THE transition from the old model towns built during the late 60s and the new townships developed during the late 90s and still continuing is very stark. There are many changes, one of the noteworthy transformations happens to be the housing sector. Take for example the Nangal township in Punjab, which was developed during the 60s. This township had three major units Bhakra Beas Management Board, National Fertilizers Limited and Punjab Alkalis and Chemicals Limited.

THE governor’s address to the Tamil Nadu state assembly, delivered soon after the formation of the DMK government following its massive victory in the assembly elections held last May, indicated that the government would place in the public domain a White Paper detailing the fiscal situation of Tamil Nadu in order to enable the members of the legislative assembly and the people to understand the true status of their government’s finances.

AN Independence Day speech, more so one which marks the beginning of the year of the 75th anniversary of India’s independence would surely have merited a reiteration of the values which won us our independence. But not for Prime Minister Modi. In his 88 minute long speech, there was only a cursory reference to the freedom struggle and its heroes. So unfamiliar are the names of India’s freedom fighters to the prime minister that he actually referred to Bengal’s freedom struggle heroine Matangini Hazra as belonging to Assam.

THERE is a huge gap to access to resources which is also reflected in the access to the technology (smartphones, laptops, uninterrupted internet, etc.), badly failing the online mode of education— the only option adopted by the centre in last one year to compensate, closure of educational institutions.

OVER the past two weeks, the Covid-19 situation in Kerala has become a topic of national discussion. This unusual media attention on Kerala was inspired by a large-scale social media campaign launched by supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Their argument was that Kerala was a “failed model” in managing Covid-19. As evidence, they cited the rising number of daily infections and high test-positivity rates (TPR) in Kerala.