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Although the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections are a year away, the recent announcement of the BJP and AIADMK poll alliance is strategically important. This tie-up, part of the larger National Democratic Alliance at the national level, could benefit both parties in the upcoming elections.

Days of pressure from fellow Republicans, business executives and even his close friends hadn’t appeared to move Trump, who insisted last week: “MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE.” Eventually, though, he backed down on April 10 and reversed course on his sweeping tariff plan by announcing a three-month pause.

A frightening reality of MGNREGA Scheme has come to the fore. Wages given under the scheme are inadequate for survival. Payments are delayed. Denial of work is frequent. Funds are scarce. Rural workers’ miseries are multifold, though MGNREGA provides a legal right to work for the most economically disadvantaged sections of the rural population who are willing to work, as a last resort, when they have no other means of livelihood to feed their family members.

The central BJP leadership is quite scared of the growing unrest among Dalits, farmers and tribals across the country. RSS which so far has succeeded in setting the narrative for the development and empowerment of these classes, for the first time, finding itself moving in a bind. It is running short of ideas, as to what should be done to frustrate Rahul Gandhi’s onslaught.

In both foolhardiness in decision making and shameless flip-flop in dealing with disastrous aftermaths, Narendra Modi and Donald Trump have exhibited a total lack of honesty in admitting their mistakes. The similarity is too striking to be missed.

Two reports brought out recently by Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation present puzzling data on employment and unemployment in 2024, and when read them together a doubly confusing scenario emerges regarding the ground realities. These two reports are – Key Employment Unemployment Indicators, PLFS, 2024 and Time Use in India, 2024.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Council of Ministers is full of tough cookies, from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who warned Opposition MPs in the Lok Sabha that refusing to accept a law passed in Parliament would not be tolerated. Then, there is Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who put Pakistan on notice on the PoK issue, Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir, stating that Pakistan's PoK days are numbered.

Nitish Kumar who is credited with giving an identity to the Biharis in recent times ironically has fallen out of grace but it is indeed a dichotomy that he still continues to be the benign hope for BJP to retain the power. Incidentally Bihar is the only state in Hindi heartland where BJP has miserably failed to have a comfortable majority and come to power on its own.

The ongoing challenges faced by Indian Muslims extend beyond the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency, and Development Act, 2025, the legislation that replaces the Waqf Act of 1955. Central to their fight is the urgent need to uphold their right to live with dignity and to safeguard their religious, cultural, and customary practices.

Despite the Union Government’s claim that social security coverage has been doubled under PM Narendra Modi government within three years from 24.4 per cent in 2021 to 48 per cent in 2024, there has been steep realtime decline in assistance under National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) since 2014-15 which aims to provide social security and welfare to old age, disabled, and widowed individuals.