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As Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks less and less invincible, there is a political churning happening in the country and the Opposition parties are electric with possibilities, with several of them hoping to come together to mount a collective challenge to the Modi-Shah juggernaut. And it's at such times that there's a search for a viable alternative. It appears like the search will end at NCP supremo Sharad Govindrao Pawar's door.

On the face of it, Twitter blocking the accounts of Ravi Shankar Prasad, who as IT minister apparently considers himself to be the be-all and end-all of social media and the freedom of expression, and Shashi Tharoor, chairman of parliament’s standing committee on IT, would appear as poetic justice at work. Both have been at loggerheads with the microblogging giant, of course, for different reasons as they stand at the opposite of ends of political spectrum. But both have been in agreement over the need for social media platforms to play ball.

As India reeled under the second wave of Covid-19, one fact became evident — it would not be left to struggle alone. Aid poured into India from over 40 nations. Countries sent oxygen, medical equipment, ventilators, and antiviral drugs. Offers of help came not just from expected corners such as the United States (US) and Russia, but also from unexpected sources such as China and Uzbekistan.

New Delhi: Indian Women’s 10M Air Pistol team beat Hungary 16-12 in the bronze medal to earn the second medal for the country at the World Cup Shooting in Osijek, Croatia, on Friday.

Every year on 25 June, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders recall the crime against democracy and humanity that former prime minister late Indira Gandhi and the Congress committed by imposing the Emergency and sending hundreds—they would say thousands—of Opposition leaders, especially those who belonged to the then Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), the prequel of the BJP, to prison.

Vaccination against COVID-19 suffers from inequality and sluggishness. Inequality in such an extent that 80 per cent of the vaccines have been administered in the high and upper-middle-income countries, as against 19.7 per cent in rest of the middle income group, and only 0.3 per cent in the low-income countries, while sluggishness is such that at this pace the pandemic will continue to rip through the Global South, leaving the whole world highly vulnerable for another 57 years. The failure of nationalism, competition, and charity as concepts have never been so stark, as the world is witnessing at present. Unless nationalism, competition, and charity retreat and make room for internationalism, cooperation, and solidarity, the world would be fast forward to meet an unprecedented human tragedy in the history of mankind.

In terms of economic policy, the Modi government must be perhaps the most conservative in the world. During the entire period of the pandemic when millions of people lost their incomes and livelihood support, most governments around the world provided universal cash transfers to the people, but not the Modi government. True, many other third world countries too did not provide such universal cash transfers, but their hands were tied; they had contracted heavy external debt and were enjoined to austerity by agencies like the IMF that helped them roll over their debt.

The other day somebody wrote that the only party that stood between Narendra Modi and a third term as Prime Minister was the Indian National Congress; of course with the cautionary note that Wayanad MP and former Congress President Rahul Gandhi should understand the enormity of the situation and behave accordingly.

In the face of a vicious Republican-orchestrated assault on democratic rights and working-class economic gains, states dominated by Democratic governors and legislatures representing broad multi-racial governing coalitions are pulling in the opposite direction—going all out to expand rights.

The meeting of the eight opposition parties held on June 22 at the NCP president Sharad Pawar's residence has led to more confusion rather than facilitating the process of consolidation of the unity of the parties that are opposed to the continuation of the BJP in power at the centre. The move was primarily initiated by Yashwant Sinha, the recently installed vice president of the Trinamool Congress who wanted to put himself in the national limelight under the shadow of the Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who is seen by many as the alternative to Narendra Modi in the coming Lok Sabha polls.