View Articles

Any decent individual would feel extremely hurt at the Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu breaking down and narrating his battered emotion that he could not sleep because of the sacrilege in the "temple of democracy" by some opposition MPs who had climbed on the table in the House.

Only a few days ago PM Narendra Modi had told business and industry that his government was going ahead with reforms for conviction and not compulsion. On August 11, his government got the General Insurance Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha amidst shocking scenes that paves the way for privatisation public sector insurance companies even as the entire opposition wanted a scrutiny of the wisdom of privatising the insurance sector by sending the legislation to a select committee.

One more year is gone since last August. A mirror image of last several years, with some unprecedented peaks like pandemic deaths, unemployment growth, investment scarcity leading to job loss, wage cut. Revision of labour laws has brought the classic proletariat back as he has nothing except the shackles. The process does not stop here. Proletarisation has usurped even the middle class that could afford at least their meals, educate children, have a house and healthcare. Now all these are luxury items. Except the few corporate houses, among them we could boast names that are on the list of fourteen richest in the world, the rest are lost in the lowest depths. Have we been pushed into the graveyard of humanity? The nine year old girl in the country’s capital, just a few days before the Independence Day, got molested, tortured and murdered. When they went to police, the parents of the child were denied even the opportunity to register an FIR. After the incident was taken up and publicised, only then the system woke up.

On August 15, 1947, India achieved independence, as struggles and sacrifices reached the ultimate. Since then, India has been marching to achieve several milestones in the development of infrastructure, science and technology, exploration of natural resources and creation of national assets including the Public sector enterprises. The contribution of the people, the farmers and workers, the intellectuals, researchers, scientific cadres were immense. From the situation of worst famines in 1942-43 in Bengal, and our dependence on PL 480, India had recovered to self- sufficiency to some extent in the farming sector for our needs, thanks to the trade union achievement of realising bank and insurance nationalisation with support from left and progressive forces, which played important role in these developments. This gave boost also for establishing medium, small and micro enterprises opening opportunities for livelihood for millions. The public sector became fulcrum of development.

As India celebrates the completion of 74 years of independence and enters the period leading up to the 75th anniversary of independence in 2022, the country is truly at a critical juncture.

An “epic” battle being waged, or rather being reported on in the corporate entertainment press, is between streamers and theatres or between various streamers. However, this is a battle now being fought not just in the United States.— Netflix is already losing U.S. subscribers to its rivals Disney+ and HBO Max — but throughout the world. Only through global subscriptions can these companies, most of whom have run up huge debt, stay one step ahead of their creditors.

A Covid vaccine passport is a digital or paper document that certifies its holder is completely vaccinated against the virus and allows access to physical spaces and travel since it is considered ‘safe.’

On July 28, shortly after he had taken oath as 23rd Chief Minister of Karnataka, Basavaraj Bommai, 61, took his first decision at a one-man Cabinet meeting. He allocated Rs 1,000 crore for scholarship for children of farmers of state. With this step, Basavaraj sent out the message that his government will not be confined to caste identities, paid tribute to the legacy of his father the late S R Bommai, and reinforced once again the shrewd, political mind that he is; that has helped him rise in the BJP without deep moorings in the right wing ideology of the party.

With the general opinion, both global and domestic, that schools should now be reopened as soon as possible, India is also gradually trying to open its schools. However, bringing students back safely to schools is in itself a challenging task that is felt both at government and school level. The schools that have already opened are facing an additional difficulty on account of learning loss of students due to closure of schools for about one and half years since the general lockdown of the country. Bridging the learning loss needs specially tailored plans for specific requirements of students.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are the ones who can talk on Pegasus. But Modi doesn’t have the time to spare. That leaves Amit Shah in the lurch. And he’s acting as if he was never at ‘Home’. The Home Minister spoke once, but only to dwell on “chronology”. Then, he clammed up.