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We Americans are used to the never-ending and increasingly costly cycle of U.S. electoral campaigns. Theoretically, elections are supposed to happen once every two to six years depending on the office and, one would think, campaigns for those elections would coincide with the election schedule. The reality is quite different. The 2020 election is barely past, and already the media and political commentators are hyping 2022 and 2024.

American investors splurge investment in India in 2020, despite COVID 19 battered the economy. India’s GDP recorded big decline in 2020 but US investment in India surged by over 297 per cent in 2020 (up from US $ 3.6 billion in 2019 to US $ 14.3 billion in 2020). In contrast, US investment in China plateaued, despite the positive growth in the Chinese economy. In 2020, GDP in China grew by 2.3 per cent.

The United States, says the tribe of anti-vaxers, is past the “incentives phase” of the “vaccination escalation hierarchy’. The incentives phase follows the “voluntary phase” and precedes the “punishment phase”. India remains stuck in the “voluntary phase”, where vaccination is pushed by legacy media, Social Media influencers, doctors, and the government itself. The “incentives phase” rewards vaccination – lottery tickets, free beer, free doughnuts, free ice cream.

After coming back to power for the third consecutive time, chief minister Mamata Banerjee has once again reignited an old debate in the state. The debate is about the efficiency of a bicameral house in a state. Back in 2011, when Mamata first came to power, she wanted to create a Legislative Council but the idea was put into cold storage. This time, however, the cabinet has given the nod to go ahead with the plan.

The confrontation between the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the West Bengal Chief Minister has now reached a critical level posing questions about the very future of our federal system guaranteed by the Indian constitution. The letter by the centre sent on Monday evening to Alapan Bandyopadhayay was a show cause charging him for violating section 51 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 by not attending the review meeting on Yaas called by the PM on May 28. Alapan resigned on May 31 as the Chief Secretary of the Bengal government –his due day of retirement, without reporting to the office in Delhi as directed by the centre in its letter of Friday evening.

If West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee does not leave any opportunity to settle political scores with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, nor does the Centre (BJP) with Banerjee. Last week, to show her annoyance, she opted out of the meeting to review the cyclone havoc in the state. In a rare violation of the protocol, Banerjee also kept the PM waiting for 30 minutes, met him briefly, and left even while the deliberations and damage assessment was on. The BJP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and some central ministers like Rajnath Singh criticized Mamata for playing petty politics.

New Delhi: Amit Panghal failed to defend his title as while Shiv Thapa lost his bid to regain the gold as the two Indians suffered identical 2-3 defeats in hard fought finals at the 2021 ASBC Asian Boxing Championships in Dubai on Monday.

Mythily Sivaraman, veteran Marxist leader, a champion of workers and women’s rights and a formidable name and popular political leader from Tamil Nadu, passed away in Chennai on Sunday. She was 84 and is survived by her husband and daughter.

Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro faced calls to resign as mass protests swept more than 200 cities demanding his impeachment over the country’s coronavirus crisis.

All publicity is good publicity—so the old marketing slogan goes. Is that why Ramdev courts controversy by laughing at Covid-19 victims gasping for air on his Aastha channel? His attack on allopathic medicine as “stupid science” and false claims that “10,000 doctors have died” after two vaccine shots are recent examples. Ramdev courts controversies as it provides him free advertisements for himself and whatever he sells. Make no mistake, it is the Ramdev “brand” that sells his Patanjali products, from noodles to Ayurvedic medicines. That is what has made the Patanjali empire one of the biggest FMCG groups in the country.