THE US-led NATO’s attempts to seek the high moral ground against aggression by the “brutal dictator Putin” reeks of hypocrisy and double-standards. Going by the shrill pronouncements of President Biden and Prime Minister Johnson, this is the first time peace has been shattered in Europe after the Second World War and the end of the Cold War. They completely ignore the fact that the first war in Europe after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 was the NATO aggression against Serbia and Yugoslavia in 1999.

THE Kerala government has written to the central government proposing amendments to the constitution to give powers to the state governments in the appointment or recall of governors.  This has been done in response to the recommendations made by the Justice Punchhi Commission on reforms in centre-state relations.  The stand taken by the Kerala government reflects the longstanding need felt for change in the role of the governor who, at present, is appointed by the centre and hence acts as an agent of the central government. 

SOME chief ministers of the opposition-ruled states have been discussing about the need for a united stand to defend federalism and to counter the onslaught of the Modi government on centre-state relations.

AS the election campaign for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls is in full swing with the first phase of elections be held on February 10 in western UP, it has become clear that the BJP is banking solely on the Hindutva communal plank for mobilising support.

THE recent announcement by the union ministry of converting a part of what Vodafone-Idea (VI) owes to the government into its shareholding, is another step in the long story of crony capitalism and so-called reforms in the telecom sector. The government has taken a 35.8 per cent shareholding in VI to reduce the two hundred thousand crore rupees that VI owns the government, and postponed payments of the rest for four more years.