View Articles

Modi government’s denial to accept the survey data provided by “non-government agency about the loss of jobs of 21 million salaried jobs between April and August, weeks after suggesting that 18.9 million salaried jobs were lost between April and July, has not come as a surprise. It would be foolhardy to expect that the Modi government would accept any suggestion, idea or lacuna which appears to be riding over the image of the Modi government or giving a bad name to him or eclipsing the appearance of his rich and corporate friends.

The political earthquake in parliament house on Thursday culminating in the resignation of the Shiromani Akali Dal’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal from union cabinet reflected the fault lines in the ruling coalition under pressure from entrenched vested interests.

Covid has changed the way people shop, learn, and work. E-commerce is booming, brick-and-mortar retailers are shifting to digital platforms, and schools and offices have adopted online classes and working from home.

New Delhi: Cricket icon MS Dhoni has inspired whole new generation of sportspersons and being a co-owner of Chennaiyin FC he has influenced several young players of that team.

New Delhi: Women hockey team captain Rani Rampaul says that the sport has made members of her team financially independent at a very young age and they are in a better position to take care of their families' needs.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his party on one hand and opposition parties on the other are facing acid test during forthcoming by-elections for eight assembly seats. The results of these by elections will set the mood for assembly polls in 2022.

An estimated 6.6 million white collar professional jobs, including engineers, physicians, teachers, were lost between May and August, bringing their employment to the lowest level since 2016 and wiping out the gains made over the last four years while five million industrial workers were out of work during the period, according to the latest report of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy.

The Modi government is not averse to Supreme Court laying down guidelines for the digital media but is completely opposed to apex court laying down “any further guidelines’ for rest of mainstream media on the plea that there already exists sufficient framework and judicial pronouncements with regard to electronic media and print media. This plea of the Modi government is really incomprehensible that "if the court decides to undertake the exercise, it should first be undertaken with regard to digital media.”

A striking aspect of the 24 per cent decline in GDP in the first quarter of 2020-21 compared to the previous year’s first quarter is the decline by 10.3 per cent in public administration, defence and other public services. This is a sector where the GDP is estimated not by the “output” of the sector but by the government expenditure incurred under these heads. The decline in the GDP originating in this sector therefore means a decline in public expenditure. This is surprising for two reasons: first, it shows that government expenditure, instead of being “counter-contractionary” has been “pro-contractionary”; second, during the lockdown caused by the pandemic one would expect government spending on healthcare to go up, and thereby raise the overall government expenditure, instead of the fall we actually observe.

Communist Party of India general secretary D Raja, Indian National Congress leader Ahmed Patel, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, DMK leader Kanimozhi and RJD leader Manoj Jha met President Ram Nath Kovind on September 17, 2020 and urged him to look into their concerns over the manner the probe into Delhi riots is being conducted by the Delhi police which is under the Union home ministry. The leaders submitted a memorandum to the President: expressing deep concern at the manner in which Delhi Police has investigated the incidents of communal violence which took place in North East Delhi between February 23 and February 26 of this year in which 53 people lost their lives.