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When two nuclear-armed governments are aggressively egged on by their respective “mainstream” media for “action” and “reaction”, it looks like a dress rehearsal for Apocalypse. Humans all over, especially those in the subcontinent, need to sit up and take notice at whatever it is that masquerades as media. After the Uri attacks, there is talk of action and retaliation in the air and even more so in the airwaves. Did the Indian Army jawans die for nothing, some ask?

India still maintains the nominal lead in growth in the world, however stuck it is at 7 to 7.5 per cent for three years now, amid unabated grimness in global economic and trade slowdowns, but still seen to be under-performing on a range of policies and structural reforms. So much so that its much sought-after upgrade from the credit rating agency, Moody's, remains elusive at present.

Is the Northeastern region moving towards a ‘Congress-mukt Bharat’, a political wish expressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his campaign? Of the eight northeastern states, four are led by either BJP or its allies. Congress rules Manipur, Meghalaya and Mizoram and the CPI(M) rules Tripura. The BJP hopes that “Congress free Bharat” might not be unrealistic, given the fact that the “Seven Sisters” are known for defection and are almost entirely dependent on the Union government for funds.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The crucial three-day National Council session of the BJP, to be held in Kozhikode, Kerala, from September 23 to 25 is being held in the backdrop of mounting challenges before the party.

With the NDA government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi finding it electorally salutary strategy to be farmer-friendly by way of its mid-course policy correction, there is no end to which it is prepared to go to please kisans in its elusive quest for doubling their income by 2022. That the country’s farm sector growth was hit on back-to-back droughts for the first two years of the NDA was well known but what was not widely known was that the government remained obsessed with other objectives of dubious nature than paying focused attention on retrieving the losing ground in the farm front.

India, as the host of the eighth BRICS summit at Goa on October 15 and 16 this year, is proposing a draft to set up a BRICS credit rating agency with the aim of ending the domination of the western dominated international credit rating agencies like Standard & Poor’s and Moody’ Investors Services. The proposal has already been discussed by the finance ministers of the five member countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and there is a possibility of a memorandum of understanding on this credit rating agency being signed at the Goa Summit.

Overwhelming victory of Trinamool Congress in West Bengal assembly election affirmed West Bengal people’s confidence in TMC. Their primary need is to rejuvenate West Bengal and make the state viable for employment opportunities.

With China announcing a massive $9 billion long term soft loan for the development of Bangladesh Railways, India’s LookEast initiative will face new tests and economic challenges.

Even as Pakistan has ratcheted up its provocative tactics against India, evidently to elicit the threat of a belligerent response so that Islamabad can tell the world of the danger of allowing the Kashmir “dispute” to fester, New Delhi has to make up its mind on how to respond to a demented neighbour which harbours a psychopathic hatred to towards India.

LUCKNOW: Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will not be the face of Samajwadi Party in 2017 assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh nor will he be projected as chief minister.