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It is a matter of grave concern that counterfeit Rs 500 notes from the Mahatma Gandhi (new) series have nearly quadrupled between 2018-19 and 2023-24. And, the detection of counterfeit Rs 2,000 notes has tripled since 2020-21. The Rs 2,000 notes continue to remain legal tender and can be exchanged at RBI offices. According to the latest Reserve Bank of India report, 98 percent of the Rs 2,000 denomination notes have been returned since its May 2023 move to withdraw the currency notes.

The aftermath of the recent election results in Maharashtra and Jharkhand has led to cracks within the Opposition coalition known as the INDIA alliance. Following these disappointing results, some partners in the INDIA bloc, such as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Trinamool Congress, are focusing on their individual agendas and show little interest in collaborating for the current winter session of Parliament. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal has announced that his party will go solo in Delhi Assembly polls, ruling out tie-up with Congress. The INDIA bloc hoped to consolidate anti-BJP votes in the capital. Still, Kejriwal's announcement signals a potential fracture in unity. Additionally, it seems unlikely that the Uddhav Thackeray coalition will work together in the upcoming civic election. Consequently, the immediate concern for these partners is to unite and collaborate effectively. However, achieving this is proving to be quite challenging.

With Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal’s ruling out any possibility of alliance with Congress and INDIA bloc partners, BJP rank and file’s morale has got little boost, though the party is still struggling to find out a matching strategy to dislodge AAP from power of the National Capital Territory (NCT) Delhi. Morale of AAP’s rank and file is visibly dominant on the eve of Delhi Assembly election whose term is to expire on February 23. Other political parties are seen have feeble presence in the Delhi election scene.

BHOPAL: On December 3, 2024, it will be forty years since the lethal Methyl Iso-Cyanate gas spewed out from the Pesticide-manufacturing plant of American transnational Union Carbide Corporation on the outskirts of Bhopal, killing thousands and maiming lakhs.

Is there a trade-off — BJP's Chief Minister in exchange for the Deputy Chief Minister post to Eknath Shinde’s son Shrikant Shinde, who will then serve under Fadnavis? Everybody in the building will be happy and UBT Sena's 'dynast' Aditya Thackeray's allegation of “total anarchy” in Maharashtra will stand no chance. Though Eknath’s son Shrikant Shinde has denied all “rumours” circulating that he will be deputy chief minister.

The ceasefire in Lebanon apart from giving respite to the beleaguered Lebanese, will also be a litmus test for the Hezbollah on whether it can continue to flourish as a political and militant outfit in Lebanon or not.

LONDON: Reignited civil war in Syria is down to destabilising shockwaves from Israel’s wars of aggression in the Middle East and the malign role of NATO powers in shielding the jihadist forces in Idlib now terrorising Aleppo.

The defence mounted by the Adani Group, both by its leadership and by the Indian government, in the face of damning allegations of corruption and irregularities levelled by U.S. authorities, raises serious questions about the interplay between corporate interests and political power in India. While the U.S. investigation exposes what it claims are grave financial offences, including corruption, both the Adani Group and the Indian government have presented a united front to defend the company, framing the charges as mere technicalities and distancing the leadership from any involvement in misconduct. But the defence can only be seen as a strategic play to shield corporate interests on the part of the Modi government.

Slowing down of GDP growth to seven quarters low of 5.4 per cent during second quarter of the financial year 2024-25 and contraction of the wages during the same period for the first time since the pandemic (March 2021) shows that India has fallen into a vicious circle of decline in wages and the economic growth. Obviously, India needs to be rescued immediately from this vicious circle before the menace of unemployment, low-waged insecure jobs, and unpaid employment rise sharply to unmanageable level, hazarding the employment and growth aspirations of the country.

The Mahayuti got a historic mandate, but there’s no government yet! Is it Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s obfuscation or Eknath Shinde’s "reluctance strategy" that is holding up Devendra Fadnavis’, who Modi said is his "param mitr", appointment with the Chief Minister's chair? Is it Eknath Shinde’s dilemma, or the Bharatiya Janata Party’s utter helplessness?