Author: Chhavi Chaudhary

Due to a severe currency shortage, Rajapaksa’s government has been unable to pay for basic imports such as fuel, resulting in devastating power outages lasting up to 13 hours. Sri Lankans on the ground are also confronted with shortages and skyrocketing costs.  Anger at Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s handling of the island nation’s mounting economic crisis erupted into violence, with hundreds of protestors clashing for several hours with police. The government issued an island-wide curfew on Saturday, limiting travel until Monday morning. Sri Lanka is undergoing a severe economic collapse, which has resulted in acute food shortages and widespread…

There can be no normalization of India-China relations until the troops amassed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are withdrawn, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Delhi on Friday during talks that ended without a joint statement or agreement on how to proceed.  He also voiced concern about a comment made by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at a recent Organization of Islamic Cooperation session on the topic of Jammu and Kashmir (OIC). “I explained to him why we thought that statement offensive,” he continued. It was a lengthy discussion. I emphasised our…

In a concession to the Kremlin’s demands, Ukrainian President Zelensky told Russian journalists that his country was ready to abandon its push for NATO membership prior to the resumption of negotiations.  On Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that his government is “carefully” considering a Russian demand for Ukrainian neutrality, a key point of contention as negotiators from both sides prepare for a new round of talks aimed at ending the brutal month-long war. “This point of the negotiations makes sense to me, and it is being discussed and carefully studied,” Zelensky said in an interview with several independent Russian news…

A Muslim man was lynched by his neighbours in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar area, ostensibly for supporting the BJP and celebrating the party’s victory in the state elections. Babar Ali (in the image), who was just 25-year-old, died on Sunday while receiving treatment in a Lucknow hospital. He lived in Kushinagar’s Kathgarhi village, which was under the jurisdiction of the Ramkola Police Station. On Sunday, when his body was returned to his village, his family refused to conduct the final rites and sought the arrest of the murderers, according to them. Tensions flared in the district as his family refused to…

A unified body of central trade unions (Central Trade Unions and Sectoral Federations and Associations) declared a Bharat Bandh on March 28 and 29 in protest of government policies that harm workers, farmers, and the general public. Employees of the bank intend to take part in the demonstration. As a result, banking services may be disrupted on Monday and Tuesday. Why is there a Bandh?  The decision comes after trade unions stated they would protest the Centre’s “anti-worker, anti-farmer, anti-people, and anti-national policies” at a meeting on March 22. The bank unions are protesting the government’s plan to privatize public…

In a decision that could have a significant impact on the debate over marital rape, the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday declined to dismiss rape accusations filed by a wife against her husband, ignoring the statutory exception, and instead urged politicians to listen to the “voices of silence.” Marriage does not confer “special male privilege” or “authorize the unleashing of a brutal beast,” the Karnataka High Court stated in rejecting to dismiss rape charges filed by a trial court against a man in connection with his wife’s alleged sexual assault. “The institution of marriage does not confer, cannot confer, and…

After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the G8 expelled Russia and became the G7. Could the G20 become the G19 after the invasion of Ukraine? Christian Lindner, the German finance minister who chaired talks on Ukraine with his G7 counterparts this week, said there was a consensus that international diplomacy with Russia could not return to business as usual. When asked about the G20, German finance minister, Christian Lindner, said it was “unimaginable” for Western diplomats to sit alongside Russian diplomats “as if nothing had happened”. But, as Mr. Lindner noted, any G20 decision would require the approval of…

On Monday evening, the murder of a deputy Pradhan in Bogtui village in West Bengal’s Birbhum district triggered a chain of events that resulted in the attack and burning of at least eight houses in the area, killing eight people, including women and children. According to police, two FIRs have been filed – one in connection with the assassination of deputy Pradhan Bhadu Sheikh and another in connection with the attack on the houses. Eleven individuals have been arrested in connection with the second case. Bhadu Sheikh, 38, the deputy Pradhan and a member of the ruling Trinamool Congress, was…

India reported 1,938 new Covid cases in a 24-hour period, slightly more than the previous day’s total of 1,778. 67 deaths were also reported during the same period, bringing the total to 5,16,672, according to the Union health ministry on Thursday morning.  According to the ministry, the daily positivity rate is 0.29 percent and the weekly positivity rate is 0.35 percent. COVID-19 recovery rates at the national level were reported to be 98.75 percent.  Rajesh Bhushan, the health secretary, has written to states and union territories emphasizing the critical nature of continuing to implement and monitor necessary measures to avoid…

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) decided on Monday to retain the sitting chief ministers of Uttarakhand and Goa by electing Pushkar Singh Dhami and Pramod Sawant as the legislative party leaders of their respective states, roughly ten days after winning assembly elections. The two states’ BJP legislators met in Dehradun and Panaji and elected Dhami, who lost his own seat but helped propel the party to a landslide victory, and Sawant as leaders. Dhami, who became the hill state’s youngest chief minister in July last year, was unanimously elected as the legislative party’s leader. He was chosen for his role in…