View Articles

BHOPAL: Pakistan's Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, who was shot at by Taliban for daring to go to school, is now a role model for thousands of girls in Bhopal. A collage of photographs depicting Malala's struggle and success stories created by the Bhopal District Education Office (DEO) has been pinned on notice boards of all government girls' schools in the state capital.

Ever since the NDA government returned to power after a decade of wilderness in 2014, the new dispensation under the inscrutable but all the more intrepid leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is blazing a new trial on the economic landscape with gusto. Whether it was the dismantling of the erstwhile Planning Commission, a relic of the socialist past , the demonetization of high denominational currencies or the merger of the rail budget with the general budget, the Schumpeterian paradigm of creative destruction has been the hallmark of this government, regardless of the wider ramifications this wrought on the body politic in its wake.

LUCKNOW: Opposition unity during the ongoing budget session of the Assembly has unnerved the Yogi Government in particular and BJP in general.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The arrest of party MLA, M. Vincent, on the suspicion of raping a 51-year-old woman, his neighbour, has sent the Congress and the United Democratic Front (UDF) led by it into a tizzy.

PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is not naïve not to see that corruption is endemic and has become the way of the life in the present day politics. Some of his colleagues often figure in alleged corrupt practices. The malaise is so acute that his name had also featured in the fodder scam. The confessional statement of an accused says that Nitish had received huge money from the beneficiaries of the scam. In fact, the matter had come up before the Jharkhand High Court two years ago, but the petitioner could not substantiate his allegation. He had based his accusation on the confessional statement.

Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav is boxed in from all sides, but does it mean he is politically finished? Jury is out although he is known for his survival instincts, as despite several court cases and convictions, he has surprisingly sprung back in the state as well as national level politics not once but many times. For the man who has served as Railways Minister and Chief Minister of Bihar, the next few months could be a test for his staying power, as his opponents say that's likely to change this time as not only the RJD supremo but also his entire family is facing corruption charges.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has blown the bugle for her anti-BJP campaign at the annual Martyr’s Day Rally in Kolkata on July 21. She has given a call for removing BJP from power in 2019 Lok Sabha elections by the joint efforts of all the anti-saffron forces. She has conveyed her willingness to be of help to forge the widest possible unity of the opposition parties to challenge the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2019 poll. The Trinamool Congress supremo has announced a BJP-Quit India type of campaign from August 9 to August 30 in all the districts of West Bengal to expose the”misdeeds” of both the state BJP and the centre headed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and she wants that this campaign should take place in other states under the leadership of the Congress and the local regional parties.

How long will the country mutely witness thousands of its debt-stricken small farmers committing suicides year after year, no matter which political party is in power at the Centre or states? With 67 per cent of India’s farmland held by marginal farmers and continuous shrinkage of acreage under their control provide an alarming picture of the future of those poor farmers and India’s agriculture. Unfortunately, political parties do not seem to be concerned about addressing the real issue of making agriculture scientifically sustainable without such political doles as writing-off poor farmers’ bank-debts and certain farm subsidies that indirectly benefit industrial producers of power, fertilisers and pesticides more than their direct users.

United States President Donald Trump may be most looked down in his own country – he might be having the lowest popular rating among the US Presidents in the first six months of their respective tenures, but he has started his actions in bringing down the popularly elected governments in Latin America. Right now his target is regime change in Venezuela ruled by the Leftist President Nicolas Maduro. This is being followed by instigating the rightwing forces in Brazil to see that the popular former President Luiz Lulla da Silva is not allowed to stand for the Presidential elections in October 2018.

As expected Ram Nath Kovind is the new President of India, succeeding versatile Pranab Mukherjee but he is not as multi-talented as the outgoing President. The change of guard at Rashtrapati Bhavan will have its consequences. The equation between the President and the Prime Minister has always been subject to considerable modification and negotiation after every of change of player; and, though Rashtrapati Bhavan is not the rival centre of power, its occupant can be a source of irritation and frustration for any Prime Minister.