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There was a slight lull in the murderous antics of the gau rakshaks or cow protectors after Narendra Modi said that a majority of them were anti-socials. After the BJP’s sweeping victory in UP, however, the rakshaks have regained their righteous anger against the suspected killers of cows, especially if they are Muslims.

The victory of the Leftist candidate Lenin Moreno in the Presidential elections in Ecuador on April 2, has at long last given some hopes to the beleaguered left forces in Latin America after series of setbacks in a number of countries including Brazil and Argentina in the recent period. At a time when the neo liberal parties and their international backers in collaboration with corporate media, have been continuously propagating that the pink tide is over in Latin America and the Left will never return to power in any country of the region, Moreno’s win, though by a slender margin, has halted the right wing bulldozer in one country. This is sure to lift the morale of the left masses in the entire Latin America as the workers, peasants and the underprivileged are mobilizing themselves once again against the anti poor policies of the newly installed anti Left regimes.

It was indeed heartening to hear President Pranab Mukherjee talking about the much-needed electoral reforms on Saturday while addressing a function. The President pointed out the need to correct certain areas regarding holding of elections as there are aberrations. Even the chief justice of India has stated recently that the political parties should be held accountable for their manifesto promises.

After missile strike on Syria what remains next for the US President Donald Trump to avenge the killings of the innocent people in chemical war? NO doubt there is none to lord over Trump, by choosing to redraw the “red line” over chemical weapons Trump has not only lost the golden opportunity to emerge as the modern global peace keeper but he has also pushed the world fraternity closer to the war. Now in future if more chemical attacks take place , in that backdrop he would, politically and personally, have to adopt a more definite and hard response.

Despite its controversial aspects, the BJP/RSS-sponsored Ramnavami celebration in West Bengal proved popularand left the ruling Trinamool Congress government without an effective political response.

It is good to notice that foreign investors — in the both primary (FDI) and secondary (FPI) markets— have renewed their interest in India. For the first time, FDI-boosted foreign exchange reserves with RBI are being used to fund India’s current account deficit. The stock market is witnessing fresh FPI raids. BSE’s 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) is hovering around 30,000. With stocks rallying to record peaks and the rupee appreciating to a 20-month high on the back of $13 billion moving into the stock and bond markets this year so far, India’s market capitalisation has hit a record $1.92 trillion.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The hallmark of a genuine politician is the ability to turn even adversity to account. But there are others who have an uncanny knock for courting controversies. One should have thought that it would be extremely difficult to break the record of former chief minister Oommen Chandy in creating controversies. But given the pace with which his successor, Pinarayi Vijayan is lurching from controversy to controversy, the former’s record is in real danger of being broken.

Presidential election is due in three months; In July this year, President Pranab Mukherjee completes his five-year tenure and retires. The exercise to choose a new President has already begun but, this time; the presidential elections are going to be most difficult and toughest. The BJP which rules the centre and has absolute majority in the Lok Sabha, does not have requisite numbers in the Rajya Sabha and on its own, the BJP cannot ensure the victory of its candidate without getting the support of others. The new Rashtrapati will have to be a consensus candidate. No doubt, BJP increased its numbers in Uttar Pradesh assembly and this will help but not to the extent of having its candidate in Rashtrapati Bhawan.

If all goes well, the first flight of the much awaited regional connectivity scheme (RCS) of the civil aviation ministry will take off any day this month. Expectedly, it will be the PSU carrier Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India, which will begin the operation between Bathinda (Punjab) and Delhi for a ticket price of Rs 2500 one way.

BHOPAL: The election campaign has come to a halt in two constituencies of Madhya Pradesh where voting will he held on April 9. The two constituencies are Ater and Bandhavgarh. In the last election Ater was won by the Congress. The Ater voters elected Satyadev Katare, who was installed as the leader of the opposition. However he died after a prolonged serious decease. The Congress has chosen to sponsor, Hemant Katare his son.