THE No.2 man in RSS, Dattatreya Hosabale, who many think will one day become the No.1 if the current sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat so desires, raised the issue of the insertion of ‘socialism’ and ‘secularism’ in the Preamble of the country’s Constitution during the Emergency. He argued that these words should be deleted. This seemed to be a signal because suddenly, there was a chorus of usual suspects shrilly supporting the demand.

THE World Bank has recently published a list of Gini coefficients for 61 countries relating in some cases to income distribution and in others to consumption expenditure distribution. In that list India had the fourth lowest Gini coefficient in 2022, on the basis of which the Modi government has gone to town declaring India to be the fourth most egalitarian economy in the world. The ludicrousness of this claim has already been exposed by several researchers; and spending more time over it would appear like flogging a dead horse.

THE people of Tamil Nadu have never lagged behind in expressing their steadfast support and solidarity with socialist countries across the globe – especially with Cuba. Over the years, our deep commitment to this cause has been as resolute as our condemnation of US imperialist hegemony and its inhumane, cowardly economic blockade against this small Caribbean island nation of just over ten million people.

ASSAM, of late, has been witnessing a series of massive and ruthless eviction drives unleashed by the BJP state government headed by Himanta Biswa Sarma. Currently these evictions are carried out in the districts and areas mainly inhabited by the religious minorities. Bulldozers are raging down everything – from hearths and homes to schools, places of worship – to the ground with huge posse of police and para-military forces cordoning the areas.

The 17th BRICS Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro on July 6-7, the first summit with the expanded membership of eleven countries. Soon after, US President Trump threatened to impose 10 per cent tariffs on those countries that align with BRICS. Earlier too, Trump had threatened 100 per cent tariffs on BRICS countries saying that they wish to destroy the supremacy of the US dollar and weaken America. Why is Trump so threatened and provoked by BRICS?BRICS originally comprised of five countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.