Editorial

Quad for West Asia: India in Losing Game

THE part-virtual and part-person meeting of the foreign ministers of four countries – the United States, Israel, India and United Arab Emirates – on October 18 saw the emergence of a new grouping in West Asia.  It is significant that the meeting took place when the Indian foreign minister, S Jaishankar, was visiting Israel to hold talks with the Naftali Bennett government.According to the US readout of the meeting, the talks concerned trade, climate change, energy and maritime security.

No to Updating National Population Register

THE updation of the National Population Register (NPR) is back on the agenda of the Census 2021 enumeration.  According to a news report in The Hindu (dated October 27), the form for updation has been issued as part of the handbook for Census officers that has been given to all the states and was generated through an online system on August 18. According to The Hindu  report, the document issued to the district Census officers by the Registrar General of India contains the form which will collect details on fourteen parameters of all family members for updating the data ba

Communalism and Fundamentalism in South Asia

THE series of targeted killings of minorities and migrant workers by terrorist groups in the Kashmir Valley have pushed the besieged territory of Jammu & Kashmir into new depths of despair and gloom.  The diabolical aim of killing school teachers, street vendors and migrant workers is clear – deepen the communal divide and create conditions for an exodus. That this is happening in Jammu & Kashmir, which has been under central rule as a union territory since August 2019, is a strong indictment of the way the centre has dealt with J&K and the people of the Valley in particular.  T

Subverting Human Rights

THE Modi government has been undermining all the institutions under the Constitution and denuding them of their essence.  This was on display in the event to observe the 28th foundation day of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).The anniversary meeting was attended by both the prime minister, Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah.

Murder Most Foul

THE gruesome attack on protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh on October 3 marks a new level of violence against the farmers’ movement which has been going on for the past ten months. The farmers were protesting the visit of the deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Keshav Prasad Maurya, who was to attend a function organised by the union minister of state for home affairs, Ajay Mishra Teni.The farmers had assembled near a place where the deputy chief minister was to arrive, when a convoy of cars led by a vehicle owned by Ajay Mishra and with his son, Ashish Mishra in it,

Bhagwat in Jammu & Kashmir

THE RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat, paid a four-day visit to Jammu recently. This was the first visit by Bhagwat to Jammu & Kashmir after the annulment of Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution.  In one sense, this was a triumphant tour  by the RSS chief since it was the Sangh which relentlessly opposed Article 370 and fought for its removal.The Sangh had, through the Praja Parishad in Jammu, opposed Article 370 and launched an agitation for integrating Jammu into the Indian Union.  Jammu became the redoubt of the RSS and later the BJP.

Modi’s US Visit: Loss of Strategic Autonomy

THE Modi visit to the United States had three major events. The first in-person meeting with President Joe Biden; the meeting of the leaders of the Quad countries; and the speech at the UN General Assembly.The kept media in India have painted the visit in rosy colours and uncritically conveyed the official version of what transpired in the bilateral meeting with President Biden, in the meetings with Vice President Kamala Harris and the outcome of the Quad meetings.

Wealth Transfer through the Bad Bank

THE Modi government has laid out one more plan to “clean” the books of banks, especially public banks, by helping them get rid of Rs 2 lakh crore of loans gone ‘bad’. It has announced the creation of two institutions for the purpose. The National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL), or the “bad bank” in popular parlance, will take over the bad assets of the banks. The Indian Debt Resolution Company Ltd (IDRCL), armed with the necessary expertise, will ‘manage’ these assets and sell them at the ‘best possible’ price, to recover some of the money due to the banks.

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