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| | Modi has now complete sway over BJP and government | | Managing judiciary will be the next target of saffron camp | | | As expected Ram Nath Kovind is the new President of India, succeeding versatile Pranab Mukherjee but he is not as multi-talented as the outgoing President. The change of guard at Rashtrapati Bhavan will have its consequences. The equation between the President and the Prime Minister has always been subject to considerable modification and negotiation after every of change of player; and, though Rashtrapati Bhavan is not the rival centre of power, its occupant can be a source of irritation and frustration for any Prime Minister.
It is widely accepted in political circles that Ram Nath Kovind is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's personal choice; moreover, it is further suggested that in opting for him, the Prime Minister has bypassed the RSS leadership, who had different ideas. Kovind is a h... |  | |
| | | Trump targets Latin American Left | | Efforts on to bring about regime change in Venezuela | | | United States President Donald Trump may be most looked down in his own country - he might be having the lowest popular rating among the US Presidents in the first six months of their respective tenures, but he has started his actions in bringing down the popularly elected governments in Latin America. Right now his target is regime change in Venezuela ruled by the Leftist President Nicolas Maduro. This is being followed by instigating the rightwing forces in Brazil to see that the popular former President Luiz Lulla da Silva is not allowed to stand for the Presidential elections in October 2018.
Venezuela, with 20 million population is in deep political turmoil due to economic crisis in the wake of the steep fall in the prices of crude oil and the minerals. Venezuela under the former Pr... | | |
| | | Why Darjeeling deadlock continues | | Disruption of supplies causes huge losses | | | For once, one can agree with Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader Benoy Tamang: as the indefinite bandh in North Bengal hills seems destined to enter a second month, he asked publicly, "Is Darjeeling out of India?"
For all the 'interest' both West Bengal and the central government have shown to address the contentious issue of Gorkha autonomy, the answer to Tamang's question should have been obvious: as of now, for all practical purposes, Darjeeling is off bounds to the rest of India and Indians!
Acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, judge Nishita Mhatre echoed Tamang's sentiment as she exclaimed, "Just what is going on here ? "during a sitting. She wondered whether the people of Darjeeling must suffer because two different parties --- the Trinamool Congress(TMC) in Bengal and the... | | |
| | | Kashmir: An Inconvenient Truth | | | | Kashmir is internationally recognized as a disputed territory whose final status is yet to be determined by the people. Both India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons and have fought three wars during the past half-century. This is a matter that urgently needs to be put on a road to find a just and viable solution.
The heart of the matter is that Kashmir is an occupied country. Its sovereignty and right to self-determination is being ignored. India insists that this state, which is nestled in the Himalayas between Pakistan and India, is an integral part of India and refuses to negotiate in any manner with the people of Kashmir or with Pakistan. The claim is rejected not only by the people of Kashmir but also by the international community.
Any effort to resolve the conflict requires conf... | | |
| | VIEW FROM THE GALLERY | | Time to build national unity to deal with twin threat from Pakistan & China | | | | The danger is that India which at present is facing unrest in Kashmir which is actively supported by Pakistan may find yet another front being opened against it by China.
How serious is the threat of stand off between Indian and Chinese troops on trijunction with Bhutan becoming a full scale confrontation on the border between India and China. As far as India is concerned efforts are on to resolve the issue through diplomatic channels, but China is adopting aggressive attitude and threatening that if Indian troops did not withdraw it could lead to humiliation of India as was the case in 1962.
Chinese media has been actively issuing threats to India and its aggressive attitude is online with Chinese approach to other countries in the region and has gone to the extent of sugge... | | |
| | DEAD-END | | Downtown & Uptown! | | | | "Uncle."
"Yes dear."
"Downtown: how come the term and what does it mean?"
"Dear; term downtown they say was coined in New York City, was adopted by the United States and Canada during the late 19th century, was clearly established as one proper term in American English in early 1900s, yet was virtually unknown in Britain and Western Europe; even now the term is not generally used in British English. In American English now the term means any city's central business district; British English equivalent thereof still generally is city centre."
