Harsh V Pant and Samir Bhattacharya South Africa’s G20 Presidency represents a landmark moment for Africa and the broader Global South, building on the momentum generated by preceding Global South chairs, Indonesia, India, and Brazil. With South Africa taking charge…
The Gross Domestic Product or GDP growth rate for quarter two of 2025-2026 has come at a whopping 8.2% – which is a six-quarter high – much faster than experts expected. The Reserve Bank of India had also expected a growth rate of 7%. This is surprising because the expected GST reduction impacted production and consumption of various items in August-September. The demand boost came after September 22 – which left just a week before the close of Q2. Reports have come in of many investment projects being withdrawn or curtailed and of net FDI becoming negative. These are not the signs of a robust economy.
That Labour Codes will create a divide between workers and businesses was a given. The former have opposed them since 2019 when the Code on Wages was passed by parliament followed by the other three in 2020 – the Industrial Relations Code, the Code on Social Security and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code. Businesses have been pressing for their implementation since then because they know they will benefit from them. The government presents these Codes as beneficial to labour since they are supposed to simplify a very complex and outdated system.
The Maoists might have been looking after their own interests more than those of the tribal people, and hindering State efforts to extend the scope of governance and development to their habitats, but they also raised a voice of protest against acts of injustice against the tribals.
The Republic of Maldives, located on the Indian subcontinent, consists of 1,190 coral islands grouped into 26 natural atolls. Following the Maldives' independence in 1965, India was one of the first countries to recognise and establish diplomatic relations with them. India and the Maldives have had long-standing ethnic, linguistic, cultural, religious, and economic links. Physical proximity, cultural links, and development collaboration have all contributed to the two countries' close, friendly, and diverse relationship.
In Small Island Developing States (SIDS) such as the Maldives, where tourism is the principal source of foreign exchange profits and government revenue, the business is growing.
The Bihar results were out even before polling began: Bihar has lost, whoever the victor in the Assembly elections. With well over one crore women being paid Rs 10,000 crore by the incumbent government, supposedly for self-employment ventures, and promises of future fiscal support for such enterprises, the political economy of state handouts had been entrenched before polling began.
On October 17, 2025, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) expelled nine of its most senior military leaders, including members of the Central Military Commission (CMC), former defence ministers, and theatre commanders, from party membership. While the expulsions were not unexpected, given that most had been detained in recent months, the sheer scale of this purge, surpassing even those under Mao Zedong, startled China watchers.