With sharp decline in inflation, monetary policy needs to support growth: RBI Governor

Given the current macroeconomic conditions, especially the sharp fall in retail inflation, monetary policy needs to support growth, while remaining consistent with the objective of price stability, Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra said at the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held from June 4 to 6, the minutes released on Friday showed. 

Iran-Israel war could shut Bandar Abbas port, push up air freight rates: Exporters tell govt

Indian exporters on Friday urged the government to plan alternate shipping routes to West Asia, warning that the escalating Iran-Israel war could lead to the closure of Iran's largest port, Bandar Abbas, a person aware of the development said. This may also drive up air freight charges as several West Asian countries are closing their airspace, the person added.

Their Iran blindspot

Israel's devastating attack on Iran on June 13 could hardly have been more telegraphed: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had talked about it for a decade and openly threatened it for months. Israel then systematically destroyed much of the nation's air defenses in preparation for the attack over the course of the past year. Any short-term setback, however, is likely only to accelerate Iran's long-term nuclear ambitions. But Iran should have known better: Neither the Israeli nor the American leader is ever planning for the long term.

Not by MSP

India's pulses and vegetable oil imports touched a record 7.3 million tonnes (mt) and 16.4 mt, valued at $5.5 billion and $17.3 billion respectively, in 2024-25. Some of that may have had to do with the strong El Niño-induced drought of 2023-24, whose effects on food inflation extended right up to December 2024. It forced largescale imports - in the case of pulses, from an average of 2.6 million during 2018-19 to 2022-23 to 4.7 mt and 7.3 mt in the following two fiscals. But the same cannot be said about vegetable oil imports, which have more than doubled from 7.9 mt in 2013-14. It's quite possible that pulses imports will reduce considerably in the current fiscal, assuming a normal monsoon. But that's unlikely with vegetable oils, where rising imports have attained a structural inevitability similar to petroleum crude and natural gas.

Movies, Money, Motherhood 

It's unusual for the film industry to debate what kind of support a new mother needs or the importance of work-life balance. However, the recent controversy over actor Deepika Padukone's exit from Sandeep Reddy Vanga's next film, Spirit, as well as a series of comments and observations made by different celebrities on working hours, has put the spotlight on issues that are often brushed under the carpet.

Caste census isn’t enough 

As readers may be aware, I recently reached out to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the context of the conversations around the caste census. The CM's silence on my demand to include the enhanced state reservation quotas in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution has once again exposed the so-called double-engine NDA government's hypocrisy on social justice issues. That they have nothing to say clearly reveals their deeply ideological and hostile attitude towards the poor, the op-pressed, and the marginalised.

History’s warning 

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," warned philosopher George Santayana in his 1905 work, The Life of Reason. Public memory is woefully short; that is why it is rekindled through anniversaries and other periodic events. One historic occasion that we must never forget is the Emergency, imposed by the regime led by Indira Gandhi in 1975. June 25 this year marks 50 years of the event that shook the foundations of our democracy. India is the world's largest democracy. It can also claim to be a successful democracy, except for those 22 months when its democratic credentials were subjected to scrutiny. Two generations have passed since that dark phase. India has learnt enough lessons. Yet, to ensure that Santayana's warnings don't come true, we must keep reminding new generations about that sordid past.

Mapping continuity & a shift 

In an interview published in this newspaper on May 10, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Puri stoutly -and correctly -defended Operation Sindoor and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's current Pakistan policy. The Pahalgam terrorist attack was dastardly and designed to destabilise India's social harmony. It had to be responded to with an iron hand. Modi did so. In the process, he sent a message to India's western neighbour and the international community that India would no longer tolerate Pakistani terrorism. Instead, it will combat it through the use of effective kinetic action.

HAL wins ISRO bid to build small sat launch vehicles after tech transfer

In a big boost to open up the rap-idly-growing space sector to private players, fighter jet maker Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has won a bid to commercialise the SSLV - the smallest -rocket developed by ISRO - with the technology transfer set to take place over the next two years.

CJI says SC verdict against 'bulldozer justice' upheld socio-economic rights

Referring to the Supreme Court's 2024 judgment against the so-called 'bulldozer justice', CJI B R Gavai has said that the Executive cannot become "the judge, jury and executioner".

'Couldn't hold back tears, they sang so beautifully': President

President Droupadi Murmu, who turned 67 on Friday, was moved to tears when a group of visually impaired children sang a song to wish her.

MP CM's unfeasible wish: counting snakes, rearing king cobras

A king cobra brought to Bhopal's Van Vihar zoo from Karnataka's Mangaluru zoo in exchange for a tiger died on June 18.

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav is keen on "reintroducing" king cobras in Madhya Pradesh as an antidote to spiralling snakebite deaths. He also wants snakes in the state counted in order to assess numbers of the venomous ones.

However, there is no existing protocol for counting snakes in the wild. And irrespective of the merits of the claim that king cobras once inhabited the hot, dry forests of Madhya Pradesh, the selection of the source - Karnataka - did not take into account new research that shows all king cobras are not the same.

CITIZENS' FEEDBACK: WHY THE CENTRE WANTS QR CODES ON PMGSY ROADS

Earlier this month, the Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) asked states to attach QR codes on all maintenance information display boards for roads built under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

Pak’s Iran balancing act

Islamabad has extended strong rhetorical support to Tehran amid the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict, calling Israel's actions a "violation of all rules of civilised behaviour...and international humanitarian law".

Yet it has stopped short of making any tangible military commitments to Iran. Earlier this week, when a top Iranian general claimed on television that Pakistan had promised to extend its nuclear deterrent to Iran, Pak Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar issued a swift denial, saying "there [had] been no such statement" from Islamabad's side.

Islamabad's tightrope walk vis-à-vis Tehran was also apparent in statements that came out during Army Chief General Asim Munir's visit to Washington this week. Even as Gen Munir in a public address on Wednesday declared "clear and strong" sup-port for Iran, the Pak military press release after his meeting with US President Donald Trump later that day simply stated that both US and Pakistan "emphasised the importance of resolution of the conflict".

This delicate, deliberate balancing act is a product of Pakistan's complicated relation-ship with Iran as well as larger geopolitical considerations, especially regarding its relationship with the US and anxieties about India.

What happens if Iran chooses to leave the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty? 

Amid heightened Iran-Israel military tensions, the Islamic Republic said on Monday that its Parliament was preparing a Bill to potentially exit the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

Israel attacked Iran on June 13, claiming Iran was close to enriching weapons-grade uranium, effectively allowing it to build a nuclear weapon. It struck major nuclear facilities; Iran retaliated. At least 24 people have died in Israel, and 600 in Iran.