry and the Autonomous District Council of Tripura, the communique says ‘the main focus of the CPI(M) shall be to defeat the BJP’. Why and where does the CPI(M) then think the CPI(ML) is going wrong in West Bengal?

If there is one country that has been short-changed by the international order on issues relating to terrorism, more specifically cross-border terrorism, it is India. The Indian narrative on terrorism has been loud since the 1980s, but falling mostly on deaf ears, especially at forums such as the United Nations (UN).

Politics on vaccines and vaccination in India is now a reality. The statement made by the Chief Minister of Delhi that the state can vaccinate all its people within three months if allowed by the Centre and if vaccines are made available, is indicative of some sort of politics being played on the people of India. People are kept on tenterhooks, and are swinging between hope and frustration, on account of very slow rate of vaccination due to hosts of reasons ranging from incapacity of our healthcare system, vaccine hesitancy, and of course the politics. In the meantime spike in new COVID-19 cases has threatened a second wave in the country.

A new World Health Organisation report, prepared by a panel of experts, begins with the findings that the world was totally unprepared for this pandemic. For decades, however, it had been predicted that such a viral pandemic would inevitably come our way.