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Indians bragging about India’s record per day vaccinations! Of course, after a point, India will top the world in vaccinations for the simple reason that India tops the world in population, second only to China. And if Indians don’t stop boasting, very soon India will also top the world in Covid-19 deaths, for one big brag deserves another.

The new phase of vaccination kicked in on June 21, 2021 in India under the Modified Vaccine Policy making a record of inoculating 82.7 lakh shots in one day, but the pace cannot be maintained in July next month. It could be reduced to even below half mark. Even sources in the helm of affair at the Centre expect to reach at an average of 45 lakh shots per day. Impediments are still felt under Modified vaccine policy, needing further modification at the earliest to achieve the target of vaccinating all within the shortest possible time.

Who wished Rahul Gandhi on his 51 birthday and who did not has become a hot issue of discussion in the political circle. It might not have acquired importance and raised the index of curiosity if the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not refrained from greeting him. In fact a prime minister is not under any obligation to greet a politician. But Modi not greeting him drew the attention only for the reason that he has been greeting him every year. It was only this year Modi did not extend any such gesture.

Will V.K. Sasilala, a one-time close confident of late Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa make a comeback? It is a question mark as politics is changing fast in the state. ‘Chinnamma ‘as she was known, has had her ups and downs in the past four decades. She enjoyed power as the shadow of Jayalalithaa but she never did understand that she was only the shadow, not Jayalalithaa. She took over the party and almost became Jaya’s successor in 2017 but the BJP spoiled her plans and she went instead to Pappana Agraharam jail in Karnataka for four years.

Is the ruling system in India continues to be federal union of States or Unified structure like an Empire? This is a challenging question but effective answer can come only from the electorate. It poses a battery of questions but without assuring answers. Next election is still thirty four months away and no one can predict whether or not the Prime Minister Narendra Modi would prefer to seek a third term with preference by his party or he would need to base his aspiration for one more term on a new political combination? The question is valid as the Sangh chief appears reluctant to back NaMo for any more time. Bhagwat disassociated the Sangh since March 2020 from the NaMo regime and combination of forces sustaining him in power. No one subscribes to a belief in victory of any other personality or combination without NaMo associated with it. Bhagwat appears to be eager to see the back of NaMo sooner the better.

A Supreme Court order to evict over 10,000 households from Khori Gaon near the Surajkund area of Faridabad, Haryana will affect over one lakh people who have been living in the area for over 40 years.

The decision of top management of the Steel Authority of India to close down its Raw Materials Division Head Office in Kolkata is a bolt from the blue for 400 and odd direct and indirect staffers in Kolkata at a time when everyone is panicked about the Covid-19 pandemic .It was the Steel Executives’ Federation of India general secretary and Rourkela Steel Plant Association Executives’ association president Bimal Bisi who disclosed the decision of the SAIL brass to dismantle the RMD headquarters in Kolkata. The logic (rather alibi) is that it is far away from its captives mines and hence it is a white elephant.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s “beat with shoes” remark did the trick. Thackeray’s hint that shoes are also to hammer sense into politicians and political parties gone astray worked. The Congress took the hint, and stepped down from its high horse. Thackeray said people would “beat with shoes” those who talked of elections but didn't offer solutions to people’s problems. Of course, this was in response to a likely move to replace him.

For the time being, the BJP leadership may be content with the fact that it has somehow managed to douse the fire of rebellion in the state by preventing its disgruntled MLAs from leaving the party. The internal rift, however, hasn’t died. It has just slowed down. The alertness of the saffron party’s Delhi leadership by sending BL Santosh, the party’s general secretary (organisation), forced the dissenters to tone down their rebellious voices.

Covid-19 induced pandemic since early 2020 has brought untold miseries to India with unprecedented loss of lives, livelihood, loss of jobs, innumerable/unaccounted/undercounted deaths for shortages of medicines, for lack of oxygen, lack of beds, people dying on roads, on pavements of hospitals, black marketing of life saving drugs, black marketing of oxygen, indignity in deaths for cremation or burial of loved ones, never ending serpentine queue of dead bodies at crematoria and burial grounds, mismanagement in vaccines, deaths of more than 1000 medical doctors registered with Indian Medical Association, overcharging by private hospitals, government denying all that, glaring failure of leadership, resulting in all round collapse of modern healthcare that put spotlight on massive failure of the government to maintain a modicum of barest minimum medical care (Medicare).