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Cynics are likely to count two major achievements of Narendra Modi during his first 15 months in office – the scrapping of the Planning Commission and the renaming of Aurangzeb Road after A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

The RBI Deputy Governor Mr. H.R. Khan hit the nail on the head when he said the last few years have been trying times for the domestic banking industry with impairment of asset quality and diminishing profitability even as it is called upon to meet the mounting credit needs of the economy. His remarks at the inaugural of India’s newest Bandhan Bank Pvt Ltd in Kolkata recently that the banking space is now getting crowded with licences having been granted for two universal private banks earlier and differentiated bank license to eleven payments banks across the country on August 19 show that it is time for the banking industry to be competitive and serve the economy in an efficient manner by pricing risks responsibly and judiciously. This is so as the emerging milieu has the great potential to bring a sea-change in the commercial banking scenario in the country with the man in the street getting access to banking services with no cost or hidden add-on charges.

Pakistan backing out from the process that would have led to a composite dialogue with India is disappointing and unfortunate for South Asia. Resumption of a composite dialogue would have been in the best interests for peace and development in the region. The two leaders – Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Prime Minister Narendra Modi – reached an accord in Ufa in Russia in July bearing the “collective responsibility to ensure peace and promote development” in the region. To this end both the leaders condemned terrorism in all its forms and agreed to cooperate with each other to eliminate this menace from South Asia.

LONDON: While the western mainstream media has described the present market crash as “this is all China’s fault” – despite the fact that the real break happened after the FOMC Minutes last week – the Chinese Xinhua said that the China central bank Tuesday blamed wide-spread expectations of a Fed rate hike in September for the global market rout. Yao Yudong, head of the People’s Bank of China’s Research Institute of Finance, said the expected Fed rate hike next month had been the “trigger” for the wild market swings. He also cautioned that the Fed rate hike could accelerate the plunge of U.S. stocks and trigger a sell-off of assets worldwide and even a new global credit crisis. Obviously there is an imperative need for the Fed to remain patient before the U.S. inflation reaches 2 percent.

KOLKATA: The time has come for West Bengal politicians regardless of party affiliations, to stop plumbing the depths of low, vulgar behaviour.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Government again betrayed its lack of respect for the judiciary and the State Election Commission with its latest stance on the conduct of the local bodies elections.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has scuttled the second phase of prison reforms involving a cost of Rs.13, 962.60 crores, maintaining that the States and Union Territories have been awarded 10 per cent higher sums from the Central divisible pool of resources by the Fourteenth Finance Commission from the existing 32 per cent to 42 per cent. According to the MHA, enhanced devolution provides enough space to the States and Union Territories to fund prison reform on their own. The 14th Finance Commission has rejected the MHA proposal containing inputs from all States and Union Territories on account of the fact that States and Union Territories have got higher allocation enabling them to provide for second phase of prison modernization and there was no need for the Central Government to continue with such reforms.

Two events made media headlines last week. One was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of Rs.1.25 lakh crore package for Bihar. The other was the midnight arrest of five students of the Pune’s 54 year-old world-renowned Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) whose students have been on strike protesting against the appointment of RSS man Gajendra Chauhan as Institute’s Chairman.

LUCKNOW: The recent protest by Congress Party against the alleged misrule of Akhilesh Yadav government has boosted the morale of rank and file all over the state. Never before in recent years, this city erstwhile nawabs witnessed massive turn out at the protest by Congress Party which shows the general mood of the party against Akhilesh Yadav government.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CPI(M) Central Committee’s latest directive to its state units constitutes a big victory for party patriarch, V. S. Achuthanandan.