The Union government is preparing a national database comprising a wide range of data on farmers. But the project has raised serious questions because farmers and farmers’ organisations have not been consulted and private players, including multinational companies such as Microsoft, are likely to be given access to the data.

The not-so-secret conflict between Narendra Modi and Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh intensifes ahead of the State Assembly election in 2022.

Having blundered on the COVID-19 vaccine front, the Narendra Modi government now appears to be pandering to the demands of the vaccine multinationals.

Mythily Sivaraman (1939-2021), a veteran Marxist leader who played a pioneering role in raising public awareness on women’s rights and class issues and fought for them without compromise, leaves behind a remarkable history of social activism that will serve as a beacon of inspiration for generations to come.

Tamil Nadu’s scheme facilitating free bus travel for women is laudable as it will boost their work participation rate, but the government must evaluate the actual demand and provide transport undertakings with adequate subsidy as compensation.

The discriminatory impact of the pandemic is resulting in poverty, rising malnutrition rates and mental trauma among children. Many of them have lost both or one parent in the second wave and there is no clear timeline yet for their vaccination.

The Mehul Choksi extradition saga takes a new turn, involving a honey trap, violence and a dramatic escape, but legal hurdles and confusion over citizenship stymie the E.D.’s attempts to bring the fugitive to justice.

The Central government’s claim of having controlled the second wave in the shortest possible time is hollow. Studies indicate the challenges to come: a possible third wave, infections among children, deaths from fungal infections, and the emergence of mutating and highly transmissible virus variants.

Intense pressure from the opposition and the Supreme Court’s reprimand force the Prime Minister to announce free vaccination for all in the 18-44 age group, but the Sangh Parivar propaganda machine is busy lionising Modi for the revised policy.

The city Corporation’s new strategy of expanding emergency care infrastructure, conducting door-to-door surveys and follow-ups and encouraging public participation proves to be highly effective in containing the infection rate, but the authorities, being aware of a long battle ahead, are not complacent.

With Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s (1944-2021) death, Indian cinema has lost one of its most original, iconoclastic figures who helped put it back on the world stage after Satyajit Ray’s death.

The global minimum tax proposal that the G7 Finance Ministers’ summit agreed upon falls disappointingly short of what is needed and possible. And the other commitments appear to be reiterations of what has been said before, with no evidence of moves towards effective and concrete action.

Disparate parties come together to form the new anti-Likud coalition government denying Benjamin Netanyahu yet another stint in office. In the power-sharing deal, Naftali Bennet will be Prime Minister for two years and will be succeeded by Yair Lapid, leader of the secular centrist Yesh Atid party, for the rest of the term.

The UGC’s new draft of college-level history syllabus is a continuation of the Sangh Parivar’s attempts at saffronisation of Indian history.

Relations between the Centre and the West Bengal government reached a new low as the Centre, in an unprecedented act seen as a blatant attempt at subverting the federal structure of the country, recalled the State Chief Secretary.

The twists and turns in the Maratha reservation issue and the impact it can have on electoral politics in Maharashtra.

The Sahel region in Africa faces an increase in jehadi activity, political uncertainty and violence, as demonstrated most recently by the second coup in less than a year in Mali and the imposition of martial law in Chad after the President is killed and his son takes over, sidestepping constitutional norms.

Successive governments at the Centre abused their power to plant their men in State capitals as Governors, wrecking the parliamentary system in the States. The results are there for all to see.

Amid the lockdown, there have been reports of attacks against Muslim men in parts of north India. In many instances, they were asked to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’.

Regime after regime has clamped down on anti-establishment poetry, but the Narendra Modi government in the last seven years has sought to demonise artistic voices as “anti-national”.