Tamil Nadu CM Vijay Appoints Astrologer Radhan Pandit as Political OSD

Chennai, May 12 (BNP): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay has appointed noted astrologer and spiritual advisor Radhan Pandit Vettrivel as Officer on Special Duty (Political), triggering widespread political discussion across the state.

The official appointment order was issued on May 12, just a day before the newly formed government is expected to prove its majority on the floor of the Assembly. Radhan Pandit, who is considered a close confidant and personal astrologer of the Chief Minister, is known for his involvement in political consultations and spiritual guidance.

Describing himself as a “political and celebrity astrologer” on his professional profile, Radhan has previously claimed association with several prominent political leaders, including former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa and late BJP veteran L. K. Advani.

Earlier this year, Radhan had predicted a massive electoral victory for Vijay’s party, Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK), initially forecasting 180 seats and later revising the estimate to over 150 seats. The party eventually secured 108 seats in the Assembly elections and has since moved to form the government with the support of alliance partners including Congress, Left parties, and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK).

The appointment has come at a politically sensitive time, coinciding with heated debates inside the Tamil Nadu Assembly over ideological and social issues. The development has sparked mixed reactions in political circles, with supporters calling it a matter of personal trust while critics questioned the inclusion of an astrologer in a significant political advisory role.

The latest move by the Vijay-led government has once again brought discussions around spirituality, politics, and governance into the public spotlight in Tamil Nadu.

NEET-UG 2026 Cancelled Amid Paper Leak Allegations; Re-Exam to Be Held!

New Delhi, May 12 (BNP): The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) — NEET-UG 2026 — conducted on May 3, 2026, has been officially cancelled by the National Testing Agency (NTA) following serious allegations of question paper leaks and irregularities in the examination process.

In continuation of its press release dated 10 May 2026, the National Testing Agency wishes to inform candidates, parents, and members of the public of the following decisions taken in respect of NEET (UG) 2026. NTA had, on 8 May 2026, referred the matters then under consideration…

— National Testing Agency (@NTA_Exams) May 12, 2026

The decision was announced by the NTA on Tuesday after investigative findings and inputs shared by central and state law enforcement agencies, including the Rajasthan Special Operations Group (SOG), which is currently probing the alleged paper leak case.

In an official press release, the NTA stated that the examination has been cancelled with the approval of the Government of India in order to maintain transparency, fairness, and the integrity of the national-level medical entrance examination system.

“On the basis of the inputs subsequently examined by NTA in coordination with the central agencies, and the investigative findings shared by the law enforcement agencies, the National Testing Agency, with the approval of the Government of India, has decided to cancel the NEET (UG) 2026 examination conducted on May 3, 2026, and to re-conduct the examination on dates that will be notified separately,” the agency said.

The NTA further informed that revised dates and detailed guidelines regarding the re-examination will be announced separately through official notifications. Candidates have been advised to stay updated through the official NTA and NEET websites.

The cancellation has sparked strong reactions across the country, with lakhs of medical aspirants facing renewed uncertainty over the admission process. However, many students and education experts have welcomed the move as a necessary step to uphold the credibility of one of India’s most competitive entrance examinations.

The Outbound American: New Research Tracks the Largest U.S. Emigration Shift in Decades

London — May 12, 2026 — Global Citizen Solutions (“GCS”), a leading residency and citizenship planning advisory firm, has published From Destination to Departure: America’s New Migration Story, a new briefing from its research arm, the Global Intelligence Unit (GIU), examining the long-term rise in American emigration. The shift has been decades in the making and is now measurable through citizenship renunciation records, overseas residency registrations, and survey data tracking Americans’ interest in moving abroad.

The scale of the outbound movement is visible across every continent. According to Pew Research Center, an estimated 2.2 million people left the US in 2025, of whom 180,000 were US citizens. The Association of Americans Resident Overseas estimates 5.5 million Americans were living abroad as of October 2024, up from 5.4 million the prior year. In nearly all 27 EU member states, the number of Americans arriving to live and work is at a record high. 

