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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi sounding the poll bugle during their visits to Kerala, political mercury has soared in the state.

BHOPAL: Former BJP chief minister Babulal Gaur, who had stirred a controversy last week by disclosing that he has been offered a Lok Sabha ticket by Congress and he may even consider the offer, has been silenced by the central leadership of the party. Gaur was summoned to the party headquarters by none less than national general secretary Ram Lal and asked to keep quiet and follow the party line.

The latest controversial report prepared by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) of the Government of India has exposed in a revealing manner the deception game of the Narendra Modi regime which did not allow the survey to be released leading to the resignation of the two topmost members of the National Statistical Commission. The report has exploded the myth of high job generation being claimed by the centre and the leading members of the BJP in the recent days to mislead the people on the eve of the coming Lok Sabha elections.

The Modi government should have taken the decision in 2014 and not waited till January 2019 election-eve: Use Ram Mandir as propeller to catapult BJP-led NDA to another term in office. Blame it on Rahul Gandhi and Congress. If Rahul Gandhi had not announced ‘basic minimum income for the poor’, if elected to power, the Modi government would not have pushed the writ to give 'Hindus' access to the 67.03 acre of 'undisputed' land circling 0.3 acre 'disputed land'.

Congress MP of Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor is a naughty Malayali. He took to microblogging site Twitter to taunt Yogi Adityanath. At the Yogi taking a holy dip at the Kumbh. Encircled by his Cabinet. Water splashing, the camera catching the splashes in the light of the day. The water cold to the feel from the shaven pate expression on the Yogi's expression, his golden band earrings lost to sight in the transparency of the Sangam waters. Sycophants left and right helping the cow-lover chief minister of Uttar Pradesh get the experience of his life, now washed off all sins.

Peace campaigners warned a foreign attack on Venezuela would prompt a “bloody civil war” as it appeared that the United States was preparing the ground for a military invasion with thousands of troops rumoured to be massing in neighbouring Colombia.

Weekly Round-Up of Major Decisions of the Courts in India as also Legal Policy Developments

In a keenly watched matter, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (‘IBC’) last week in its entirety. The IBC was enacted in 2016 with the intention to amend the laws relating to reorganisation and insolvency resolution of corporate persons, partnership firms and individuals in a time-bound manner. It sought to provide for adjudicating authorities for resolution of insolvency, liquidation and bankruptcy. Since its enactment, the various aspects of the IBC came under challenge, especially from promoters, and corporate debtors who resisted the efforts to formulate resolution plans, in order to pay back the creditors. Accordingly, the validity of the IBC was challenged in a series of petitions, wherein it was argued that the members of the National Company Law Tribunal (‘NCLT’), and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (‘NCLAT’) are tasked with judicial functions, but they are not appointed in a similar fashion, as adopted for the judges of the High Courts. It was argued that since the NCLAT had almost ousted the High Court’s jurisdiction, the members had to be appointed, keeping in mind the independence of judiciary. Further, it was argued that IBC treated operational creditors differently from the financial creditors, resulting in hostile discrimination, since the former has no say in the committee of creditors tasked with the job of preparing the resolution plan for the corporate debtor.

Ever since Nitish took charge as Bihar chief minister he has been claiming that he succeeded to reach education to the door steps of the poor and empower them. In the initial years of his rule he had provided some incentives, books, dress and cycle to the students, as underlined by the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG), particularly to the girls. UN in September 2000 had proclaimed the eight development goals. Achieving universal basic education is one of the goals.

As India heads for election, issues relating to jobless growth and farm distress are haunting the NDA government. The common perception is both these factors are responsible for widening income inequality in India. Oxfam International Report 2019, however, argues this worsening income distribution is a global phenomenon: billionaires are growing $2.5 billion richer every day, while the poorest half of the global population is seeing its net worth dwindle. In this era of technological disruption and with India slowly transforming into a gig economy, where the labour market is increasingly characterised by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs, getting jobs for relatively low-skilled labour is soon going to be a herculean task.