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The media and political build-up was cut short abruptly. Almost laconically, CJI Ranjan Gogoi read out the order. The matter will be listed in January to decide which court and when this matter will be heard. It can be heard in January or February or May whatever.

The Lok Sabha elections for 2019 in Bihar promise to be a significant political battle between the backward and upper castes. There is simmering discontent in all the caste groups, irrespective of their class character and economic profile that the coalition governments have failed to improve their conditions. While the backward castes and dalits with leaders like Nitish Kumar, Sushil Modi, Ram Vilas Paswan etc feel that all the benefits have been conned by the upper caste people, who, however, the opposite to be true.

Not a week goes without reports about the deliberate destruction of the autonomy and robustness of the institutions critical for the Indian democracy. Last week was the turn of the Central Bureau of Investigation (‘CBI’), aka ‘caged parrot’. No one was under any illusion about CBI’s autonomy or its independence, but the events of the last week even surprised, rather shocked the known sceptics too. Though the reports of feud between the top two officials of the CBI, Alok Verma, Director of CBI, and Rakesh Asthana, Special Director, CBI, have been doing the rounds for almost a year, the matter came to a head when CBI filed a FIR against Rakesh Asthana under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 for alleged corruption in Moin Qureshi’s case on 15th October, 2018, a meat exporter who is being investigated for various offences by CBI and Enforcement Directorate (‘ED’). On 23rd October, 2018, Rakesh Asthana approached the Delhi High Court to quash the said FIR, but the High Court only directed the CBI not to take any coercive action against him till 29th October, and did not stay the investigation into the FIR.

The political storm that was brewing in Sri Lanka for quite some months under an apparently tranquil surface has now broken out in full force. In a quick succession of events, President Maithripala Sirisena has dismissed his prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place and “prorogued” parliament till November 16.

Official data are like audited corporate financial accounts that hide more than they reveal. Just as some of the latest top level governments statements that claims 80 percent of the mobile handsets are now manufactured in India and the country “was able to save around Rs. three trillion in cell phone import bills during the last four years”. They reveal, at best, only one side of the story. The real story is that the so-called high domestic production led to much higher telecom imports, mostly components, during this period. Records show that India’s net electronic imports increased 12 percent last year. The annualised electronic goods deficit touched some $50 billion for April-December, 2017. That was as much as 30 percent higher on a year-on-year basis.

BJP President Amit Shah Saturday arrived in Kerala, the “maiden passenger” on the “maiden flight” to the “maiden airport” in Kannur, and warned Chief Minister Pinnarayi Vijayan that “perpetrating Emergency-like atrocities” on “ready-to-wait maidens”, mothers and sisters of Kerala will be fought with all the might at the BJP’s command and nothing that Pinnarayi can do will stop the BJP.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is not easy to out-Goebbels Goebbels. But the Kerala BJP leaders are tantalizingly close to achieving that feat!

“The Opportunity Costs of Socialism,” published on Tuesday by the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors, attempts to smear socialism—worker ownership of production—as a bankrupt ideology. The 72-page paper uses the 200th anniversary of socialist thinker Karl Marx’s birth as a jumping-off point for condemning everyone who doesn’t pray at the altar of the free market. Not even capitalist social democracies like Norway and Sweden are spared from blistering attacks.

We know how the world views Taj Mahal as a beautiful monument of love. We also know that the world considers Bangalore and Hyderabad as Indian versions of Silicon Valley. But we never knew that there is a world famous stretch of land near an airstrip in Nagpur and it happens to be owned by Anil Ambani. The discovery has been made possible by the Rafale deal with Dassault Aviation.

Sadly, the Central Bureau of Investigation, India’s premier investigative agency, has been described as “Comical Bureau”, “Bureau of Intrigues” and headlines in newspapers, reflecting internal tussle inside the CBI, screamed “CBI vs CBI”. Why this prestigious agency has come to such a pass? Possibly, its misuse by the political parties—Congress or the BJP— when in power, to meet their political ends. The agency has been losing its credibility.