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While much has been made of a woman becoming the first full-time defence minister in the Modi cabinet, not much is debated about the disappointment of the 32 allies who have been left out of power sharing. There is nothing wrong as after all it is the BJP, which has the control of the NDA but the expectations of the allies were high.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The concept of cooperative federalism, trumpeted by the Modi Government day in and day out, was thrown to the winds when it denied permission to Kerala’s tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran to attend the United Nation’s World Tourism Conference being held in China this month.

If the call for globalisation and free international market access is vital for export-oriented China’s growth and survival, India’s biggest challenge to its progress and economic stability is just the reverse — ensuring substantial localisation instead of facing onslaught of globalisation. India must manufacture more and more in the country to find new jobs and sustainable income for its people. Unfortunately, India is lagging far behind in manufacturing — basic or consumer — and getting increasingly saddled with poor quality employment or unemployment for its young job seekers. Cheaper imports are ruining domestic manufacturing and technological pursuits. For instance, India, the world’s second largest cellphone user, neither manufacturers their memory chips, nor phone instruments.

JAFFNA: Infrastructural projects are integral parts of transformative politics. No doubt the roads are essential projects for the growth and development of the society and the country, but at the base the roads are the mechanism to reach out to the aggrieved population. Roads are generally perceived as the initiative to bring disconnected places together.

In a strange coincidence, a report of the Reserve Bank of India published on August 24, the day the Supreme Court delivered its historic judgment upholding the right to privacy as fundamental, shares almost identical views on privacy and the use of personal data by financial institutions.

It is a mark of strength in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s functioning that nothing ever gets leaked unless deliberately done. This is amply reflected in recent expansion of the Union Council of Ministers. For days before the expansion and reshuffle, the TV channels and news papers ran extensively speculative stories of what is going to happen but almost all of them went wrong. With one possible exception (the inclusion of former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh), nearly every prediction went off the mark.

The National Health Policy 2017 document commits itself to culturally appropriate community centered solutions to meet the health needs of the ageing community in addition to compliance with constitutional obligations as per the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007. This policy recognizes the growing need for palliative and rehabilitative care for all geriatric illnesses and advocates the continuity of care across all levels. The question, however, is how all this is going to be met with.

India is passing through a treacherous times. There is no Dickensian dual scenario-it is one way- it is the worst of times. Indian democracy is at peril. The voice of dissent is being throttled. The ruling establishment is encouraging the most heinous type of abuses and abetment to violence in social media.; Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is considered as the darling of the online netizens, has found no time to send any condolence message on the brutal murder of one of the most respected journalists in the country Gouri Lankesh. Rather, he is following in twitter still the saffron heroes of online who are expressing glee at the death of one of the anti- Hindutva voices in the media. There is fear, apprehensions in the Indian media, more so in the states and the districts as the different segments of the Sangh Parivar are getting emboldened to take on the dissenters who question them or oppose their actions. Everything has to be in their way, otherwise?

On Friday, August 25, President Trump announced the imposition of tough new sanctions on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, as punishment for the establishment of a new National Constituent Assembly in that country. But the Constituent Assembly is not taking Trump’s latest attacks lying down, but rather is forging ahead with a full program of reforms on the heels of military threats against the South American country.

Nearly 80 officials of Khunti administration, including SP Ashwini Kumar Sinha, were held hostage for 12 hours by tribal villagers 60km from Ranchi on August 25 in protest against a move to amend the Tenancy Act and give their arable lands to Adanis.