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With the ‘murder of democracy’ in the Karnataka Assembly having been averted, thanks to a midnight intervention of the Supreme Court, and a joint JDS-Congress government under H D Kumaraswamy duly installed in place of BJP, it may now be time to revisit the developments in the court and take a closer look at the underlying legal principles invoked in the unusual court intervention.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Chengannur assembly by-election, campaign for which ended on May 26, is all set for a thrilling finish. The by-election, which was necessitated by the death of CPI(M) MLA K K Ramachandran Nair, saw a no-holds-barred and high-voltage campaign by the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front(LDF), the Congress-headed United Democratic Front(UDF) and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance(NDA) buoyant after the spectacular victory in the Tripura Assembly election.

The NDA Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has completed four years in office. Today it enters its fifth year in office. The preceding ten years of the UPA rule had unquestionably witnessed the most corrupt Government since Independence. Prime Minister Narendra Modi created transparent systems through legislative and institutional changes which have given this country a scam-free governance. Unlike the UPA, the Prime Minister is the natural leader of both his party and the nation. We have witnessed a journey from indecisiveness to clarity and decisiveness. India has transformed from being a part of the “fragile five” to the “bright spot” on the global economic scene. A regime of policy paralysis has been transformed into one of decisions and actions. India, which was on the verge of becoming a “basket case” has today been transformed into the fastest growing major economy in the world and is likely to hold that position in the years to come.

The outcome of Karnataka elections is loud and clear. It’s emergence of a grand anti-BJP front before next year’s Lok Sabha’s elections which otherwise looked an impossible task. An error, a mighty miscalculation or call it political opportunism in inviting BJP leader B S Yeddurappa to form the government, giving him an unusually long time—15 days—to prove his majority on the floor of the house drove opposition parties to come on one platform. The Supreme Court cut the time to 24 hours given to Yeddurappa but, seeing no chance of mustering a majority, the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate resigned paving the way for the Congress-JD(S) coalition to form the government with H D Kumaraswamy heading it. Congress could have been in an unassailable position had it tied up with JD(S) before the election.

It is an irony that healthcare has always been given a back seat in the priority list of successive governments. It has not been a public agenda either. Elections have many a times been fought on trivial issues. Therefore, there is hardly a public outcry on health issues even during elections. Public reaction on the increasing cost of treatment is reflected in the form of violence against the doctors. But there is no in depth debate on health issues.

It is four years since the Modi government had come to power and already the next general election is on the horizon. People will have to judge in whom to put their confidence in the forthcoming election. Stock taking is in order.

In these weeks Germany, like the world, is on a tight rope where the walker seems to be teetering above Niagara Falls or, worse yet, the fiery crater of the Kilauea volcano. A Trump-Netanyahu drama is being staged; each is playing his part on cue. Only days after Netanyahu’s press conference attack on Iran, Trump tore up the U.S. copy of the Iran nuclear agreement. Only hours after that Israel launched its heaviest missile strike in Syria since 1973, with a reported 28 warplanes hitting Iranian sites south, north and east of Damascus, including a munitions warehouse at the capital’s international airport.

Ten Lakh bank employees are to go on 48-hour continued strike on May 30 and 31, 2018, against the meagre offer of wage hike for the bank employees.

Sports minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore’s #HumFitTohIndiaFit challenge to cricketer Virat Kohli has landed Prime Minister Narendra Modi looking remarkably unfit! Rathore tagged Kohli to the challenge and Anushka Sharma’s husband promptly tagged PM Modi to #HumFitTohIndiaFit. Within the hour, Modi was target of a 101 challenges thrown at him by political rivals and commoners alike. His silence on #ThoothukudiKillings was challenged. And he was challenged to #ProduceDegrees.

Who are the bad guys in Thoothukudi? There must be an underworld of sorts in the port city, which was called Tuticorin by the Brits when they ruled India. Today, Thoothukudi is a favourite location for Tamil cinema. In many of them, scenes ofaruva-waving villains chasing the hero up and down Thoothukudi streets are a feature. But we are talking of real-life villains. A dozen protesters were shot dead in Thoothukudi a couple of days ago and there’s a gallery of villains galore.