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The swamp creatures are resisting. They are in a helter-skelter after four years of ‘drain the swamp’. A year and couple of months left for general elections 2019 and the swamp’s resistance is in full swing. The political opponents of the Modi government have it all planned – keep the government and the Bharatiya Janata Party on its toes, groping in the dark with one contentious, politically-loaded issue after another.

“A Party With Socialists In It: A History of the Labour Left” by Simon Hannah is inspired by Tony Benn’s comment that “the Labour Party has never been a socialist party, although there have always been socialists in it” and the book charts the attempts of those socialists to promote their vision over the course of the past 118 years.

Karnataka Assembly poll outcome in May will finally determine whether the Modi-Amit duo should opt for advancing Lok Sabha elections well ahead of April-May 2019. Such a decision becomes crucial for the Modi Government, with a perceptible spread of anti-incumbency mood in the country, and especially in the context of ongoing efforts to put up a Federal Front of regional parties to jointly fight to oust the BJP regime.

BJP president Amit Shah’s loyalty to his boss Narendra Modi is so passionate that for promoting his political interest he is not only determined to go against the ideological and political ethos of the Sangh and the BJP but he can resolutely contrive to obliterate the fundamentals of Bengali cultural philosophy and social tenet.

With the approaching general elections in 2019, the political establishment has become more vociferous in the hope of covering up their failures of performance. High sounding schemes are being launched to avert possible anti-incumbency by mesmerizing the people of India in their favour. The new Integrated Scheme for School Education just approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is such an example which is to be implemented from April 1, 2018. It is nothing but a cover-up operation of the government for its dismal performance in Education sector in the last 46 months which has even distorted the overall milieu in this sector by making education too costly for majority of the people.

BHOPAL: As the dates for the 2018 Vidhan Sabha elections are coming closer, BJP led Madhya Pradesh Government is promising heaven to the deprived sections of the society.

Temple of Goddess Wagheshwari Devi is situated in Dhamangaon village, which is about 20 kms from Burhanpur near the Maharashtra border. Traditionally, people have deep faith in this temple, so during Navrati festival, people from various adjacent villages come to this place for worshiping the Goddess. During this festival, Mrs. Archana Chitnis, Madhya Pradesh Minister for WCD, remains there in a small cottage inside the temple premises. Though, it is a religious event, owing to the efforts of Mrs. Chitnis, a local village fair was organized 10 years ago. In that fair, food stalls and swings were installed for the entertainment of local villagers.

Whoever said Mamata Banerjee is a one-god person can eat their words with bhaat and fish curry. The ‘appeasement-Chief Minister’ of West Bengal and Trinamool Congress boss is no less a Ram-bhakt than a Babul Supriyo or a Dilip Ghosh. And in the true spirit of the believed-to-be non-violent Hindu, Mamata has something against the Hindu wielding arms, even if it is Lord Ram’s favourite, the bow and arrow, the one which the Son of Dashrath lifted to string an arrow to claim Sita for his bride. ‘Didi’ has given pride of place to the bow and arrow by including them in the ambit of the Arms Act, 1959, illegal to carry and non-bailable a crime.

The Chennai-based Geographical Indications (GI) Registry’s order in mid-March to exclude Madhya Pradesh from the area officially declared for cultivation of the aromatic and widely consumed basmati rice, both by the domestic users as also the overseas aficionados, has predictably raised a lot of questions and hackles than it answered in explaining what constitutes popular perceptions in the usage of GI tags on a product that has more than geography in terms of aesthetics, aromatic standards and consumer satisfaction!

Amidst the revision of Chinese Constitution, which will permit Xi Jinping to be the perpetual head of Communist Party after the expiry of his second term, Trump’s escalation of tariff on steel and aluminum imports and asserting further tariff rampage on Chinese exports worth of US$ 50 billion spooked an air of suspense over a global trade war. Trade analysts are in a fix to deduce whether Trump’s protectionist measures, which target China, would really instigate China for retaliatory actions or the dispute would be settled through political and economic adjustments through negotiations. Till now, China refrained from taking any retaliatory measures. Instead, it relied more on mustering global support to stymie USA’s measures.