As pundits, politicians and public commentators intensely debate the election results, I caution against hyperbole and overinterpretation of what was, in reality, a close race, though the margin of victory looks wider than it actually is, due to the special quirk of the electoral college system.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna assumed office as the 51st Chief Justice of India on Monday, following Justice DY Chandrachud’s tenure. The oath of office was administered by President Droupadi Murmu in a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The victorious Trump camp is touting its newfound “historic” mandate while the dejected Harris camp accuses the country of being “racist and sexist” for letting them down. Both are untrue. Trump won with 295 electoral votes to Harris’ 226. A solid victory, but hardly a landslide.
As the world focuses on the United Nations’ upcoming Conference of Parties (COP 29) which begins tomorrow, The Statesman looks at environmental issues closer home.
Readers that only know Shinie Antony for her witty, often whimsical, pieces in the national newspapers would be amazed at her expertise in the Old Testament, Septuagint, the Hebrew Bible, the Synoptic Gospels and Apocryphal, Jewish magical and Kabbalistic sources that did not find their way into the Biblical canon, apart from her striking eloquence for female assertion and empowerment. Her learning is combined here with an evocative and vigorous, even uncompromising, writing style.
The modern LGBTQI+ rights movement has its roots in the mid-20th century, although the struggle for acceptance and rights dates back much further.
Talking to The Statesman, Mukhtar Ali, general secretary of All Bengal Rickshaw Union, says, “There are about 3,500 hand-pulled rickshaws today,” which is a significant decline from the 6,000 that plied the streets in 1919.
Abuse against children and adolescents, especially sexual abuse, has been alarmingly high during the last few years.
Kolkata was shaken by yet another case of domestic abuse leading to murder a few days back when a 22-year-old woman was repeatedly stabbed by her estranged husband, first inside a café in the Beck Bagan area of Kolkata, and then again on the road outside, forcing her to flee while screaming for help.
At the dead of night, Cyclone Remal, still circling around the Bay of Bengal at speeds of hundreds of kilometres per hour, will crash land off the coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh.
