View Articles

The centuries old Scottish proverb that ‘’if wishes were horses, beggars would ride” is so true about India’s wish to become a major producer of fossil fuels. The truth is: it is becoming increasingly dependent on imports. Coal, oil and gas are three main components of fossil fuels. India ranks fifth in the world in coal reserves. It is also the world’s third largest coal consumer after China and the USA. India’s coal reserve is around 301.6 billion tonnes. Out of which over 260 billion tonnes are non-cooking coal – mainly used for power generation, cement and fertilizer production. Despite this, the country is becoming increasingly dependent on import.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s jibe about Rahul Gandhi contesting from a place where the majority was in minority, a reference to the Muslim majority of his Wayanad constituency, had Congress and other opposition parties up in arms. The remark was interpreted as yet another instance of BJP’s anti-minorities bias.

The Karnataka imbroglio has defied all solutions. How can this complex problem be sorted out? Even courts can impose their writ to a certain extent only because Legislature is supposed to be supreme. The only solution appears to be to dismiss the Karnataka government altogether, keep it under President’s rule and hold elections after the mandatory period is completed. Alternatively, the assembly can be kept under suspended animation and attempt be made, say after six months, to form the government. The latter solution doesn’t appear feasible and the present situation is unlikely to change is six months. The Governor Vajubhai Vale has already given an indication to that the state may be brought under the Centre’s rule.

Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza denounced the European Union’s attempt to destabilise talks between the government and the opposition as Brussels called on member states to adopt additional sanctions against the country.

BHOPAL: The Kamal Nath government is at loggerheads both with the state governor and the opposition. A section of opposition mainly the BJP is not only holding angry demonstrations but also talking in the language of violence. The BJP in the Vidhan Sabha is disrupting proceedings by entering “Well” of the House.

Social Darwinism, espoused by Sociologist Herbert Spencer from Darwin’s theory of ‘natural selection’, was meant to rationalize the ugliest form of capitalism in late nineteenth century. Spencer assimilated the theory of natural selection based on ‘the survival of the fittest’, which, he said was preservation of the favoured races in their struggle for life. Spencer was writing in the context of economic evolution when he mentioned survival of the fittest. For Darwin, it was concern for the entire humanity. Darwin was expanded by Engels. He said evolution of human being came on two wheels. One was labour and other language, both evolving based on each other and dividing the society into two parts, standing together and also locked in a constant struggle against each other.

It is getting clearer with time that none of the national policies are formulated keeping in view the political philosophy, economic character, as well as social and cultural attitude of ruling dispensation. The present draft policy, NEP 2019, is also no exception. It is a reflection of the historical conflict of forces to dominate the education process, that is to say between democratization and captivisation. In this policy draft democratic, welfare and inclusive agendas have been ignored. There is also no reference to global outlook that has its own significance and cannot be underestimated.

A recent order of the Union Ministry of Finance restricting entry and movement of accredited media persons in that Ministry is fascistic in nature as it points to curb and control of the media being witnessed under the current NDA Union Government where the media house owners are arm-twisted under threat of some frame-up and punitive action or lavish advertisements. The result has been willful neglect of highlighting people’s problems in their reporting, analysis and comments limiting themselves to all eulogizing the government. It prevents journalists to update their knowledge of the workings of the government in that Ministry, pursue some exclusive story, seeking clarification on some policy permutations and combinations in order to get to the truth as also scrutiny of the government.

With his vicious attack on Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Rashida Tlaib, the current “occupant” of the White House officially launched his re-election campaign this week.

The decision of the Modi.2 Government to invest a total of Rs. 100 lakh crore in the infrastructure sector during the next five years, is going to give a big boost to the public sector enterprises in the core sectors, especially, steel coal and construction companies. The announcement made by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in 2019-20 budget has already geared the leading PSEs to start planning taking the next five years in view.