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Army officer Lieutenant Ummer Fayaz’s killing has been avenged for the nth-time. Two of his killers are said to be among the 12 militants killed in south Kashmir on the April Fool’s Day. Three army soldiers and four civilians also died in the exchange of fire at three encounter sites in south Kashmir. J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti promptly asked for resumption of talks with Pakistan even as that exporter of terror railed against the “brutal crackdown” on terrorists and civilians in our once-green Valley.

While laying down procedural safeguards and trying to strike a balance between protecting individual liberties and preserving the spirit of a law in favour of oppressed sections, the Supreme Court has virtually conceded to the argument that the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 were being misused by the Dalits to harass the upper caste and feudal gentry. There is no denying that till today the Dalits are the most exploited lot in the country. They are also the worst victims of the denial of the justice.

This summer – April-May-June – will sizzle. Not as much as last year or the year before. But average temperatures in most parts of the country will be ‘above normal’, says the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). There is a silver lining, though: temperatures in east, east-central and southern India are likely to be “lower than the usual” – indication that the otherwise notoriously wayward Monsoon will be punctual this year. To that, let’s keep in mind that the weatherman is no less unreliable. He wears a mean watch; and, like the politician, promises too much.

March 19 was a big day for the Indian Air Force as its heaviest transport aircraft, C-17 Globemaster, landed at Tuting Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) in Arunachal Pradesh, very close to the Chinese border. India has been upgrading the old and disused landing strips in Arunachal to ALGs for handling big aircraft as part of its larger programme of strengthening defences against China. Last year’s confrontation at Doklam ended after 72 days when China, for reasons of its own, decided not to further escalate the tension. It chose for the time being to dismount from the high horse it was riding.

It may look unusual that global investment bankers, led by Goldman Sachs and Nomura, are suddenly changing their perception about India as a rewarding investment and growth destination. Last month, Nomura’s research report on India went to the extent of saying that political uncertainty in India is on the rise and the ‘ruling BJP is on the back foot’, a development that could hurt reforms. The Nomura report concludes that the political risk is ‘certainly underpriced.’ The investment bank report bluntly concludes that an early Lok Sabha election in the fourth quarter (September-December) of 2018, instead of the normal April-May of 2019, can’t be ruled out. Nomura’s report came almost simultaneously with Goldman Sachs’ report downgrading its India forecasts in the wake of a $2 billion-plus PNB fraud. The global investment banker warns that the growing bank frauds could spark tighter regulation of the banking sector constraining credit growth. In a note to clients, Goldman Sachs lowered its real gross domestic product (GDP) forecast on India for the year to March 2019 to 7.6 per cent from 8 per cent earlier.

All CBSE question papers should henceforth – like film Censor Board certificates, which carry no-smoking and no animals were used in the making of the film claims – carry the legend ‘This Q-paper was not leaked at any step of its making process.’ That requires a ‘foolproof’ system in place. As of now there is no such system. Or else the class XII Economics paper and class X Mathematics q-papers would not have been leaked, placing lakhs of students in the difficult situation of sitting for the two tests all over again. The fact remains that if the culprit is traced, the motive will be found – political or material.

‘Nokkukooli’ – the practice of charging for no work and exorbitant charges for loading and unloading works – continues to have Kerala in its stranglehold despite assertions to the contrary by the Pinarayi Vijayan Government.

BHOPAL: In Madhya Pradesh there is no perceptible decline in crime in general and against women in particular. The government has come under severe attack over the death of a journalist, Sandeep Sharma, in Bhind district. The sand mafia’s hand is suspected in the brutal murder of the journalist, who carried out a sting operation exposing the role of some influential people operating a sand mafia. Chief Minister Shivrajj Singh Chouhan has said that the case will be handed over to the CBI. The order of CBI inquiry is still awaited.

UP Governor Ram Naik can produce a treatise on the ‘R’ in the middle of B R Ambedkar’s name. He has been feeling very agitated over the way Ambedkar’s name was being written in Hindi-spoken states, such as Uttar Pradesh. According to him, the R between B and Ambedkar represents Ramji and not Rao. He argues that Marathis write their father’s name as their middle name and the original name of the father of our Constitution was Bhimrao and not Bhim, which would make the R in the middle stand for Ramji. Naik, who is also Ram, has got Yogi Adityanath’s UP government to issue an administrative order to the effect that in future B R Ambedkar’s name in all official records of the state would be written as Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar and not B R Ambedkar. He had written to Yogi about the mistake and the chief minister has obliged.

The BJP began its campaign in Karnataka on an embarrassing note, which pollsters say, is inauspicious. It was a day of embarrassment for the BJP when usually sharp party President Amit Shah committed a gaffe. Interacting with the media during a tour of Lingayat and Dalit mutt in central Karnataka, he began making allegation against the Siddaramaiah government but inadvertently stated what was the truth. “Recently a retired Supreme Court judge observed if ever there was a competition for the most corrupt government, then the Yeddyurappa government will get number one…”. Yeddyurappa, who was sitting on the dais, was stunned. Shah immediately corrected the faux pas, saying “arre re…. Siddaramaiah government is number one in corruption” but the damage was done.