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Even as Assam and parts of the Northeast remain embroiled in vigorous protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016, one hopeful sign is that new ideas to arrive at a balanced solution have been put forward. The fact that there has been no major outbreak of ethnic violence among dominant groups in the region also fosters optimism during an obviously tense confrontation between the Centre and the non–BJP opposition parties.

As the humiliating treatment of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh by the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the matter of seat distribution for the parliamentary polls, and the party’s defiant response show, the 134-year political patriarch is currently battling both the ghosts of its past and apprehensions about its freshly kindled hopes of the future among its opponents.

It is most surprising that India’s bid to enforce data localisation should be strongly contested by the European Union, which boasts one of the world’s toughest personal privacy regimes. The EU, US, Russia and China all have their ways to strongly and legally protect their sensitive personal and organisational data locally. One wonders why the local data protection locally is not good for India, from their external perspective. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives its citizens the right to demand companies disclose and delete information held about them. No one contested GDPR. China does not give a damn about what outside nations and corporates think about its own stringent data protection regulation. Then, why is the outside world making so much fuss about India’s data localisation policy?

Only two months away are the elections to the Lok Sabha to intensify not only political activities by various contestant groups but also political analysts to visualize the possible outcome. None can identify the two major elements that invariably impact the final outcome, the geographic reach of various contending parties or alliances and also chemistry that becomes catalyst for favourable outcomes. Narendra Modi had stunned all his opponents in 2014 with a clear mandate. Even world leaders were impressed that the man who had to suffer barrage of accusations for 12 yeas of communal approach of his regime performed the political miracle of gaining a clear mandate for the party that had consistently failed for seven previous elections to get clear majority.

With the 116th Congress in session now in Washington, there seem to be four constants voters can expect in the next two years on Capitol Hill: The Democratic-run House will pass progressive legislation which will sink from sight in the GOP-run Senate or fall victim to GOP President Donald Trump’s veto pen. The Senate’s bills will cater to the corporate class, but those measures will sink from sight in the House.

On the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) index, a Niti Ayog report ranks Kerala top of the heap, along with Sikkim, on gender-equality – scoring 69 out of 100. Does this mean Kerala can beat Sikkim to second place if women of all age are allowed into the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple? The answer is there is no comparison: Sikkim has mountains and snow, but it does not have a temple such as the Sabarimala Ayyappa to kick up a gender-row.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav says he’ll be “happy” if Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati becomes Prime Minister. He is still to get over the excitement of SP-BSP gathbandhan materialising in Uttar Pradesh and it’s an equal partnership: 38 seats each. The gathbandhan will not contest Amethi and Rae Bareilly, which are left for Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. Two others are for “Others!”

Now that Parliament has passed the Constitution amendment bill providing for a new 10 per cent quota for the “economically backward” among those outside other quotas, what is likely to be its fall out? Evidently, a Pandora’s Box of new quota demands is set to be opened. This is because the government’s move will see the 50 per cent limit set for quotas by the Supreme Court being breached. And, once this happens it will literally be free-for-all in the great quota race.

Symbolism has been the staple diet of Indian politics. Irrespective of whether parties believe in something or not, when it comes to public posturing they can only take a certain position. And if they dare to defy, they are doomed. Posturing is important, implementation may not be so. The latest instance of such symbolism is the bill passed by both houses of parliament, in perhaps the shortest possible time, providing for 10 percent quota in government jobs and admission to educational institutions for economically backward families belonging to the hitherto ineligible upper castes. It is claimed that the new law will cover nearly 95 percent of Indians in the quota system. The importance of symbolism explains the predicament of opposition parties, which did not want to be seen opposing the law, although they knew the real intentions of the Modi government was to win elections and not the welfare of the deprived people.

BHOPAL: The first session of the newly constituted Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha ended on a bitter note. The four-day session was marked by stormy scenes, angry exchanges and a series of walkout by the opposition.