The GIU notes long-term economic, political, and lifestyle concerns are contributing to rising interest in emigration among Americans. Gallup’s longitudinal tracking shows the baseline has shifted dramatically: the desire to emigrate ran at 10% to 11% under Bush and Obama, rose to 16% to 20% during the first Trump presidency, and by November 2025 stood at one in five Americans overall, with women aged 15–44 reaching 40% — up from 10% in 2014.

Renunciation statistics — the most precisely documented indicator of emigration intent — tell a complementary story of acceleration. Before 2009, fewer than 400 Americans renounced their citizenship annually. By 2024, that figure had reached 4,820, a 48% increase from 2023 and the third-highest annual total ever recorded. In the first quarter of 2025, 1,285 Americans expatriated — a 102% jump on the prior quarter. The global queue for renunciation appointments now exceeds 30,000 people.

A significant further catalyst arrived on April 13, 2026, when the US State Department reduced the renunciation fee from $2,350 to $450, restoring it to pre-2015 levels following sustained legal pressure — a change widely expected to accelerate the trend.

The pool of Americans who could act on this interest is larger than is widely understood. An estimated 7 to 10 million Americans already hold dual citizenship, while up to 30 million may qualify for ancestry-based European passports through countries including Italy, Ireland, Poland, Germany, and Hungary — options that have existed for years but which many Americans are only now discovering.

The trend is also registering in passport demand. GCS’s Global Passport Index (GPI)— which tracks the travel freedom, lifestyle, and investment value of passports across more than 199 countries — shows the US falling from 1st place in 2021 to 14th in 2025, a decline that reflects both reduced immigration into the country and the growing appeal of alternative citizenships among Americans seeking broader global mobility.

“What the Global Passport Index captures that conventional economic data cannot is the gap between aggregate wealth and lived experience,” said Laura Madrid, Lead Researcher at the Global Citizen Solutions’ GIU. “The United States remains a high-income country by every traditional measure. But the structural pressures bearing down on ordinary Americans — rising poverty, persistent inflation in housing and healthcare, deepening political polarization, and a public safety crisis unlike anything seen in peer nations — are registering in people’s decisions about where to build their lives.”

GIU research identifies several compounding pressures. The US Supplemental Poverty Measure reached 12.9% in 2023, its second consecutive annual increase, while CPI-U inflation ran at 3.0% year-on-year into early 2025. In 2023 alone, the country recorded weather and climate disasters totaling at least $92.9 billion in damages. On public safety, gun violence continues to set the US apart from every comparable high-income nation.

“This is not the profile of people fleeing crisis,” Madrid added. “These are informed, often financially stable individuals and families making a deliberate calculation — that their money, their safety, and their quality of life will go further elsewhere.”

Where Americans Are Going

Europe remains the most sought-after destination, with more than 1.5 million Americans now living across the continent. As of December 2023, the top EU and EFTA destinations for US nationals on residence permits were Germany (81,509), Spain (44,804), France (38,181), Italy (36,549), the Netherlands (33,107), Switzerland (19,579), and Portugal (13,948) — the vast majority on permits of one year or more, indicating long-term relocation rather than short stays.

Portugal ranks first in GCS’s Global Retirement Index and Spain leads its Global Digital Nomad Index. Greece, Italy, and Malta are drawing significant numbers across income and lifestyle profiles. Italy’s ancestry citizenship route, historically one of the most sought-after by Americans, was restricted by Law 74/2025 to children and grandchildren of Italian citizens — a change upheld by Italy’s Constitutional Court in March 2026 that blocks an estimated 80 million people previously eligible through earlier generations. The restriction has prompted some Americans to apply before additional policy changes take effect. Caribbean citizenship-by-investment programs continue to attract those seeking faster routes to a second passport and greater global mobility.

To read the full briefing, visit: From Destination to Departure: America’s New Migration Story

Amid a surge in demand for practical guidance, GCS has updated its guide for Americans, on the 23 Best Countries to move to in 2026, covering digital nomad and passive income visas, Golden Visa investment routes, moving costs and living expenses.

