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Despite the best efforts of his supporters to protect Nitish Kumar’s public image in the face of a vertical decline during last one year due to the serious break down in the law and order in the state, the Bihar chief minister seems to be finally coming to accept the reality.

India’s nearly a trillion-dollar foreign trade seems to be benefiting foreign shippers, shipowners, seafarers and insurance companies more than the local service providers. Foreign vessels are reportedly carrying over 90 percent of Indian cargo. The shipping industry is equipped more with bulk carriers than modern container vessels. The share of Indian ships in the carriage of export-import cargo is well below 10 per cent. Over the last 25 years, India’s planned expenditure on the shipping industry was just 1.78 percent of those on the railways and 2.3 percent on the roads sector.

Rahul Gandhi completed nine months in office as the Congress President on September 16. This was a period of big challenges for the Congress and despite some small mistakes and a few wrong assessments, Rahul has come out as a stronger leader who can lead the opposition against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi by uniting all the anti-BJP forces who are ready to unseat the NDA government from power at the centre in the Lok Sabha elections in April/May 2019.

’English’. It denotes a people. It’s also a medium of exchange (yeah, not money) – a language spoken by more than half of the world. English has given voice to billions – status and riches, too. To the lost ship at sea, there’s no stronger emotion than ‘Land A’ hoy!’ English is like that, a savior! Give us more impact than ‘A rose by any other name…’and ride Hindi to superstardom. But this is not the time or era to condemn the aspiring Indian to wear a garland of Chameli.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It’s a stirring tale of conviction, commitment and confidence: a super star scientist’s 24-year battle to redeem a reputation tarnished by false allegations; a fair name besmirched by a frightening concatenation of circumstances. The legal victory connotes a glorious testament to a man’s courage of conviction and his indomitable will and indefatigable energy.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has curtly ruled out any cut in the high excise duty on fuel prices, saying the petrol and diesel price hikes are caused by volatile international prices an, therefore, due to external factors. To add insult to injury, he has criticised the people for expecting the government to do something about the skyrocketing fuel prices on the ground that any cut will affect the government’s welfare spending. In fact, he is assuming an adversarial role for the government vis a vis the people and suggesting that they have no option but to suffer. He may be right about the causes of the fuel price hike, but he is completely wrong on whether people have any options. That will be known in 2019.

The flurry of news on migrant workers’ issues in August-September has implications for policy. First came the strike threat by 7–8 lakh migrant sugarcane workers in Maharashtra, who were demanding doubling of the wages from the present Rs.200 per tonne. Powerloom workers in Surat, including five lakh migrants from Orissa, went on flash strikes demanding weekly holidays on Sundays and are threatening a strike demanding a wage of Rs.600 per day as against Rs.180–200 they are being paid currently and rejecting the minimum wage of Rs.276, Rs.284 and Rs.293 respectively for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers announced in April. But then there is no provision in the minimum wage law to ban employing workers at sub-subsistence wages in all occupations below a general minimum.

The BJP President, Amit Shah, has claimed that the saffron party will not only increase his party’s tally in 2019 general elections — get more seats than it obtained in 2014 polls — and, thereafter, it will rule India for 50 years. The assertion was made at as high a forum as the National Executive of the BJP. The claim is ridiculous and dangerous. Former BJP minister and now a rebel, Arun Shourie, has reportedly said that 2019 will be the last election. If Shourie’s observation is linked with Shah’s claim, it may mean that the country is heading for dictatorship. A writer and journalist, Shourie knows both Narendra Modi and Shah quite intimately and how their mind works.

Medical negligence, overcharging, substandard care, wide spread production of spurious drugs by pharmaceutical companies, bribery of doctors by pharmaceutical companies with trips to foreign countries including sundry pleasures, even financing education of their wards abroad, drug procurement scams, underhand commissions, a wide spread racket in medical college admissions, glaring failure of regulators like Medical Council of India (MCI), Nursing and Dental Councils and Drug Controller in ensuring quality of drugs and services, speak volume of rampant corruption in healthcare across diverse medical profession in India.

It is confusing, this democracy so confusing. Take Vijay Mallya, he’s a fugitive. The case against him in the United Kingdom magistrate’s court is for extradition. But questions are asked on “settlement” and his response is always “I want to settle” but on his terms, which includes a comfortable stay in jail. “Is there a jail in India which can promise a comfortable stay?” asked the court and India produced video-proof.