THE port city of Tianjin had decked up for hosting the summit meeting of the Sanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The SCO had expanded its mandate to include economic cooperation, cultural exchanges, and energy security. India and Pakistan joined as full members in 2017, followed by Iran in 2023 and Belarus in 2024. As if to underline the technological focus reflecting the SCO's adaptation to 21st-century challenges and opportunities, China showcased its stunning advances in recent times in the Media Centre next to the Summit venue with its Humanoid robots and AI driven support systems.

THIS was waiting to happen. The tumultuous events of the last fortnight have brought into sharp focus a concerted assault on democracy – an assault unfolding at multiple levels. At the most basic, the very foundation of democracy and of the representative government – the constitutional right of citizens to vote – has been threatened through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in Bihar. The second dimension has been the sabotage of a constitutional body – the Election Commission of India (ECI) – which is mandated to act independently and ensure a level playing field.

THE latest blitz of advertisements by the Election Commission (EC) is a textbook example of hypocrisy. In order to establish that Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls for the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls is inclusive, the text of the advertisement claims that it is inclusive of the political parties. Any electoral reform in this country so far has been jointly pursued by the EC and the political parties. So much so, that the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), is based on consensus across political parties.

FOR some time now, shock waves have been raging across the country. The issue at hand concerns the large number of Bengali-speaking migrant workers being labelled as Bangladeshis. The combination of being Bengali-speaking and Muslim is perceived as a “lethal” marker, almost automatically branding one as “illegal Bangladeshi infiltrator.”This is, of course, a false narrative. It is the same premise that underpinned the drafting of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has been at the forefront of this campaign.

CRORES of working people hit the streets in the historic strike on July 9. Originally scheduled earlier, the strike had to be postponed by nearly a month and a half following the dastardly attack on innocent civilian tourists in Pahalgam. Yet, the spirit of resistance against the anti-worker policies forced upon the people remained undeterred.This fightback gained momentum when the government pushed through and enacted three key labour codes — the Industrial Relations (IR) Code, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) Code, and the Social Security Code.