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BHOPAL: The MP government has issued a notification for judicial inquiry into the jailbreak and alleged encounter of eight SIMI operatives, four days after chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made the announcement. Justice (Retd) SK Pande will head the one-man inquiry commission in Bhopal.

In a sudden recall of Britain’s historical relationship with India, UK prime minister Theresa May, chose India for her first overseas trip outside of the European Union. As she landed in Delhi on Sunday night, she appears to have run straight into the infamous Delhi smog which had reduced visibility. A similar fog interfered with the clarity in the perception about mutual relations of the two countries. Not to be surprised, from the start, the visit appears to have been marked by this difference in perception and divergent direction.

Having made a mess of the Samajwadi Party’s (SP) electoral prospects in UP by sparking off internecine squabbling, the party’s national president, Mulayam Singh Yadav, is trying to make amends by replicating Bihar’s pattern of a mahagathbandhan or a grand alliance in next year’s assembly elections in the state.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Better late than never. An unconditional apology from Assembly Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan to Kerala Governor P. Sathasivam for not inviting the latter to the inaugural of the year-long celebrations of Kerala State’s 60th formation day has helped to clear the air.

Generally unnoticed in India’s mainstream media, there are positive signs of change in India’s East and Northeast regions. Bangladesh and Nepal have proposed to India small but significant steps to improve regional power and road connectivity during the last few days.

Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and the railway board may disagree, 65-year old Indian Railways — since the country’s regional rail systems starting in 1855 were nationalised and brought under a single network in 1951 — is not only one of the government’s most inefficient and corrupt bodies, but it is also the most insensitive department to its key customers, the Indian public. The decision by the railway authorities to print on rail tickets in capital letters that it “recovers only 57 per cent of the cost of travel on an average” is unprecedented and probably the most arrogant and insulting way to communicate with a fare-paying passenger. Such a communication may also be meant to tell such a passenger that ‘be happy with what you get from the railways — poor condition of coaches, bad quality food and drinking water, stinking toilets, deteriorating travel safety and frequent long delays in travel time on long distant trains — because that is what you can get at best for what you pay for your rail travel.’ On paper, however, the annual earnings of Indian Railways, employing over 1.3 million people, is close to Rs. 1,75,000 crore ($25 billion) and profit is Rs.11,000 crore ($1.6 billion).

BHOPAL: Some new sordid facts have come to light confirming the general impression that there was total laxity in security in the Bhopal Central Jail. Jail sentries on leave was not the only reason behind lax security in Bhopal Central Jail on Diwali night when eight SIMI operatives allegedly escaped by reportedly killing a warder before police shot them down on the city outskirts.

In India, Mr Donald Trump – the Republican candidate for US President elections - has drawn more attentions among the politicians, analysts, think-tanks and media than Mrs Hillary Clinton – Democratic candidate for the elections. Unlike the previous US Presidential elections, the Indian analysts are in confusion over the impact of the election. They are unable to reach any realistic forecast for the USA’s next strategic move towards India, given the neck to neck contest.

There is a stark similarity between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and the RSS’s imprint on functioning of government is quite visible. Both Modi and Bhagwat go back a long way; both were born in September 1950 and Modi was groomed in the Sangh by Bhagwat’s father—Madhukar—who was prant pracharak in Gujarat. Bhagwat is known to have pushed Modi’s candidature as the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate over L K Advani’s. His reasoning was that the older generation has to change.

The most acrimonious of the US Presidential elections campaign is drawing to a close and the registered American voters with more than a million of Indians, will be voting on November 8 to choose their future President of the country for a period of four years. The contest is essentially between the Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton and the Republican Donald Trump though there are two other candidates. This US Presidential poll outcome is going to have immense impact on the global polity, international security and the domestic policies in America. Donald Trump has broken the convention of a normal conservative neo-liberal of Republican variety, his policies, speeches and programmes are destined to take America backwards instead of Making America Great and along with this, he will opt for the easy way out by hitting at the immigrants and the religious minorities, especially Muslims in order to appease the uneducated white Americans. If Trump wins this crucial election, the US will be witnessing a social turmoil with the potential of violent clashes taking place between colour and religions.