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How well is India ready to fulfill its highly ambitious solar power generation programme — from the current level of only around 15,000 MW, or 15 gigawatt, to 100,000 MW just within the next four years? To be honest, it is impossible to achieve such a target unless the country is ready to spend billions of dollars on equipment import, mostly from China. At current prices, the country will require to spend Rs.500,000 crore or so to reach the solar power generation target by 2022.

The verdict of the by-polls depends on the exigencies and compulsions of political parties, especially the one in power. And if the politicians are to be believed, the results do not necessarily reflect the mood of the people. There is a general tendency to dismiss the by-poll verdict if it does not suit the ruling party. Leaders interpret the results so as to convince the people of its ideological and political commitments.

The BJP’s winning streak that seemed to have got a boost in North-East, after the setback in Rajasthan, has hit a wall in Gorakhpur, a party bastion for nearly three decades and chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s constituency which elected him to Lok Sabha for five successive terms. The results from Gorakhpur and Phulpur (which was once Jawaharlal Nehru’s constituency)—wrested by SP-BSP alliance from the BJP—and from Araria, Jehanabad and Bhabua from Bihar—the RJD held on to its seats despite Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) having alliance with the BJP have sent shock waves to the BJP leadership.. Even though Lalu Prasad Yadav is still in jail, his hold over voters has not waned.

The failure of the Bharatiya Janata Party to win back two seats in the bye-polls in Uttar Pradesh has lent the poll analysts an opportunity to project potential results in the 2019 election in the state. However, the analyses are based on assumption that the combine of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party will retain their strong hold on their vote banks and may again be successful in transferring their entire vote for each other. The analysts do not even explain why the BJP lost the Gorakhpur seat that it had been consistently won for the last four elections, and in Phoolpur that was won for the first time in 2014. The analysts also do not explain why the BJP had won both seats in the first place in 2014. It is assumed that sharp division in the anti-BJP vote was the cause of land slide victory of the party even though it was not in power either at the Centre or in the state.

The big story is not the two no-confidence motions against the Modi Government. One of the YSR Congress and the other of Telugu Desam (TDP). The story of the day is that a fragile opposition alliance is taking shape; interestingly, put in place by the two BJP allies-turned-enemies. The opposition Congress, TMC, CPI, CPM, AIMIM, BJD, RJD, AAP and the TRS are all on the same page, and that’s a story to tell.

It is four years since the death of my friend and mentor, Tony Benn. I could argue that he turns up in every article I write, but that’s a poor substitute for the daily conversations into which he poured tea and optimism in equally copious quantities. Benn would be as excited as anyone about Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell’s leadership of today’s Labour Party — but he would be no less anxious about the bigger canvas upon which a new politics needs to be written.

India is increasingly losing happiness by the year. World Happiness Report 2018 of the United Nations reveals that Indians are increasingly becoming unhappy. It scored only 4.190 on a scale of 0-10 in 2017, which is only a little more than the passing mark of 3.3 if life would have been an exam. It fell in global happiness ranking by 11 places in comparison to its fall in 2016 by four places. Only 23 countries out of 156 surveyed are unhappier than India, which ranked 133rd in the world. It means 84.61 per cent countries are happier than we are. We have lost our level of happiness during 2015-17 compared to 2008-10 by 0.698 points, making us the top 15th loser of the world ranking 128th out of 141. The fall was primarily due to declines in average life evaluations suffered due to a combination of economic, political, and social stresses. Increased rates of crime, conflict, suicide, and depression can be cited as its effect.

Tamil Nadu’s is getting a bit crowded for political parties with one added every month. The last one was Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM). Thursday morning, TTV Dinakaran launched his party, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, with ‘Amma’ making its debut in a party name. Not even ‘Amma’ J Jayalalithaa’s All India Anna DMK (AIADMK) has that honour.

LUCKNOW: Besides the understanding between Samajwadi Party and BSP, the anger of BJP workers and leaders and the collapse of administration are responsible for the humiliating defeat of BJP in Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha by-elections.

To say that politics is fragile is to bend with the wind. If anything, politics takes oxygen through democracy’s fault-lines. A particular party is rejected by the voter and politics peaks – EVM fraud! The machines are working for the ruling party and we don’t have the time-technology to dispatch The Terminator back in time to assassinate the EVM, so let’s character-assassinate the Election Commission.