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Showing posts from April, 2025

How Can the Opposition Politically Capitalise on the Current Protests?

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There are massive protests happening in Delhi-NCR over the demand for the resignation of the  Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar due to the discrepancies in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). Amid all this, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has de-notified Jantar Mantar as a designated venue for protests and demonstrations, following recommendations from a committee set up to examine alternative locations.  According to the decision, three new venues have been designated for holding protests and demonstrations: Ramlila Ground, Burari Ground and CBD Ground in East Delhi. These protests are happening on an issue which was seldom in the public domain just three months back. Today, we are witnessing a strong gathering of opposition amidst the ongoing political climate for 12 years that was dominated by the BJP. Today, the opposition is setting the agenda, and the BJP is just reacting to it. The Protests against the CEC and ECI have put a big chance in favour of op...

Free-Trade is (not) just about economics

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The Trump Administration's new tariff policy has been in discussion for some time now. Starting from his campaign season, he has been harshly talking about imposing reciprocal tariffs with the US's major trading partners. Well, everything that Trump has been talking about tariffs only since last year, right? Not so. Trump made tariffs a central policy even in his 2016 election campaign, and the US entered a trade war with China, which lasted even during the Biden Administration. To our shock, Biden didn't remove most of the tariffs that were imposed by the Trump administration. In addition, Biden continued to keep them as well as continue to impose tariffs on aluminium, steel and 200% on Chinese EVs. Now, you can see there is a small affinity for tariffs not only in the US but around the world.  Let us not deny the fact that we are all beneficiaries of free trade. We are taught pure economics in school but not international political economy. Hence, our understanding of eco...

News Capsule For The Month of March 2025

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  Following are the top news for the month.   If you wish to follow and get notifications of future articles, you can sign up using the email on the left sidebar.  Article of the month Kerala  Kerala state budget presented in the state assembly.  CPIM's state meeting ends in Kollam with a strict change of ideology.  An elephant goes on a rampage in a temple festival.  CASA says it will enter electoral politics in Kerala.  Six were arrested in an Aluva drug bust. Kochi Metro has yet to fix the Kaloor Stadium glitch. A Kerala cop was caught red-handed while taking a bribe for passport verification.  Rites Ltd emerges as the sole bidder for Phase III Kochi metro line.  Director of Empuraan film 📽 Prithviraj says he'll be making 17 voluntary edits to the film after the backlash.  BJP has nominated former minister and technocrat Rajeev Chandrashekhar for the post of State President ahead of local elections this year and State elect...