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In Nitish Kumar’s Bihar it is the rule of criminals and goons that prevails, with the lives of the common people, especially women, who are supposed to be his trusted vote bank, being decided by them: certainly not sushasan as claimed by the chief minister and his supporters.

On 9 October 2018, the news that came from Bhilai Steel Plant was a shocker. Nine workers were killed and 14 injured in a blast in the plant. Such industrial tragedies routinely keep shocking the conscience of the nation. Let us consider three sectors which are quite illustrative.

The UNCTAD’s 2018 Trade and Development is an eye opener that all is not good with the global economy and hyper-globalisation pursued for some time now has only widened inequality. In case of India bad debt of banks is threatening financial stability.

“We will get you all one day,” wrote the woman journalist, starting her write-up with “Dear Male Boss.” Yes, this is the freshest face of the #India’sMeToo movement, a campaign that’s snowballing across Bollywood and in media-spaces all over the country, putting media in a fix because media-men went astray at points in their careers. Of course, it goes without saying that women are always right and they have to be believed under all circumstances.

BHOPAL: Congress has received a big boost with the Sadhus and Sants of the state assuring the party of support. A delegation led by Mahendragiri Maharaj Dandewale and Mahant Ramdas paid a visit to PCC chief Kamal Nath at his residence on the day Congress announced the launch of its poll campaign for Madhya Pradesh. They blessed the former Union minister, who is leading the Congress into 2018 battlefield.

Winds of change have started blowing in the Maldives after the September 23 presidential elections, which saw the defeat of former president Abdulla Yameen who ruled the tiny island nation with an iron hand for five years from 2013. Even after he was defeated by Maldivian Democratic Party candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the country was abuzz with the rumour that Yameen would try to cling on to power arbitrarily. Fortunately, the doomsday sayers were proved wrong and Solih is going to be sworn in on November 17.

Will there be a ‘Grand Alliance’ of the opposition ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls? As of now, many opposition parties including the Congress feel that it could only be a post-poll arrangement. For instance, the NCP chief Sharad Pawar has told a news channel recently: “A ‘Mahagathbandhan’ prior to the elections (Lok Sabha) is not practical.” The CPI-M has declined to have alliance in all the five poll-bound states and its general secretary Sitaram Yechury has said the ‘Grand Alliance’ could be only after the polls. The Aam Aadmi Party has decided not to join any alliance in 2019. The Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has announced that they couldn’t keep on waiting for the Congress tie up in Madhya Pradesh. The last word is yet to come from the BSP chief Mayawati. Though she has abandoned alliance with the Congress for ensuing Assembly polls she has not said anything about the Lok Sabha polls.

Your flaws are what make you perfect. You can say that of most everything, too. Like review petitions in the Supreme Court, which point to flaws in otherwise thought to be ‘perfect judgements’. But that’s okay because in many cases, dissenting justices underline the ‘flaw’ in the majority judgement. But dissents such as those, however brilliant, don’t matter, till a review petition is filed.

Inequality and income disparities are growing. Rich are becoming richer. ‘Barclay’s Hurun India’ has published the ‘Rich list for 2018’. It is a list that carries the names of individuals with net worth exceeding Rs.1000 crore. The wealth of India’s top 100 richest people has jumped by Rs.3.08 lakh crore in 2018 to Rs.30.59 lakh crore, from Rs.27.51 lakh crore in 2017, a jump of 10.1 per cent. Mukesh Ambani has topped the list with an estimated wealth of Rs.3,71,000 crore. There are in all about 800 superrich in India. Of these, 233 individuals are in Mumbai, 163 in New Delhi and 70 in Bangalore – in the first three places. Achhe din for the super crorepatis.

Arithmetic is not the determinant of the political permutation and combination. It has many indices and the most vital has been the political awakening of the people, in this case the Dalits and mahadalits of the Hindi heartland. Some columnists recall the political maneouvering of the BSP founder Kanshi Ram. To stress upon that what Mayawati is doing in 2018, just before the assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Jaipur, is politically correct, may prove to be disastrous for her.