LAST week, some rather bizarre events took place that point to a dire and dangerous direction India is heading to. Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State (their foreign minister), landed in Mumbai, held a flurry of meetings and headed off to Jamnagar, “to meet the folks at Reliance”, as Sergio Gor, US Ambassador to India put it. Rubio skipped New Delhi altogether, explaining the trip as being ‘business-oriented’.

SO, a decision has finally been reached! The Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), established to drive India's industrial growth and economic foundation, is now slipping completely out of Indian hands and into the control of foreign capital. If implemented, the decision approved by the Union Cabinet on October 14, 2026, will place this institution, which holds a pivotal place in India's economic development history, under the control of Canada-based Fairfax Financial Holdings.

THE continuous push for militarisation is an attempt of capitalism as a system to overcome its crisis, for which it creates wars in one or the other way. The current phase of crisis being a systemic crisis of capitalism warrants it to be in continuous war as witnessed at present. This inevitably leads to soaring of militarisation expenses as against a lag in developmental expenses. Recent reports vindicate it and reveal the barbaric nature of capitalism, which prioritises profit over people and their development.

COMMUNISTS have always been a thorn in the flesh for the rightwing. It therefore comes as no surprise that the October 11, 2026 issue of the Organiser, the RSS mouthpiece, has once again resorted to the familiar tactic of attempting to falsify history and attack communists in furtherance of its communal agenda. The editorial of the weekly, while eulogising Ashok Singhal on his birth centenary, declares that “The Communist-Islamist machinations on the intellectual front was the biggest hurdle to Ram Mandir reconstruction.”

ONE of the cardinal principles of a vibrant, organic democracy is the manner in which elections are held. What is important in this connection is transparency, impartiality and accountability of the body administering elections. Whatever be the aberrations or peculiarities of the TN Sheshan (former CEC) period, the impartial authority that the ECI should possess was made public during those days. Ever since Gyanesh Kumar took over, just the opposite has been the case.