Election Commission of India has announced the election schedule for the five Assemblies of Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry. Normally, this would be a routine exercise. But the extraordinary backdrop makes it unprecedented. The announcement was made when the two houses of Parliament are going to discuss the impeachment motion against the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar. Perhaps, for the first time, an impeachment motion against the incumbent CEC is being discussed by the Parliament.

IT is now clear that Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Israel was most ill-advised, ill timed. It is not merely a moral question but goes far beyond, into the realm of geopolitics and national strategy. The monstrosity of the Gaza genocide has not ended in the complete extinguishing of the embers and ruins that struck Palestinian people and the Gaza strip. Further, the rapidity of expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank systematically undermines the possibility of a two-state solution.

SINCE the release of the Epstein Files by the US Department of Justice on January 30, outrage has been unleashed across the United States and Europe. But the revelations, which include more than 30 lakh e-mail exchanges, over a lakh of photographs and above a thousand video clips, bring out the horrific crimes that were anchored by self-styled financial advisor and power peddler Jeffrey Epstein and his close associates unravelling his network of leverage, blackmail and influence peddling.

IN the wee hours of the Republic Day, the country woke up to the horrific tragedy of the charring of workers at the Nazirabad warehouse complex in Anandapur on the southern outskirts of Kolkata. As of January 29, the death toll had climbed to 21, with charred bodies recovered. The latest information in the media suggests that the death toll has gone up to 31. That the initial figures were a blatant underestimate was clear from the fact that on January 29 itself, nearly 28 workers were still missing.

Despite the deafening silence of the mainstream media, the social media space exploded with images and videos of a continuous stream of more than 50,000 red flag bearing working people, mostly tribals, marching across the Palghar district in Maharashtra. This was the heartland of the legendary battle ground of the Worli Revolt.