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With the growing trend of a more assorted part of the less-organised services sector emerging as India’s biggest source of employment, the job quality is becoming not only poor but also more vulnerable. Interestingly, the trend is noted with concern by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in its global report that highlighted, among other things, the slow “pace of working poverty reduction” in many economies, including India. The ILO report noted that “overall, progress in reducing working poverty is too slow to keep pace with the growing labour force in developing countries, where the number of people in extreme working poverty is expected to exceed 114 million in 2018, or 40 per cent of all employed people.”

Terrorist violence in Pulwama which killed our brave young soldiers fighting to save the sovereignty of the country has shaken the whole nation. Each citizen is aghast at this violent act. There is natural wide spread anger and feeling of revenge. Life is the most sacred thing on earth. It is beyond imagination how can one think of destroying this beautiful gift of nature.

Donald Trump wants to use the pretext of a “national emergency” to grab billions of federal dollars to build his Mexican Wall. Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general, and Sens. Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders were among those who immediately came out to say they will try to stop him. Even two Republican senators, Sens. Rand Paul and Susan Collins, not to mention countless Latino groups, joined the still-growing chorus of national resistance to the unconstitutional power grab.Donald Trump wants to use the pretext of a “national emergency” to grab billions of federal dollars to build his Mexican Wall. Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general, and Sens. Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders were among those who immediately came out to say they will try to stop him. Even two Republican senators, Sens. Rand Paul and Susan Collins, not to mention countless Latino groups, joined the still-growing chorus of national resistance to the unconstitutional power grab.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi alone kept his word and did not extract political mileage from the deaths of the 41 CRPF martyrs whose mortal remains started reaching homes across India Friday morning. The bodies will be barely recognizable, missing as they will body parts. Rahul Gandhi did not let politics dictate the day but there are Rahul-loyalists who believe Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking him for a ride; that Rahul should not forget he has to win the elections and, as in war and love, everything is fair in elections.

What India needs after 2019 general election is stability. One wonders if the Opposition with all efforts to unite, even if they come on one platform, can provide a stable government. Our experience with the era of coalition has not been happy. The country’s eyes are now fixed on a renewed Congress led by Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi. Doubtless, Priyanka’s entry in active politics has rejuvenated the party’s rank and file and old-timers began recalling the pristine days of the grand old party. Even though Priyanka has stark similarity with her grandmother, Indira Gandhi, will she get vote for the Congress? Unlike most of the Congress leaders, Priyanka is charismatic and has capacity to sway voters; however, it is too early to say if she can get a majority for her party.

BHOPAL: Both Congress and BJP have started to prepare what may be described as infrastructure for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. The state BJP President Rakesh Singh has removed 11 Presidents of the district committees. Those who have been removed include close confidents of former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar. Some party men commenting on Rakesh Singh’s move said that Bhopal and Gwalior units were in the clutches of Chouhan and Tomar respectively and both were inactive.

Going into general elections 2019, the Modi Government has been given, albeit late in the day, an opportunity to sway voters. The withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation status to Pakistan sets the momentum. A long-standing demand from nationalists, this will go down well with the BJP base as also those on the fence.

“Democracy is like a tram; you get off when you have reached your destination.” The comment by Recep Tayyip Erdogan—made more than 20 years ago when he was first elected mayor of Istanbul—sums up the Machiavellian cynicism of Turkey’s authoritarian president. As Turkey gears up for municipal elections March 31, it is a prophecy Erdogan has more than fulfilled: the prisons filled with the opposition, the media largely silenced, the courts intimidated, the bureaucracy tamed, and more than 150,000 people fired.

When the CAG report got presented in the 16th Lok Sabha on its last day, Narendra Modi might have breathed a sigh of relief. But Rafale will continue roaring in his ears and thoughts in the coming days. In the name of national security Narendra Modi and company tried their level best to hide the what-abouts related to Rafale deal from the people. But the details of the defence deal have fallen out through various sources reveal that Narendra Modi government mortgaged the nation for the sake of pecuniary interests of his own and his friends. He was trying to render a helping hand to Anil Ambani to become the offset partner in the defence deal. It is to everybody’s presumption that a large part of Ambani’s fortunes in his defence deal was supposed to reach the coffers of BJP. For this the ‘nationalist’ prime minister in a subtle manner pushed off Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

After getting thoroughly exposed in the Rafale deal, nobody is ready to believe that Narendra Modi government has zero tolerance for corruption. This has proved to be the most corrupt in the shortest period of over four years. Now it is using different pretexts to divert the attention of people from the real issues. There are three pertinent questions in this regard the Modi government is not ready to answer. First, why has the quantity of the fighter jet Rafale been reduced from 126 to 36? With this the country’s security has been endangered. Second, the government is spending the same amount of money for the fighter jets which it was to pay for more than three times the number. Third all these have been done to remove from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) from the deal and induct private party Anil Ambani. Anil Ambani will get Rs 30,000 crore from the government of India for doing nothing.