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Amidst the revision of Chinese Constitution, which will permit Xi Jinping to be the perpetual head of Communist Party after the expiry of his second term, Trump’s escalation of tariff on steel and aluminum imports and asserting further tariff rampage on Chinese exports worth of US$ 50 billion spooked an air of suspense over a global trade war. Trade analysts are in a fix to deduce whether Trump’s protectionist measures, which target China, would really instigate China for retaliatory actions or the dispute would be settled through political and economic adjustments through negotiations. Till now, China refrained from taking any retaliatory measures. Instead, it relied more on mustering global support to stymie USA’s measures.

If you notice the cows have all been put to pasture, sort of. No more cow vigilante justice and beef in fridge. Instead, there is data leak and the cool stuff that can be done with smartphones: move data of the cattle-class into the folders of the ruling class. Time was when the Internet was the superhighway to freedom; the Arab Spring, and how a phased out superpower could not get away with blasting a Malaysian Airline out of Ukrainian airspace with a missile.

As global solar power generation touched 100 GW, of which nearly half is in China and an additional 20 GW in India, very soon a new application – solar powered electric vehicles will become a reality providing clean and green transportation particularly in highly polluted cities like Delhi and Beijing.

The Karnataka government’s decision to grant minority status to the Lingayat community is clearly intended to boost its prospects in the forthcoming Assembly elections. However, the assertion that the Lingayats constitute a religious community separate from the Hindus is yet another instance of how religion continues to play a major role in politics although secularism is supposed to be a cardinal feature of the polity.

LUCKNOW: After the success in Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha by-elections, the SP-BSP alliance seems to be all set to become a game changer in 2019 polls.

Weekly Round-Up of Major Decisions of the Courts in India as also Legal Policy Developments

In a shocking judgment, the Supreme Court, in a two judge bench of Justice Adarsh Goel and Justice U.U. Lalit, has completely overtuned the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (‘POA’), by diluting its provisions. Dealing with a case of a Principal from Maharashtra facing prosecution under the Act, the Court made several unnecessary observations about the alleged ‘misuse’ of the Act, without citing any proper evidence or data.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government has again proved its inability to ensure smooth and mature handling of a peaceful protest.

No one seems to have a clue to the psyche of Indian voters, which has seen perceptible changes in the last four decades. The period of this transition has put political parties and their leaders on tenterhooks. Socio-political trends in the country are too diverse to give any comfort to parties on what could happen in the 2019 general elections. Obviously, they will have to work hard to win a majority. The optimism recently exuded by an international media organisation that Modi may remain prime minister until 2029 is too impressionistic and runs contrary to the socio-political trends revealed in media, social-media, and the results of elections held in the last 46 months.

There is nothing to be surprised if India has attracted a tiny Rs.1.17 crore ($180,000) as foreign direct investment (FDI) in defence production under the “Make in India” framework in the last four years. The reason is simple. India is the world’s largest arms importer. And, it may remain so for many years to come. Why should an arms manufacturer-exporter expand its production base to India to spend more, earn less and subject itself to plethora of local rules, regulations and inspections? This explains why the liberalisation of the FDI policy in defence failed to impress powerful foreign arms manufacturer-exporters to set up shops in India. China, India’s main military tormentor, is the world’s third largest defence power — after the USA and Russia — and the second largest in military spending, after the USA. China is continuously expanding its defence manufacturing capacity and increasingly arming India’s other border states such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and even the small Maldives. Under the circumstances, India has little choice but to raise and update its weaponry through higher imports of sophisticated arms and weapons for its army, navy, air force and para-military services. Armament exporters to India are taking full advantage of the situation.