Current Affairs

New demonstration call for withdrawal of the pension reform : The French Chapter

New demonstration call for withdrawal of the pension reform : The French Chapter

Written by: Joy Banerjee Photo : Shutterstock.com On Wednesday May 31, the Social Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, lower house of the French parliament, has rejected article 1 of a bill proposed by the Liot group (center-left and center-right MPs) to reverse the government's reform and raise the legal retirement age, while adopting the rest of the text, forcing the opposition group to reintroduce the measure through an amendment if it wants it to be debated in the National Assembly. This gave impetus to the next demonstration called by the inter-union group on June 6 for the withdrawal of…
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Collaborators or Balancers?: Understanding Recent Russia-China Engagements

Collaborators or Balancers?: Understanding Recent Russia-China Engagements

Written by : Dr. Pratip Chattopadhyay Photo : Shutterstock.com Summary: With the meeting of Chinese President Xi Jingpin and with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in March 2023, observers on international politics are surfacing two opposite viewpoints – one is about collaborative cooperation against United States of America and another is about maintaining the balance in world politics – building a non—US axis in world politics. Amidst this two contrasting viewpoints, this article claims that the engagement is a long standing one aimed at primarily mutual economic benefit having other ancillary political benefits emerging out of the bonhomie. Russia is…
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Pension reform in France: face-off between the Government and the Opposition

Pension reform in France: face-off between the Government and the Opposition

Written by: Parshi Barua, Multidimension Desk Photo: shutterstock As planned in the program of President Macron during his second term, the pension reform project is presented on January 10, 2023. The government announced that the legal retirement age will be pushed to 64 years from 62 in order to be in balance with other European countries. For example, the standard retirement age in Germany is 65 years and 7 months. The main logic behind the reform is an aging population base with increased longevity which is surmounting pressure on pension funds which will dry up in future in absence of…
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Boycott Mania : What Bollywood needs is introspection

Boycott Mania : What Bollywood needs is introspection

Written by: Simran Saini The influence that social media can have on the lives of the public is not unknown. We become targets of popular brands through ‘social media influencers’, and now it seems that we also have the tendency to be easily brainwashed by trending hashtags. The herd mentality has taken on a new face and its latest avatar is influencing people to #BoycottBollywood. But wait - let’s not be quick to judge, because the tables might just have turned around this time! What looks like a rival filmmaker’s gimmick could also be the public stirring a revolution. The…
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French Legislative Elections 2022 : A Flash Report

French Legislative Elections 2022 : A Flash Report

Multidimension desk Written by: Parshi Barua Photo: Shutterstock.com In the legislative elections, the French voters elect 577 representatives to sit in the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament, for 5 years, which forms the legislative power with the upper house, The Senate. These two control the government and they propose, study et vote bills to make laws. The first round of legislative elections took place on June 12, 2022. Polling stations were open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (8 p.m. in major cities). The rate of abstention was all time high at 52.49% compared to 51.29%…
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French Presidential Elections 2022 : Towards A New Era Of Political Cohabitation?

French Presidential Elections 2022 : Towards A New Era Of Political Cohabitation?

From Director's Desk: Written by: Jayanta Chakrabarty Photo: Shutterstock.com The first round of 2022 presidential elections took place on April 10. There were twelve candidates in the contest including the current president Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Eric Zemmour, Yannick Jadot, Valérie Pécresse, Jean Lassalle, Fabien Roussel, Anne Hidalgo, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, Philippe Poutou and Nathalie Arthaud. The results were announced at 8 pm. Emmanuel Macron topped the list with 27.84% of votes, Marine Le Pen came second with 23.15% of votes followed closely by Jean-Luc Mélanchon with 21.95% of votes. After the announcement of the results, Jean-Luc Mélenchon…
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War for Warning or Warning for War? : Understanding Russia-Ukraine Crisis

War for Warning or Warning for War? : Understanding Russia-Ukraine Crisis

Written by : Dr. Pratip Chattopadhyay Photo : Shutterstock.com Summary: Russia has invaded Ukraine and it is the most devastating ‘war’ Europe has witnessed in recent times and this should be enough warning to the United States and NATO forces for further advancement towards the East. Russia has not unleashed a ‘war’ on Ukraine but has ‘warned’ the NATO and United States about possibility of serious ‘threat’ of war in case of unwanted approach towards Russia. These are two contrasting views that has covered the analytical discourse since Russia orchestered attacks in Ukraine from February 24th 2022. In between these…
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Are we Copping out ?

Are we Copping out ?

Written by : Dr. Ananya Mukherjee Photo : Shutterstock.com If you don’t completely understand what constitutes climate change, let me help you out- global CO2 levels have risen to 417ppm, a 43.5ppm jump from the year 2000, sea levels have risen 3.4mm per year, arctic sea ice has fallen to 13% since 1979 and we have had 19 warmest years since 2000. If this doesn’t sound ominous to you then you are probably not grasping the full extent of damage that we have caused and continue to cause the planet. To prevent causing irreparable damage, every year world leaders and…
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French Presidential Elections in 2022 : A Perspective Report

French Presidential Elections in 2022 : A Perspective Report

Written by : Rabbani Khan Photo credit : Shutterstock.com Still unknown a few months before the 2017 presidential elections, Emmanuel Macron emerged victorious by crushing Marine le Pen in the second round. His arrival as the head of the State has allowed him to write a new story in French politics. Indeed, he managed to break out of the "right or left" political divide and establish himself as someone "neither right nor left". Manuel Valls, former prime minister of the left, Jean Yves le Drian, former minister of the left, Jean Paul Delevoye, former minister of the right, Alain Madelin,…
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Olipath, Centrality and Trust Issues: India-Nepal Muddled Neighbourhood Friendship

Olipath, Centrality and Trust Issues: India-Nepal Muddled Neighbourhood Friendship

Written by : Dr. Anup Shekhar Chakraborty. Photo credit : Shutterstock.com Comrades in Alliance: House of Cards The Left-wing politics in Nepal has obliterated Rajshahi (Monarchy) and associated caste-class social hierarchies, yet Samajwad (Socialism) remained a statist utopia. Nepal’s uniqueness is that it tends to present trends in deviation from global experience. While globally communists and communist ideology are in life-support, and communist parties have dwindled, let alone be in determining political positions, Nepal post-2018 presents a case in contradistinction. In 2018 the electoral alliance of the two main communist parties in Nepal won a nearly two-thirds majority in Parliament.…
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