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Showing posts from January, 2026

News Capsule for the Month of September 2026

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The following are the top news stories for the month.   If you wish to follow and get notifications of future articles, you can sign up using the email address on the left sidebar.  Kerala  Beyond bridges, GIDA eyes a wider role in development of suburban islands.  Sex with minor wife can attract offence under POCSO Act; Muslim personal law no defence: Kerala High Court.  No extension for Behera; Ernakulam district collector given additional charge as KMRL MD.  Kerala CM rejects scholar's call to confine women at home, says women deserve equal space. He rejected Kanthapuram's remarks; 'That is a 19th-century argument'; cites Islamic history. Women not to be confined to homes or kitchens; KNM Markazudawa rebukes Aboobacker Musliyar's remarks. Woman identified in Palarivattom Onam pookalam vandalism case.  KT Jaleel backs Kanthapuram as remarks on women at public events spark row.  Kozhikode trader burnt to death in car; Petrol canister found a...

Takeaways from Kerala Budget 2026

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The budget speech was held on 29th January by the Finance Minister of Kerala, K N Balagopal, in the Kerala Legislative Assembly. The Economic Review report was presented in the Assembly one day earlier on the 28th. This is Mr Balagopal’s sixth Budget after taking over as Kerala’s Finance Minister and will be the final budget of LDF 2.0 ahead of the Kerala elections 2026.  Ernakulam leads Kerala districts in income chart, Pathanamthitta posts fastest growth as per the Economic Review.  Major Announcements from the Budget Speech  GSDP rate- 2025-26 - 9.9 7%  GSDP- ₹ 6,85,28,316  crore Public Debt- ₹40,848.21 crore Revenue Deficit-  ₹34,586.66 crore or 1.9% Annual Expenditure-  ₹2,17,558.76 crore Fiscal Deficit- 3.2% Debt-GDP Ratio- 33.44% Kerala recorded a 6.19% real growth as per the economic survey.  4th-longest budget speech in the assembly.  Wayanad Package- ₹50 crore. Finance Minister says the borrowing limit of the state ha...

Politcal Events to Watch for in 2026

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2025 was indeed a tumultuous one. Everyone who expected it to be like any other year was proven wrong. Thus, everyone expects 2026 to be as good as 2023 or at least 2024. Politically speaking, 2026 will be one of the most important years for world politics. Not because we have key elections coming up, but because of the political and international turmoil the world is undergoing. Thus, there are a lot of things you should be watching out for this year.  Additionally, given that we focus a lot on elections, we will equally consider the elections in 2026 along with other political events as well. Besides elections, there are major conflicts happening- the Russia-Ukraine War, the Venezuela issue, the Iranian issue, and the Israel-Hamas conflict. There are other minor issues affecting people’s lives as well, such as the refugee crisis, climate change, economic issues, civil wars, and a lot more. We will discuss important political events to watch for in detail in this article.  In...

Why Kerala Needs The K-RAIL Silverline Project?

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  Greetings to all listeners and readers!! The podcast talks about the need for the KRail Silverline Project, enumerating reasons and logic for the same. This episode is based on the article written by the host and presenter Jairam R Prabhu, published in the Journal of Comparative Politics of Bangalore University, titled- K-Rail- A Silverline for Kerala's future. This episode tries to elaborate on various socio-politico-economic reasons how and why the semi-high speed railway network- KRail Silverline Project will be beneficial for the state of Kerala.  References Prabhu J. R. (2024). K-Rail- An opportunity in disguise for Kerala. Journal of Contemporary Politics , 3 (1), 25–31. https://doi.org/10.53989/jcp.v3i1.13 Please find the Link to the Article Summary of the podcast  Generally, these topics aren’t much available in the mainstream media, because they are believed hard to crack and don't address the basics. But, through  our podcasts , we disprove this misc...