View Articles

No matter its notoriety in both sponsoring and becoming victim of terrorism, Pakistan's economic management has been lauded by IMF, at the completion of its three-year conditional credit (6.15 billion dollars), with its growth pick-up and ongoing power and fiscal reforms.

After the maiden monetary policy statement of the newly-constituted Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) which announced a modest 25 basis points cut in repo rate to 6.25 per cent early this month, much hype and hoopla were built into the minutes of the meeting of the six-member Committee as to how they arrived at this decision.

Manipur Chief Minister Okhram Ibobi Singh and some of his senior colleagues survived an abortive attempt on their lives earlier this week by Naga rebels suspected to belong to the NSCN(IM) faction. The rebel outfit, which entered into a cesefire agreement with the Centre decades ago, has been demanding a greater Nagalim which should include Naga-inhabited areas of States neighbouring Nagaland, including four Naga-inhabited districts of Manipur, namely, Ukhrul, Tamenglong, Chandel and Senapati. Naturally, all the concerned States – Assam, Manipur and Arunachal – are dead against ceding any territory to the proposed Nagalim.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After the CPI(M), it is the turn of the Congress to find itself in the eye of a storm in Kerala.

One interesting aspect of the BIMSTEC grouping is that smaller member countries set the pace in terms of attracting foreign investments as well as implementing the agenda of regional development. Until recently, Myanmar in the first flush of its post-dictatorship democratic dawn, was a magnet for international investors because of its enormous mineral and energy resources. Lack of infrastructure and political complexities have taken some of the shine off the Myanmar development story.

It may seem a bit paradoxical but in the ensuing Presidential elections campaign in the United States of America, the US Communist Party and the leftists under the banner of the Democratic presidential contestant Bernie Sanders, are the most committed sections of the US people who are determined to defeat the Republican candidate Donald Trump to ensure the victory of the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Hillary is known for her close connections with the Wall Street and she is among the neo liberals in the Democratic Party leadership who till the beginning of the present election campaign, stuck to her old views on the social and economic issues which were in opposition to the left.

The lack of ambition in both the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) is curious. Ever since their patriarch, Bal Thackeray, chose parochialism as the road to political power, they have stuck to this insular, divisive mantra, which keeps them confined to their home state of Maharashtra.

It may be time for the government to review the performance of the country’s industrial sector, which has nearly stopped growing. The only exceptions are middle class housing, cars and motorbikes and, of course, cellphones that are mostly imported or assembled. Behind the stagnating industrial growth is massive import of such products mostly from China, for which there exists a substantial domestic capacity. Random import of goods, manufactured by the large, medium and small scale units, has, to an extent, depressed domestic production. To give an example, the value of imports from China, this year, could exceed a whopping Rs. 5,60,000 crore. Not all imports from China enter through the channel requiring formal customs clearance. Many are simply smuggled through Nepal and north-eastern states bordering China, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Smuggled imports hit domestic medium and small industries while regular large imports choke the production of the country’s organised sector.

A few weeks before the brutal cross-border terrorist attack on Uri, Prime Minister Modi had sensibly warned that India's defence spending may have to be raised, keeping in view the need to safeguard national security in a growingly hostile neighbourhood.

The proposed sealing of 3,323-km India-Pakistan land border and 740-km LoC by 2018 as announced by Home Minister Rajnath Singh soon after the surgical strike at Pakistani terrorist launch pads across the line of control, has an element of politics. All governments in the last three decades and more have spoken of sealing the border with Pakistan.