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Few could match the country’s central bank for institutional integrity, professional flair and calling a spade a spade in duly cautioning the government of the day when it senses something amiss in the macroeconomic management of the authorities. It is rather unfortunate that such a revered institution has of late been dragged into needless controversy over the constitution of the monetary policy committee (MPC) which will set the inflation target to draw the line beyond which inflation would not be allowed to breach under its hawkish watch. Even as inflation-targeting has failed comprehensively wherever it was in vogue, this in no way detracted the authorities from experimenting the one in a country of continental size and dimension like ours. This is because legions of people have no means of livelihood or whatever little they earn is not indexed to inflation so that a set target of a single-digit inflation with a plus/minus two per cent would help mollify the miseries of millions as they battle to make both ends meet in their daily somber scramble and struggle to eke out an existence.

The centre’s firm directive to the corporates to undertake their respective social responsibilities as per the companies act quite seriously, has led to increased activities by the Indian corporate contributing to the improvement in a number of areas to the benefit of the under-priviledged. Many big companies are adopting villages around their areas of operations and making efforts to make them as model ones by providing all facilities. What is significant is that the Government has liberalized Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) and given freedom to the public sector companies to innovate their CSR initiatives to contribute to nation building.

At long last a new constitution almost ready with the endorsement of 157 articles and a seven-province federal model by 90 per cent of members of the Constituent Assembly. If all goes well, it will go down in the history of the land-locked Himalayan state as a milestone in the struggle for ending a feudal order that forced the people to accept Nepal as a kingdom whose state religion is Hinduism. The new charter vouchsafes federalism, secularism, citizenship provisions, fundamental rights and the state's directive principles and policies. Coincidentally, the promulgation is scheduled to be made on 20 September when Greece goes in for a snap poll, the outcome of which will have a far- reaching effect on the future of the Eurozone.

LONDON: Victory of Jeremy Corbyn a Dalit sympathizer, hard core Tony Blair critic and an MP who vowed to publicly apologize for the Iraq war, as the new leader of Labour Party getting 60% of the vote share, symbolises that the politics of protest and socialist political ethos have not died down. This victory is also important for the reason that it has come at the time when the politics of globalisation and neo liberalism dictate the political course worldwide. Corbyn’s victory means that age of mass parties is not over or that young people are also not apathetic.

India-US bilateral trade, among the top 2 or 3 countries, is expected to grow five times in five years or so to $ 500 billion, much more than India's annual exports of a little over $300 billion. The first composite strategic and commercial dialogue in Washington on September 21-22 will provide the much needed platform to carry forward this none too optimistic aim.

The resounding victory of Jeremy Corbyn at the British Labour Party’s annual conference on September 12 signals a watershed in the British polity and it may very well start a new process of churning in Europe where the common masses have been agitating against the austerity programmer imposed by their respective governments.Corbyn is an unalloyed leftist and for the last 32 years, as a member of the House of Commons in British Parliament, he has been fighting openly for the causes which are a big no no to the majority of the leadership of the Labour Party.Corbyn has fought on the basis of his own agenda of bringing a new kind of politics in the Labour Party exposing the hollowness of the new Labour propounded by Tony Blair types .Nearly sixty percent of the Labour Party delegates gave un stinted approval to Cobryn’s programme and the general mood at the Labour conference was that the British politics is entering a new stage where the opposition Labour Party will be articulating the demands which never got favours from the British establishment.

Is the Kerala CPI(M) is in the grip of a crisis of confidence? If the party’s response to the latest crisis besetting it is any guide, the answer to this question is a resounding yes.

There was an English monarch in the 11th century who was called Ethelred the Unready. Being 10 years old, he sought advice from those around him, mainly to fight the Vikings. But, the counsellors usually gave him what turned out to be the wrong advice. The phrase, unready, in the king’s name implied “badly advised”.

LONDON: Even while captains of India Inc, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his senior finance ministry officials are optimist that the Chinese stock market crash and the devaluation of the yuan, will create opportunities for India, the Chinese political leadership has geared up to face the challenges and put its financial house in order and retrieve the lost ground.

The bugle for Bihar’s crucial election has been sounded. It is a matter of life of death both for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Both the NDA and the Nitish-Lalu-Congress alliance have huge stakes in the October-November elections. A Modi victory will not only consolidate the BJP’s power for next several years, it will decimate the opposition. On the other hand, if the Grand Alliance, comprising JD(U), RJD and Congress, wins, it will put an end to the Modi’s invincibility.