WITH the US’ Damocles sword of reciprocal tariffs hanging over its head, the Modi government is surrendering instead of resisting. The US President Donald Trump explicitly stated that India would be on the list of countries subject to reciprocal tariffs from April 2, irrespective of its good relationship with the US. The Modi government, instead of meeting this challenge, is ready to reduce tariffs on nearly 55 per cent of US goods and in the process sacrifice Indian interests.
THE Trump administration’s current clamp-down on free speech in the United States is eerily reminiscent of the 1950s when there had been a witch-hunt led by Senator Joseph McCarthy that had not only victimised a whole generation of artistes and intellectuals on the charge of being Communists, but had also left a deep negative imprint on the creative life of that country for decades to come. The victims of that witch-hunt had included numerous outstanding individuals ranging from...
ONE of the arguments in favour of a divine power – or god – is that life could not have arisen naturally and needed a touch of the divine to come into being. While Oparin, Haldane and Bernal had argued how organic life forms can arise naturally, experimental proof that this is indeed the case was lacking, though the Urey-Miller experiments in 1953 came quite close to it. A recent experiment by a...
REJOICE, sisters, rejoice! For yet another barrier is broken! Kirsty Coventry, a woman (have no doubts – she is a woman) has been elected as the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the first time in its 131-year history. No joke, this is. A brief recap of our sisters’ struggles is necessary to understand how she rose to where she is.
THE 2025-26 Kerala Budget anticipates revenue generation of Rs 2 lakh crore and proposes an expenditure of an equivalent amount. This means Kerala’s budget has grown to the size of Rs 2 trillion. Even minute changes in society have been analysed, and the global situation has been accurately assessed while formulating strategies for Kerala’s future. The budget takes a serious view of key trends in the state, such as rapid urbanisation...
THE recent recommendation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology to create a Media Council to bring in different forms of media under one umbrella body needs to be viewed with caution warn media unions. Given the excessive powers of the government to police and censor the media, the issue requires debate and consensus, say the Brihanmumbai Union of Journalists, the Delhi Union of Journalists, the National Alliance of...
SPEAKING on the Manipur Appropriation Bill 2025 in the Rajya Sabha, Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharyya asked what prompted the Manipur Budget to be placed in Parliament? We talk about being the ‘mother of democracy’, but democracy has been shattered when you find that the Indian Parliament has to take up the Appropriation Bill for Manipur. Our prime minister has given a new theory, that of ‘double-engine sarkar’. Are we going on reverse gear? Manipur was the first place where Netaji Subhash...
THE April 20th rally at Brigade Parade Grounds, Kolkata is going to be a response to the growing discontent among West Bengal's working people. Organised by West Bengal units of CITU, AIKS, AIAWU and Paschimbanga Basti Unnayan Samiti (West Bengal Slum Development Association), it aims to unite workers, farmers, agricultural workers, and marginalised people against the policies of...
THE new service for domestic “maids” offered by the Urban Company which “promises” to make available domestic services within 15 minutes for Rs 49 per hour is yet another example of the continuing exploitation and dehumanisation of paid domestic workers in our country. It is well known that such platforms charge a commission from the workers, which successively increases over time, leading to severe exploitation of...
COMMUNAL forces have hatched a well-planned conspiracy to cover up the state government’s failure to solve people’s livelihood issues and also to further its communal agenda in Maharashtra. The recent communal violence at Nagpur and a series of statements deliberately distorting historical facts by several BJP leaders are part of this conspiracy.