TrafficGuard Launches Self-Serve Platform to Help SMEs Stop Click Fraud in 10 Minutes or Less

Bandhan AMC Adjusts Duration Strategy Amid External Pressures and Global Developments

By:- Suyash Choudhary, CIO  Fixed Income, Bandhan AMC

Background

For the last few months, we have been focussed on the tension from external account pressures frustrating RBI’s ‘lower for longer’ theme. This can be envisaged under the framework of what is called ‘the impossible trinity’; which denotes the potential tension between exchange rate, capital flow, and monetary policy. Over the past year, one can see this tension in play in the case of India. This has led to monetary easing not achieving desired transmission in market rates.

Given this dynamic, it has made sense to us to turn more active on duration management. Thus, when the ‘lower for longer’ theme seemed to be dominating bond valuations, we had turned underweight duration. Over the course of the West Asia war, as market pricing on rate hikes turned quite aggressive, we had added back duration risk. We had preferred 14 and 40 years on the sovereign curve (since this curve has still been quite steep despite ongoing external account pressures) and front end (up to 3-4 years) on the corporate curve (since this curve is already flat reflecting elevated bank’s credit to deposit ratios).

New Developments

1. Duration of the shock: Given the size of the quantity shock on various commodities from the West Asia war, the length of the disruption was always of a major concern for markets and the global economy. With the buffer from inventories depleting, the sustained impact on supply has potential now for greater damage. There is also risk from production shutdowns increasing at source if offtake via the Strait continues to be compromised. Finally, the floor rates on a host of energy prices likely moves up the longer the conflict persists. This is because of rising buildup of ships that needs clearing once the Strait opens, the capacity of ports to process this flow, and the need for nations to rebuild depleted inventories and possibly build for even higher strategic reserves than before.

1. US growth is holding up, and alternate capital allocation themes are intact:  One reason to go overweight duration was also the very likely impact of the war on growth, and markets pricing that in central bank response functions. This theme would have played an important counterweight to the tightening in financial conditions that we are otherwise facing here in India owing to external account pressures. While this expectation may still hold from a few months’ standpoint, the immediate data reflects a resilient US economy. Furthermore, important capital allocation themes around the world linked to the AI story are if, anything, strengthening in momentum lately.

Implications

It can be easily seen that the above two developments are adding to the external account pressures and, by implication, to the growing disconnect between RBI’s policy rate and market rates. If this dynamic were to not change, the path of least resistance would be for RBI to bring forward tightening rather than market yields reverting to anchoring around existing policy rates. That said, it is important to clarify on two points: One, the route for policy rate normalisation will still be the traditional growth-inflation framework: a prolonged pressure on commodity prices, accompanied with continued currency pressures, will obviously change the predicted path of inflation. With average CPI for the current financial year easily likely to be in the 5 – 6% band, it almost automatically follows that RBI/MPC will have to undertake some rate hikes. As a base case one should expect 50 – 75 bps hikes over the course of the rest of this fiscal year. Two, this still doesn’t imply that a ‘rate defence’ is warranted to ease currency pressures. Thus, at whatever point, if market pricing starts to lean into the direction of aggressive rate hikes (more than what is warranted by the evolving inflation-growth dynamic), we would likely consider that as an opportunity to scale up market risk. To be clear, however, this is our thinking as of date and not a commitment.

Portfolio Strategy Update

Reflecting the evolving dynamics as discussed above, we have again gone underweight duration across a host of our funds (subject to individual mandates and positionings). The primary route undertaken for this has been via reducing our 14- and 40-year government bond positions. Recent relative stability in yields has made the decision somewhat easier, even as the primary reason for the change has been continuous evaluation of the underlying ‘impossible trinity’ tensions in context of the two new developments as described above.

One looks forward to developments that may allow for external pressures to ease including 1> conclusion to the war 2> effective capital flow garnering measures.  A sustainable turn to our capital flow dynamic, however, may also need some fatiguing of the AI allocation theme and / or return of some meaningful US rate cut expectations. Both are for now absent. It is also to be noted that our latest portfolio positionings reflect our current thinking. As always, these may change at any time in the future.