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The US trade and economic sanction against Iran and Russia opens an opportunity for the country to explore the possibility of trading in Rupee not only with these two countries, but also with other likeminded nations, including Venezuela, Indonesia and, even, China. India is among the world’s top 10 importing countries. Cumulative value of imports for the period April-March 2017-18 was US$ 459.67 Billion (Rs. 2962897.70 crore). India is the world’s third largest oil importer, after China and the US. India is also the world’s third largest coal importer, after China and Japan. Among top 10 exporters to India, China ranks No.1, followed by the US, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Indonesia, Korean Republic, Germany, Iraq and Australia.

A bunch of Brooklyn ‘witches’ are set to hex newly confirmed US Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, make “life hell for him”, because Kavanaugh has become the symbol of the “rape culture”. ‘Hex’ is to “cast a magic spell” and though there is a “wish to do harm”, there will be “no actual harm” done. Attendance at the witches’ council will cost $10 per person and some people are asking, what if actual harm is done?

Twenty-one months in, we can survey the damage done by the Trump administration. The GOP Congress has been plagued by internal division, giving the resistance some breathing room. But the White House has worked efficiently to advance an agenda of inequality and repression: What it lacks in competence, it makes up in ruthlessness.

BHOPAL: In view of the sharp erosion in the traditional vote bank of the BJP and the failure of the Congress to form a united front, the possibility of a hung Vidhan Sabha in Madhya Pradesh cannot be ruled out.

Promise the moon. Make people believe in it and win the election. Then turn around and tell them they must be really stupid to believe that they would one day get the moon. This is what Modi did in 2014 to win the election. And it is not Rahul Gandhi tweeting in one of his campus-class witticism, fed by his below-par social media team that we all have got used to by now, but on the authority of a senior member of Modi’s own cabinet. The cruelty in Nitin Gadkari’s joke in his controversial appearance on a Marathi television channel will not be lost on the poor people of India.

The coming elections in the five states—Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram — have been rightly described as the “semifinal” to 2019 Lok Sabha polls. With the announcement of these elections, India has well and truly entered the poll season. Doubtless, the stakes are higher for the Congress but the popularity of the BJP too will be put to test in the coming assembly elections of the five states. The Congress hopes to rejuvenate the party by romping home in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh where it is pitted against the BJP. A victory will signal the Congress is on comeback trail. Long years of BJP rule has generated a strong anti-incumbency wave. Chief Ministers of the three states Vasunhara Raje, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Raman Singh have become quite unpopular.

Union Ministry of Railways has decided that confirmed railway ticket can now be transferred to ones blood relations. Other categories of passengers can also avail themselves of such facilities. In the event of such transfer of confirmed ticket, status of confirmation will remain intact. Earlier, in the case of a passenger in a confirmed ticket in a group of six or less family members not travelling either the full confirmed ticket was cancelled or the party could travel with one vacant berth or seat and so.

Congress Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor is wasting time digging up fossilized lexicon like the worthless and of no value ‘Floccinaucinihilipilification’. A Hindu horde is marching on Thiruvananthapuram, his parliamentary constituency, and momentous things are set to happen. There might even be ‘mob violence’ which some say is the ‘bumper-sticker’ for India under NDA rule.

The Syrian civil war has always been devilishly complex, with multiple actors following different scripts, but in the past few months it appeared to be winding down. The Damascus government now controls 60 percent of the country and the major population centers, the Islamic State has been routed, and the rebels opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are largely cornered in Idlib Province in the country’s northwest. But suddenly the Americans moved the goal posts, (maybe) the Russians have fallen out with the Israelis, the Iranians are digging in their heels, and the Turks are trying to multi-task with a home front in disarray.

Unprecedented high levels of air pollution in north India during the months of October and November in 2017 raised serious alarm in the society as well as the government. This is because health is directly related to clean air quality besides clean drinking water and other causes that affect our surroundings. Therefore, every year during the months of October and November there is serious discussion on air quality, which is disturbed as the summer ends and winter is setting in. For the last several years dense smog engulfed large part of north India including Punjab, Haryana, western UP, parts of Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and NCR Delhi during the months of October and November when summer ended and winter was about to set in. During the summer season air tends to go up in the atmosphere. But during October and November, because of fall in temperature, the particles do not rise in the atmosphere. They get suspended and mix with vapours. The sources of these particles are mainly vehicular emissions, industrial effluents and smoke coming out of burning of paddy straw in the fields. Low wind speed during this period and dry weather aggravate the problem.