Author: Gandharbika.Ghosh

The tussle for the Karnataka portfolio has been settled with Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah handling the Finance department and deputy CM and Siddaramaiah‘s main rival, DK Shivakumar in control of Bengaluru. The finance department will be key towards fulfilling the Congress’s promised five guarantees. The city of Bengaluru is the state’s main city and employment generator. The announcement of the portfolios for the 34 ministers came after much deliberation, especially due to the discontent of Ramalinga Reddy, the senior Bengaluru, congress leader over being assigned only to transport and not the central city portfolio. On Sunday, Sivakumar reportedly visited Reddy and…

More than three weeks of violence persist in Manipur with the first outbreak on May 3, the violent clashes have claimed at least 75 lives amongst which most of the dead bodies lay unclaimed in various mortuaries across the state. Hospital officials have informed that even the few bodies which were identified were not claimed by the families of the deceased due to various reasons. This has led to hospitals running out of space. Most of the adversaries of the violence were taken to the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal, East and the Regional Institute of Medical…

Frans Timmermans, the climate policy chief of the European Commission began his two-day visit to India on Thursday to meet several ministers and think tank officials.  Frans Timmermans, European Commission’s Climate Policy Chief (Photo: Twitter/@EUinDE)  As a part of this diplomatic mission Frans Timmermans, the executive vice president of the European green deal had a bilateral meeting with Prahlad Joshi, Minister of coal mines and Parliamentary Affairs. This will be followed up with bilateral meetings with Minister for environment forests and climate change, Bhupendra Yadav; Minister for Petroleum and natural gas, Hardeep Puri and Minister for Power and New and…

The Rashtriya Swatantra party (RSP) which was founded as an anti-corruption initiative in 2022 has set to become the fourth largest party in the Nepal Parliament serving as a major challenge to the traditional political powers in the country.  Rashtriya Swatantra party founder, Rabi Lamichhane surrounded by his supporters (Photo: Twitter/@ party _Swatantra)  Last year when Swarnim Wagle announced on March 30 that he was resigning from the Nepali Congress to join the RSP it came as a shock to the political leadership and analysts as he had once announced that he could never imagine being a member of any…

Addressing the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) summit on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the significance of an open and free Indo-Pacific. PM Modi co-chaired the summit along with the PM of Papua New Guinea.  The summit was held at a time of tense political environment wherein China is looking for scope to extend its political and diplomatic influence in the region. It signed a security agreement with the Solomon Islands in 2022.  P Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation Summit at APEC Haus, Port Moresby on Monday, May 22, 2024. (Photo: AFP) …

An intense conflict emerged between the Sudanese army and the country’s paramilitary RapidSupport Forces (RSF) on April 15, which has led to hundreds of people killed and thousandswounded and fleeing from the destabilized state. The US-Saudi mediators informed on Saturday that both the warring parties have agreed to anew short-term ceasefire. The week-long ceasefire will begin on May 22. Several such previousattempts had failed. Smoke rises after aerial bombardment in Khartoum North, Sudan. (Source: Reuters) Background to the conflict The clashes erupted due to a power struggle between the two military factions, which originatedbefore the 2019 uprising that overthrew the…

On May 19, Iranian authorities executed three men who were accused of massiveviolence during last year’s anti-government protests following the death of Mahsa Aminiwho was arrested and was under custody of the state morality police for alleged breachof Islamic dress code. She was accused of wearing an “improper” hijab (headscarf).According to certain reports, she was beaten in custody, however, the authorities havedenied such claims. According to the judiciary’s Mizan Online news website, Majid Kazemi, SalehMirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi were convicted of “moharebeh”, or “war against God”,for using a gun during a protest in the central city of Isfahan, resulting in…