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On August 5, 2020, an unprecedented incident took place in post- independence India. For the first time, a prime minister of the country had laid the foundation stone of a religious temple. It was Ram Mandir in Ayodhya amidst Corona scare. It was to raise Hindutva hype for a political purpose. It is not unusual for the prime minister or the present government itself, though they have managed to forget many other things, and among those is the celebration of bi-centenary of Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar. The title Vidyasagar means an ocean of learning and it was the honour he was awarded in his lifetime itself.

Bihar elections are barely a month away but everything isn’t fine within the ruling NDA camp. If there is an internal tussle between the chief minister Nitish Kumar led JD(U) and the BJP over seat-sharing, there is an open rift that can be easily witnessed between the JD(U) and Chirag Paswan led LJP. Importantly, LJP and JD(U) never contested any assembly polls in the state under the same alliance in the past.

The truncated monsoon session of parliament has been, in every sense, the worst session of parliament ever held, except probably the one during the emergency in 1976 that adopted the 42nd constitutional amendment meant to facilitate an authoritarian regime.

The legal fraternity is largely seen as a male bastion with little space for women. Of course, things have changed phenomenally over the years since 1923 when Regina Das’s application for enrolment was rejected by two High Courts of India on grounds of gender.

Marriages are made in heaven, divorces in courts. A heavenly marriage was divorced in the Supreme Court by Tatas and Mistry family early this week.

Accountability is a sine qua non – an essential condition – to good democratic governance. And the condition for the survival of our democracy is commitment towards our Constitution, the edifice on which stands the country. Today we have been witness to total reversal of the same. There have been attempts to destroy the credibility of the Parliament itself, to destroy its character as a consultative institution, as a platform for debate, and to reject or pass any bill brought to it by the government. The bills must be discussed within limits of time, including the amendments. Then comes the division, of opinions, of negation or assertion. The speaker is bound to allow this. It was the three agrarian bills that the government was keen to pass. But the demand of division of members’ opinion was not accepted.

Six months have passed since the announcement of lockdown on March 24. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India stood on that date at 564, 10th death was reported from Mumbai, and 37 patients were discharged from hospitals so far. Modi government opted for complete lockdown to break the chain of transmission of the infection and prevent the outbreak from moving to the next stage. Now, six months after on September 24 at 8 AM, India reported 57,32,518 confirmed cases, 91,149 deaths, and 46,74,987 recoveries so far. India is now in the process of unlocking. The data shows that the objectives of lockdown have miserably failed, rising infection points towards lapses in precautionary measures, and deaths expose the clinical mismanagement. “Rethink on the strategy” is the PM’s advice to the CMs of the seven worst affected states, an important advice that he himself needs to work on.

The reality that the courts will decide whether or not the ballots of millions of voters will be counted this November 3 is evident. Donald Trump and the entire Republican Party are laying the groundwork now to hold onto power by whatever means necessary—the will of voters be damned.

When an acclaimed troll with a weekly column in a foreign newspaper – which comes in handy to troll others and justify the act of trolling – writes a book on the beastliness of trolls, it’s time to call for a stop to the shenanigans. But it doesn’t help because ‘Mama Troll’ is on the right side of Twitter and Facebook and beyond reprobation and punishment.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The arrest of three activists of Al Qaeda from Ernakulam district represents a severe wake-up call for Kerala, which is in the news again albeit for the wrong reasons.