The man who was to be the President of the party is a certified rebel today; that sums up the pathetic state the Congress finds itself in today. The rebellion against Sonia Gandhi-led party high command by Ashok Gehlot-led MLAs in Rajasthan is our Cover Story this week.
Along with that, we have two supporting stories – one showing the Punjab mirror to the latest developments in the desert state and the other tracing the history of the internal dissentions that the party has witnessed ever since its first organisational election in 1950. The crux of our reports is that besides making it irrelevant as to who would be the next party President, the ‘desert storm’ has proved that the once allpowerful and haughty high command led by the Gandhi family is neither high nor has any authority left to command. The party, it seems, is putting all its might to bring about, what Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised, a ‘Congress-mukt Bharat’.
From paying rich tributes to “brilliant humanist, thinker” Deendayal Upadhyay and “brave son of Mother India” Shaheed Bhagat Singh to responding to India’s longing to see the recently-arrived cheetahs, PM Modi’s Mann Ki Baat had it all. We publish excerpts from the highly popular radio programme in which the PM also exhorted the people to use only locally made non-plastic bags this festival season and warned them about the threat posed by climate change, besides dealing with a variety of subjects. Encouraged by his remarks on the country’s happiness and pride over the return of cheetahs, on the Centrespread we carry a few more visuals of the spotted cat adjusting to its new surroundings.
The main story on G20 Podium deals with the focus Indonesia has chosen during its current presidency of the forum and lauds the island nation’s efforts to bring the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs at the forefront. Indonesia is focusing on three priority areas: global health architecture; sustainable energy transition; and digital transformation and that, says our report, reflects its emphasis on both immediate recovery efforts and long-term sustainable development pathways. Stressing that the country has done extremely well so far, the report warns of the tough road it faces ahead – the biggest challenge being to ensure that no boycotts or walkouts take place and some productive agreement are reached at the next month’s summit.
The other story is about the six priority issues which the G20 economies would like to be addressed, the top being the need for reforms in the WTO. Our report focuses on the widely-held belief among the developing economies that multilateral institutions, like the WTO, have become consensus-building platforms at the service of European and North American nations and the issues plaguing the global South are largely being ignored.
In keeping with our promise, we have attempted to strengthen and diversify our regional coverage by including states from different parts of the country on our recently-introduced States pages.
Enjoy the weekly fare!
