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Prime Minister Narendra Modi's use of ‘balak budhi’ to describe Rahul Gandhi during the debate on the President’s address to parliament may be seen may be seen as an NDA-complaint derivative of the derisive ‘Pappu’ jibe used by BJP leaders in the early phases of the Gandhi scion’s political career. The new term, crafted to denigrate Rahul Gandhi, carries unmistakable echoes of the past era when the BJP coined the derogatory ‘Pappu’ usage to ridicule him during his early political forays.

For the first time in his ten-year rule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, proclaimed to be the super-leader to shape the destiny of India, wore a pitiable, visibly shaken and dejected look sitting in the front row of the treasury benches in Lok Sabha, while Rahul Gandhi, who has been assigned the constitutional task of being the Leader of Opposition, shredded his assiduously-built and nurtured-at-massive-cost image of ‘Hindu Hridaya Samrat’.

Taxation of the super-rich is becoming current coin in International deliberations on the global financial structure and funding of development.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was slated to reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address at 4 pm on Tuesday. PM Modi must have spent the previous hours prepping for the reply which came nearly 24 hours after Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi had set ablaze the Lok Sabha with his maiden speech as LoP. Some say the Prime Minister must have burned midnight oil overnight drafting the reply in his head. Rahul Gandhi did not leave him any option with a fiery address which brought both Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to their feet at different points in time, compelled to break the spell cast by the newly anointed LoP.

Indian cities are suffering from five-fold bottlenecks that prevent them realizing their full economic potential. Those are lack of common economic vision, challenges related to land supply, unintegrated urban planning and industrial infrastructure, inadequate institutional framework and capacity, and business-related policy and regulatory constraints.

It is almost a month since June 4 when Trinamool Congress emerged victorious in 29 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal out of the total of 42 trouncing the BJP which was reduced to 12 from the earlier 18. Since then, reports of clashes between TMC and the BJP cadres have been reported, but the most embarrassing moment for the ruling party was when a video surfaced featuring party strongman Tajimul Islam beating a couple for their alleged extramarital affairs at Chopra in Uttar Dinajpur district of the state. The incident took place at a salishi sabha, a mediation meeting and rightly evoked widespread outrage and condemnation in the state.

The monsoon season has set in, bringing much relief from months' scorching heat across the country. However, it has also brought about great trouble for big cities that see rainwater getting trapped and throwing normal life out of gear. Floods in some parts of the country are another thing to worry about at this point of time. A few days back, newly elected Members of Parliament shared photographs of their homes and neighbourhood streets inundated with muddy and filthy rainwaters in their Delhi homes. They were unable to walk out of their homes and take a flight to their cities and other safer locations. A few days back, Delhi was struggling with scarcity of clean drinking water as the supply from states upstream reportedly dwindled and failed to meet Delhi's soaring water needs in the peak summer.

India’s opposition has taken a new task in hand to restrain Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government from turning the country into a “police state”, as the later “lays foundation” for it by implementing the three new criminal laws form July 1, 2024. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has threatened, “INDIA will no longer allow this Bulldozer Justice.” Opposition has demanded a fresh and comprehensive review of the new criminal laws in the Parliament of India.

The 18th Lok Sabha has the potential for positive functioning. The Narendra Modi government said they wanted consensus. Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought agreement and criticised the Opposition for causing problems. Modi stated that in his third term, his Government would aim to function in Parliament in consultations with the opposition.

Amit Shah’s avaricious skill in its pursuit to help promote the interest of his political mentor Narendra Modi has turned the adivasis of the country hostile to him and at the same time made them conscious of their identity. Self assertion of their rights has always been a significant part of the tribal policies. Shibu Soren, the father of Hemant Siren of Jharkhand who was idolised as the Dishom Guru by the common adivasis, had advocated this philosophy during initial years of his crusade against the exploitation of adivasis by the dikus (outsiders).