‘THE Future is Plump with Promise’, said Maya Angelou. Every morning inspires us to see through the window waiting for that dawn, that future to materialise. So passed the year 2022. Hope never dies!The first of January was another foggy day in Delhi. But it is from Delhi that our hopes have to be realised. So again with vain hope we waited for the sun to shine on our hopes and their promises. It might be the fog or the smog, neither was the sun visible, nor the hope.LOOKING AT THE EARTHLook at the earth. Learn patience.

THE third state conference of the All India Agricultural Workers’ Union was held from December 29-31, 2022 at Khammam. More than six hundred delegates from all corners of the Telangana state attended the conference.On December 29, a huge public meeting was organised at SR & BGNR College grounds, Khammam town. More than one lakh people attended the public meeting and made it a huge, huge success. This has been the largest gathering in this ground.Thirty thousand people in red shirts, and red sarees marched in the streets of Khammam and painted the whole town red.

INDIA’S current account deficit for the second quarter (July-September) of 2022-23 has reached a massive $36.4 billion which is 4.4 per cent of the gross domestic product, higher than at any time in the last nine years. It is only in October-December 2012 that the absolute level of the current deficit had been $32.6 billion which was 6.7 per cent of the GDP.By contrast the current account deficit had been $18.2 billion in the first quarter of 2022-23 or 2.2 per cent of GDP, and $9.7 billion or 1.3 per cent of GDP in the second quarter of 2021-22, i.e., exactly a year ago.

Addressing the Samaj Jagao, Bhaichara Banao, Samvidhan Bachao rally at the Chhatarpur Mela Ground on December 29, CPI(M) general secretary, Sitaram Yechury expressed anger over the poor condition of Bundelkhand even after 75 years of independence. He said that instead of working towards improvement, the present government is pushing the situation towards further deterioration. Discussing the national situation, he said that as a result of the erroneous and destructive economic policies of the Modi government, the country is heading towards an economic slowdown.

THE news of the opening up of China from the Covid-19 protocols and its current epidemic has overtaken the threat of two emerging SARS-CoV-2 lineages – XBB and BQ.1. China is seeing the spread of BF.7, which is much closer to the original Omicron strain. Our existing immunity, from either vaccines or infections, should therefore continue to protect us from infections partially and much better against serious infections.The threat of the Chinese variant, as the news media calls it, is much lower than that from the US and Europe.