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The Karnataka BJP leaders have pinned their hopes on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure defeat of the Congress. But the speeches of Modi have not enthused them much. Though they love his taunts and acerbic comments about Rahul, in private they question whether it would stimulate voters.

Finally, the day came for journalist Jey Dey to get justice. Mafia don and Dawood eyesore Chhota ‘Chindi’ Rajan got convicted along with 9 others while another journalist, alleged femme fatale and jealous professional Jigna Vora walked free. She was out on bail, so that was not difficult – the ‘walking free’ part, that is. Don’t know how many must have noticed but the alphabet of the week is ‘J’ with words beginning with ‘J’ hogging news these past couple of deys …oops days! What have you – Jey, Journalist, Jigna and Jinnah…

Rebel JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav may not be a native of Bihar, but the state’s political relevance at the national level and the ability to provide a new political alternative has made him wager for the state. Sharad is conscious of the fact any political move starting from Bihar has its own political and ideological dimension, which he cannot think of getting in any other state. His faction of JD (U) is set to launch a new party 'Loktantrik Janta Dal' (LJD) in New Delhi on May 18, with focus on Bihar.

With the domestic peasant community having been bitten not only because of natural aberrations such as the twin back-to-back droughts following the ascension of the NDA government in 2014 and the policy-induced follies that neglected corrective actions when the chips were down, the run-up to the 2019 general elections means a lot is set to supervene on the farm front. This is understandable because the rural votes do count and that is the reason why no less a person than Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to announce loan waivers to farmers before the assembly polls in the Uttar Pradesh in 2017 and his pledge to double farmers’ income by 2022 lest the restive farmers should be appeased and peace purchased even if that meant considerable cost to the exchequer.

Even though agriculture accounted for only 15 per cent of GDP, it can make or shatter Indian economy as nearly half of the 1.3 billion population depend on farming. If Indian economy has to clock a double digit growth on a sustained basis, the farm sector has to grow by at least 4 per cent annually on a continuous basis. The best India has achieved was 3.6 per cent average growth for about 6-7 years ending 2012. This is the time when the economy too was booming, growing at nearly at double digit.

The belief that Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb mocked Miss World 1997, Diana Hayden, because of her brown skin - “Even Diana Hayden got it (the crown). See, everyone is laughing!” - isn’t quite right.

Lots have happened in the last two days. Major Rohit Shukla neutralized terrorist ‘Tiger Sameer’ in the Kashmir Valley. Lalu Prasad Yadav fled an AIIMS ward to his Ranchi cell. Google put a google-doodle to mark international workers day. And Prime Minister Narendra Modi took on Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s ’15-minute dare’ and told him to bring it on.

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

A firm resolve to forge a broad front of left, secular and democratic forces to take on the fascist forces led by the BJP-RSS combine; a concerted effort to strengthen the party’s organizational muscle and a welcome move to induct a younger brand of leadership at the top level. These are the significant takeaways from the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of India(CPI), which concluded at Kollam in Kerala on Sunday.

Last week the ongoing tussle between the Supreme Court and the Central Government over the appointment of judges took a particularly acrimonious turn, when the Centre on April 26, returned the name of Justice K.M. Joseph, Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court, to the Supreme Court collegium, owing to some vague reasons, while it chose to accept the recommendation of Indu Malhotra, Senior Advocate, to be elevated. The appointment of Indu Malhotra to Supreme Court, which ought to have been a momentous occasion, since she became the first woman lawyer to be appointed to the Supreme Court directly from the Bar, was marred by the Centre’s completely illegal tactics to arm twist the judiciary, and to scuttle the nomination of Justice Thomas to Supreme Court. This is not the first time the NDA Government had segregated the names recommended by the collegium for appointment to the Supreme Court. In May, 2014, the same Government had asked the Supreme Court to reconsider the name of Shri Gopal Subramanium, Senior Advocate for allegedly ‘national security’ reasons.