ON February 9, 2024, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his army would advance into Rafah, the last remaining city in Gaza not occupied by the Israelis. Most of the 2.3 million Palestinians who live in Gaza had fled to its southern border with Egypt after being told by the Israelis on October 13, 2023, that the north had to be abandoned and that the south would be a “safe zone.” As the Palestinians from the north, particularly from Gaza City, began their march south – often on foot – they were attacked by Israeli forces, who gave them no safe passage.

THE budget session of parliament concluded on February 10, with the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha being adjourned sine die. This was the last session of parliament before the Lok Sabha elections, due in April-May. This was a Lok Sabha of many dubious firsts: in terms of the number of workdays, this was the least productive Lok Sabha since 1952. No deputy speaker was appointed during its entire five-year tenure. As many as 146 MPs from the opposition parties were suspended for demanding a discussion about the parliament security breach.

ON February 1, 2024 while presenting the interim budget 2024-25 in parliament, the union minister for finance and corporate affairs said the government proposed to create a corpus of one lakh crore rupees to boost private investment in sunrise technologies. It was to mark a golden era for our tech savvy youth with India showing solutions through innovation and entrepreneurship of its people.

UNDER the Modi government, media freedom in India has come under serious threat, with journalists trolled, harassed, and even arrested for doing their jobs. India’s ranking on the World Press Freedom Index has been consistently falling since the Modi government came into power in 2014.

Below we publish reports of the programmes held across the country on February 8, in solidarity with Kerala.   TRIPURAKerala Solidarity Day was observed throughout the state of Tripura on February 8. Protest rallies, processions, sit-in and various other forms of demonstrations took place in most sub-divisions, highlighting the indifferent and hostile approach pursued by the Modi government towards Kerala.