"And Uncle, term uptown - whence and what does it mean?"
"Dear, population exploding, business multiplying in city centres, more and more people sold their property there, moved and settled in outer quieter areas - and these came to be... | | |
| | | Mergers & IBC | | Turning around banking sector | | | As is generally agreed, the banks form the bedrock of the financial sector of a country. As such, the recent decision to merge smaller banks with the larger ones such as Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank, to gear up efficiency and profitability is believed to be a step in the right direction. The idea behind this merger is a larger regional bank to take on a pan-Indian footprint. This is one of the important steps the Government has thought of in gearing up the banking sector.
Regional consolidations have also been considered so that a North-based bank takes over another in the same region. The NPA problem is not expected to come in the way of such mergers. The only consideration would be not to make the merged entity weaker but a little stronger to take on future ch... | | |
| | | Lynching to power | | | | Mashal Khan, a 23 year old journalism student was seized from his dorm room by a mob that stripped and beat him, then shot him dead on 13 April 2017 in Mardan in North West Pakistan. Khan was accused of offending Islam (Rasmussen and Baloch 2017). In the month of May 2017, a mob attacked a police station demanding that Prakash Kumar, a 34 year old Hindu, arrested under blasphemy laws of Pakistan, be handed over to the mob (AFP 2017). Just over a week later, a mob attacked a mentally ill man who claimed to be a prophet at his local mosque in north-western Chitral (Pakistan). He was rescued by police. The spate of incidents followed government of Pakistan's drive against blasphemy. Unproven allegations of "insult to Islam" led to dozens of mob attacks or murders since 1990 in Pakistan.
Ind... | | |
| | | Will States act to curb cow vigilantes or ignore PM's call | | | | Will the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's command or request to the State Governments to "crack down" on cow vigilantes have any impact? Or is he responding to a notice sent to the State of U.P. and possibly Centre as well to let it know about all the breaches of law and order in the past five years until now? Where does the Centre stand on this in view of public interest litigation before the Court? The litigation came up before the Court prior to its summer vacation.
The cow vigilantes attack or kill those who transport cows from one place to another point within that State. Does it matter that it could be a case of transporting a cow from one State to another in the neighbourhood? Would those people who consider themselves self-appointed cow protectors or saviours of the Mother Cow, tw... | | |
| | SIGNS OF THE TIMES | | In conversation with the multi-faceted Gopalkrishan Gandhi | | | | I heaved a sigh of relief when the Opposition came up with the name of Gopalkrishna Gandhi as their vice presidential candidate. As I'd mentioned in one of my earlier columns, this grandson of Mahatma Gandhi has been a former civil servant turned diplomat and now an academic - commentator- writer.
I had interviewed him soon after his book- Dara Shukoh: A Play (Tranquebar Press) was launched.
I'm putting excerpts from that interview with Gopalkrishna Gandhi; enough to relay details to the man and his personality-
After you took voluntary retirement from the Indian Administrative Service in 1992, you were appointed as Director of the Nehru Centre in London and later posted India's envoy to South Africa, Sri Lanka and Norway. And then, posted secretary to the President of India and lat... | | |
| | | Crisis deepens in Bihar, Secular forces in disarray | | Nitish realises alliance has outlived its utility for him | | | After the Mahagathbandhan of the Janata Dal (United), the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress defeated the ascendant Bharatiya Janata Party in the Bihar elections of 2015, political circles had veered round the view that the opposition's efforts to regroup at the national level will unite around these parties. But such possibilities have become a causality of the war of attrition between Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav, the leaders of JD(U) and RJD.
These are the two parties that could have resisted the saffron attack. But with both the leaders pitching against each other, the optimism lies shattered on the streets of Patna. Distrust for each oher has gripped these two leaders to such an extent that any reconciliation appears to be an absolutely remote possibility.
The political narrative a... | | |
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