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The Congress’s rout once again in the assembly elections in Delhi has brought much worry to the central party leadership as it will have some reaction on the next state assembly polls scheduled in Bihar by the end of this year. One of the reasons is that the Congress did badly in the constituencies inhabited by the Biharis. This has led to some hard thinking about the organizational aspects of the states which are facing assembly elections in the coming days.

United States President Donald Trump has a pile of “vows”, one to get Gazans to vacate bombed-out Gaza for a Riviera in its place. Another to end birthright citizenship to children born to foreign workers in the USA. Trump is a hated figure in Gaza and Trump isn't popular among Indian immigrants in San Jose, California.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be meeting the United States President Donald Trump in Washington on February 13. He is going straight to U.S. on a two-day visit after completing his engagement in France on Tuesday, including co-chairing the global AI summit along with the French President Emanuel Macron. For all practical purposes, Modi will be the second head of state who has been officially invited by the second term US President to visit the White House for talks. The other was the Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The two other Prime Ministers who met Trump before Modi’s visit, were not really invited by Trump, they gatecrashed into the White House to pay their ‘respects’ to the all powerful US President without getting any official invitation.

Draft Higher Education Commission Bill that seeks to create Higher Education Commission of India under the National Education Policy 2020 has been opposed by the department related parliamentary standing committee, stating that it would perpetuate many of the issues arising out of multiplicity of regulators leading to inconsistency in standards and monitoring making difficult to institutions to function effectively.

Currently, USA is the prime trigger for India’s external economic growth. It is the biggest export destination of India. The trajectory of export growth is not sporadic. USA has been the biggest importer of Indian merchandise continuously for over a decade.

Parvesh Sahib Singh Varma is the newly elected BJP MLA of New Delhi assembly constituency. He defeated AAP convener and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was also the sitting AAP MLA from the same assembly constituency. Varma’s electoral fight with Kejriwal was a tug of war with Varma matching Kejriwal trick for trick.

The Indian judiciary, much like a perpetually leaking roof, has for a long time attempted to patch up its structural deficiencies with quick fixes instead of comprehensive repairs. But instead of addressing the gaping wound of unfilled permanent judicial positions, the system has come up with a patch work solution- appointing ad hoc judges. A stopgap measure that will do little to fix the actual problem and merely delay the collapse.

The victory of the BJP in the Delhi assembly elections defeating the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convincingly is certainly a jolt to the opposition INDIA bloc, but it does not mean the end of AAP, or the final tolls for the INDIA bloc, as some commentators in the national media and the TV channels are projecting it to be. Those who have studied the mood of the Delhi electorate knew that in the 2025 elections, things would be much tougher for the AAP to retain power by defeating the BJP, as there was anti-incumbency after full two terms of Delhi’s ruling party. The final clincher was the big income tax relief in the 2025-26 Union budget announced on February 1, four days before the polls, and the earlier announcement on the setting up of the eighth pay commission for the central government employees.

With Indian Rupee (INR) dwindling almost daily against US Dollar (USD), it is good the Union Budget for 2025-26 has stopped repeating on making the Indian economy a $5-trillion GDP to become the world’s third largest by the end of this year or anytime too soon. The budget also provides no indication of how and when INR will stabilize vis-à-vis USD. INR is pegged with USD. There is no way it can come out of the arrangement with US President Donald Trump blowing hot and cold against ideas of undermining the role of USD in the international market threatening to impose massive import tariffs on countries harbouring such an idea.

In less than a week after the presentation of the Union Budget 2025-26, the Government of India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had to announce two specific measures – first for the Decent Job Generation Employment Linked Initiative schemes and the second for the Skill India Programme – signifying the tragic failure for both the flagship programmes of the Centre to resolve the great twin crisis of jobs and skills.