IN an hour and a half long speech, replying to motion of thanks to the president’s address to the joint session of parliament, PM Modi spent most of the time patting himself and his government on the back hailing the president’s address. The fact of the matter is that this speech is prepared by the union cabinet, presided by the PM, which the president reads out. Modi was, therefore, complementing himself for the speech that was written by the cabinet.

ON January 23, the 124th birth anniversary of Subhas Chandra Bose, the prime minister visited Kolkata in order to inaugurate the year-long celebrations planned by his government of this event.

THE ways we live our lives are changing drastically because of the pandemic, environmental disasters, and the global economic crisis. Whether we like it or not, almost all spheres of life are witnessing the emergence of a new normal. A return to the old normal is ruled out. The Kerala budget for 2021-22 is a brave effort to take on the challenges of the post-pandemic order. Notably, the budget is well informed by a thorough understanding of the pattern of changes occurring in different spheres of life.

THE protest at Capitol building in Washington on January 6 was unequivocally condemned worldwide. Apart from the general feeling which many of us had to this protest/ attack, I was also intrigued to know- “How old is the building?” The same building which was targeted by the Trump supporters.  This Capitol building was made operational in 1800 after seven years of construction work and continues to stand tall and serve its purpose. So, it is almost 220 years old.

AFTER the 1990s, the trend of Indian political and economy took a significant turn in an altogether different direction. The negative impact of the neo-liberal policies began to be felt deeply in the realm of politics and the economy over the following decades. Values of the long independence struggle against the British, nation's sovereignty, secularism, and federalism were brought into question.