View Articles

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance has unnerved BSP supremo Mayawati who is banking on bulk of Muslim votes along with committed Dalit support base to get majority in the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

The 2017-18 national budget to be presented in Parliament shortly before the process of assembly elections starts in five states, including heavyweight Uttar Pradesh, is most unlikely to be a soft or a populist one. The reasons are simple: the government can’t afford to be in a giving mode with its expenditure in the coming financial year set to go up by over Rs.2,50,000 crore to be close to the Rs. 23,00,000 crore mark. And, the government has to raise lots of additional resources to meet the income-expenditure gap. The sources of revenue are less elastic than one would wish. Things would have been much less difficult if the country’s GDP could show a 7.6 per cent growth — projected before demonetisation — for the current fiscal. The latest IMF estimates bring India’s GDP growth rate down harshly to 6.6 per cent. That would make the next financial year’s budget making hardly comfortable. Also, the latest centre-state compromise on somewhat truncated GST, which may come into effect earliest by July, 2017, will put a further pressure on the central government’s originally projected revenue aspiration on account of the new taxation system.

For a full week now, Tamil Nadu is in the grip of a mass upsurge in support of a call for revocation of the Supreme Court's 2014 ban on 'Jallikattu'- a traditional bull fight- a demand strongly backed by both Dravidian majors and smaller parties, including lately BJP, which is desperately seeking a strong foothold in the state.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Rashtiya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has firmed up its hold on the Kerala unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). That is the most significant outcome of the three-day conclave of the State BJP.

What till now looked impossible has happened in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress and Samajwadi Party have entered into an alliance. This will have far-reaching effect on coming UP election. The image of Akhilesh Yadav has gone up with his party getting the cycle symbol. The family feud in the SP has taken a decisive turn with Election Commission awarding the cycle symbol to Akhilesh Yadav. It is a tilting of scales that gives the young Chief Minister a big boost on the campaign trail ahead of next month’s assembly election in UP. Not only this cements his place as the man to beat in the polls, it helps him sidestep anti-incumbency with having to give up the emotional connect with the organizational support that SP brings with it as a key player in the state for more than two decades. By winning the pitched battle with his uncles and other forces within the party, and most significantly his father Mulayam Singh, Akhilesh can shed the perception that he was the weak CM and showcase himself as agent of development and change.

Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani is a man of action. In what is billed as a historic first, he has ordered Air India to reserve an entire row in economy class on its domestic flights for women passengers travelling alone. Almost simultaneously, he ordered grounding of 57 crew members, mostly air hostesses, for being overweight with a caveat that they can return to their high flying jobs only if they get back in shape quickly. Else, they will be assigned ground jobs permanently.

BHOPAL: The agitation demanding the re-posting of Gaurav Tiwari as police Commissioner of Katni district has taken a violent turn and the Congress supporters are capitalizing on the grievances of the common residents against the BJP Government’s partisan action in transferring an honest officer like Tiwari at the diktat of the BJP party workers. The anger at the state administration’s actions, is now widespread and the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is facing severe criticism for his handling of the issue.

The boat disaster is a grim reminder that safety in public transport remains a low priority for governments. Little doubt the accident reflects very poorly on the functioning of the state government. While it sends a loud and clear message that Kumar his lost his control on the administration. Had it not been the case, why then the administration was not too proactive in managing the crowd after his interaction with them a day before.

For the first time since its winning power in 2011 in West Bengal, the political authority of the Trinamool Congress (TMC)facesa new challenge: recent outbreaks of violence at Bhangar and Bishnupur in South 24 Parganas district, put a question mark against itsvery ability to govern.

NEW DELHI: The Central Secretariat of the Communist Party of India has decided to field Mrs Daswinder Kaur as the CPI candidate for the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency.