THE Covid-19 pandemic that has India in its deathly grip, is nowhere near its end. India is now registering numbers that have broken all “records”. Currently more than half of all new cases per day in the world are from India! While the number of daily new cases have started to show a slow decline, it is accompanied by a drop in the number of tests conducted. The drop in new cases may therefore be due to fewer tests rather than a real drop in new cases. Are we running out of test kits and testing personnel for conducting tests?

THE usual folklore is that winters in North India, Delhi in particular, come to an end with Holi. But this year, Holi had gone, but the chill is still lingering, reflecting the times that our country is passing through. On one hand – riots, protests, anger and on the other the novel virus – Covid-19. All these are giving rise to a serious doubt, is Shelley right: ‘when winter comes, can spring be far behind’!

AS the Narendra Modi government scrapped the constitutional provisions that accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir and divided the state into two union territories over the past week, BJP leaders and right-wingers started issuing obnoxious threats – both online and offline. Exposing the scheme of the RSS, which has always been interested in the territory of Kashmir and not its people, right-wing leaders and activists made threatening statements about being able to “buy land” in Kashmir and marrying “gori (fair)” Kashmiri women.

BARELY a day passes without reports about Muslims being attacked and forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in various parts of the country. In the first two weeks of July, over a dozen such cases were reported from different areas, particularly in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. As the ruling BJP refuses to act against right-wing goons creating havoc across the country, Muslims and Dalits are bearing the brunt.

IN the first two weeks of June, about a dozen young men and journalists have been arrested across the country, primarily for social media posts critical of BJP chief ministers and leaders. After the Narendra Modi government assumed office for a second term, such news started trickling in from various parts of the country, particularly states ruled by the BJP.