ON July 22, the United States and Saudi Arabia signed what Washington calls a ‘peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement’. The agreement has been presented as a commercial arrangement that will help Saudi Arabia diversify its energy system while creating a vast new market for US-based nuclear companies. But its significance goes far beyond the construction of power stations.
DURING the BJP government’s rule of over two decades, the crisis in fertilisers and seeds has become a chronic issue. Clearly, this exploitation of farmers would not be possible without collusion between black marketeers and bureaucracy under the BJP government’s political patronage.
THE victory of the students and youth at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar has scripted a new chapter in the history of independent India. It gives a clear indication that this paves the way for the beginning of the end of the BJP-led authoritarian regime under Narendra Modi.
THE outcome of the battle has been stunning. In a way, the energy, resilience and fortitude were unprecedented. Since the BJP-RSS led Modi Government has assumed office, arrogance and insularity has perfected an imperial style of governance which abhors accountability. In fact, the hollowing out of this basic principle of a democratic arrangement has led to this confrontation. The government’s approach was raised to such an absurd length that the Prime Minister has not addressed a single media conference in the last twelve years.
IN the dead of night on July 20, some ‘unknown miscreants’ made away with a full-size statue of Rahul Sankrityayan which had been standing at a major crossing of Ranigunj, an industrial city in West Bengal. In the morning, nothing was left of it but some scattered bricks and stones. Shocked residents immediately reported the matter to the adjacent police station, but since then the police have not been able to identify even a single culprit.
HISTORY stands as witness: whenever waves of struggle have swept across the nation, Kolkata has never backed down. Whether it was the historic Rashid Ali Day of 1946 or the fierce street solidarity with Vietnam's liberation struggle in the 1960s, the boulevards of Kolkata have repeatedly erupted into an ocean of surging youth. The radical legacy Kolkata carries in its veins proved no different this time.
THE Cockroach Janata Party may have started as a satirical takeoff on Chief Justice of India Surya Kant’s unfortunate remarks of May 15th this year on unemployed youth. But in a few months, it has transformed the national political space in a way that we could never have imagined a few months back. A witty response from Dipke to the Chief Justice’s remarks the next day, "What if all cockroaches come together?" drew a huge response.
INDIA witnessed history. For the first time in twelve years, the Narendra Modi government was forced to bow down in front of its people to an extent where a close aide of his had to resign.
On 21 July 2026, the AIKS Maharashtra State Committee organised a 5,000-strong statewide rally at the Azad Maidan in Mumbai. Braving the rains and in spite of the busy sowing season, thousands of peasants came from 15 districts of all the 5 regions of the state - Konkan, Western Maharashtra, Northern Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha. They included Thane-Palghar, Nashik, Ahilyanagar, Pune, Raigad, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Beed, Parbhani, Nanded, Buldana, Amravati, and Yavatmal.