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KOLKATA: The West Bengal BJP has tied itself up in knots after its tally in 2024 Lok Sabha elections came down to 12 from the figure of 18 won in 2019 elections. Intra-party recriminations have taken place and are going to be followed by change at the top though it is likely to be arranged in a manner to look like a reshuffle rather than an ignominious removal.

Narendra Modi government will present the first budget of its third term on July 23 in the budget session from July 22 to August 12. The BJP-led government is widely expected to continue its policy direction claiming ‘reforms’. The dialectics of budgets and economic policies over last decade have only served to strengthen the already massive stranglehold of financial corporates on the Indian economy.

Some twenty years back a division bench of Patna High Court had bemoaned the absence of work culture in Bihar. The officials who have the authority to enforce the work ethics are reluctant to improve the governance and ensure that the subordinates perform. Division bench of Justice V N Sinha and Justice Prabhat Kumar Jha had directed the government to furnish a list of the officials who held the posts of chief secretary, principal secretary (health) and director-in-chief (health services) since 2002. It had also sought the information why its order to provide 500 beds at the mental asylum at Koelwar in Arrah was not complied with.

Given the huge shortage of healthcare professionals and hospital beds, lack of pre and post hospitalization medical facilities at affordable costs, inadequate funding, and non-release of promised budgeted funds even under the much-publicized government medical and health insurance schemes have emerged as serious concerns for the Union Ministry of Finance plaguing the preparation of Union Budget 2024-25.

Telangana resident Mohd. Abdul Samad can’t do much. He must be feeling exactly like how Shah Bano Begum felt in 1986. Then, too, the Supreme Court of India had skin in the game and had come to the rescue of divorced Muslim women, like it had all those years ago. But then, the SC was beaten by a brute majority.

For the last two years, India has been riding on two horses diplomatically: while befriending the West, particularly the USA, the Indian moves have also placated Russia in the face of its unilateral aggression against Ukraine in February 2022.

Crime itself is a morbid act and the three new criminal laws, effective from July 1, 2024, are threatening to throw the country’s criminal justice system into even greater confusion. Its criticism has been that strengthening police power would be instrumental in turning the country into a police state. It would also introduce offences like terrorism without proper safeguards. There are possibilities also about the potential misuse of these new provisions. Home minister Amit shah has said that there would be “justice” instead of “punishment”. He said, “About 77 years after independence, our criminal justice system is becoming completely indigenous and will run on Indian ethos.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia holds significant implications for the economic partnership between the two countries, spanning various sectors from energy to technology and beyond. As such, it is a pivotal moment for both countries, especially against the backdrop of evolving global dynamics and their mutual interests in enhancing economic ties.

Classical case of parental humiliation... RSS, the organisation which fathered BJP, is finding it tough to have its suggestion heard and prevail on its progeny to appoint the new president of the party of its choice. What a let-down. It is really disgraceful for the RSS leadership that Narendra Modi, once a pracharak, has not only brazenly overlooked the desire of the RSS but is even moving ahead with his design to have his own protégé as the chief of party. He is ready for the worst; brush-off with the parental organisation.

Several governance and political setbacks have marked much prominently than any of the good performances of PM Narendra Modi led government during the first month of its third term (Modi 3.0). All these began with taking his oath on June 9, 2024, as a Prime Minister of a coalition government, that considerably reduced his political status both within and outside the Parliament of India. He has to face challenges in running a coalition government and a stronger opposition seeking accountability on every policy and action. Moreover, he will have lesser opportunities to shift blames on former Union Governments, especially led by Congress, for his own failure. PM Modi will have to work hard now to remain politically relevant.