THE Indian government announced on October 21 that an agreement was reached between India and China on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). This is a welcome development that hopefully would lead to the normalisation of relations between the two neighbouring countries.The bilateral relations between India and China had deteriorated after the border clashes in Galwan valley in 2020. Both countries acted to ensure that these clashes do not lead to a full blown war. Since 2020, 31 rounds of talks were held at the military and diplomatic levels.

THE results of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections are of great significance.  The victory of the National Conference-led alliance, winning 49 of the 90 seats, is a strong verdict against the Modi government and the BJP’s authoritarian steps to dismantle the state of J&K and deprive it of its special status.  The people of the Valley have also foiled the BJP’s campaign to field proxies and  encourage separatist elements to contest to divide the vote.  The fact that the BJP could poll only 2.2 per cent of the votes cast in the Valley shows the total rejection of the Hindutva forces’

ANURA Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the Janata Vimukti Perumana (JVP) and the National Peoples’ Power (an alliance of Left and progressive parties) won the presidential elections held on September 21 in Sri Lanka. He polled 57,40,179 votes (42.3 per cent) in these elections, which is a significant increase from the 4,18,553 votes (3.16 per cent) he could obtain in 2019.

THE situation in Assam has steadily deteriorated due to growing tensions between communities and certain incidents being used to divide people on communal and chauvinistic lines.  The chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, and the BJP-led government are solely responsible for the current state of affairs. Himanta Biswa Sarma has crossed all limits in his Muslim baiting campaign and his divisive rhetoric of ‘indigenous versus outsiders’.

THE eleventh Independence Day Red Fort address of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was his longest so far and it was the most disappointing by his own standards. The bulk of the speech was a litany of achievements of his government beginning from Swachh Bharat to Jal Jeevan Mission to renewable energy and reforms which also included the strengthening of the banking sector.  All these were encapsulated with a vague talk of a `Viksit Bharat’ by 2047.Some of the claims made about the achievements have no basis in reality.  For instance, on renewable energy, he c