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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's continuing silence on the Teesta water sharing issue has left Dhaka-based observers puzzled and wary.

BHOPAL: Perhaps it is for the first time in the history of independent India that serious allegations have been levelled against the Governor and Chief Minister of the same state. It is also a matter of co-incidence that the allegations pertain to the same scandal and the Governor of the state has been asked by the centre to step down. This sensational co-incidence has taken place in Madhya Pradesh.

The planned switchover from non-LED to LED bulbs for domestic efficient lighting (DELP), which the prime minister strongly feels that India must fast resort to, maybe a brilliant idea – as sharp as the ‘Make-in-India’ concept – but its high-speed implementation chart ignores the very ‘make-in-India’ concept. The conversion to LED bulbs will cut household electricity consumption to the extent of thousands of megawatts. Given the long life of the LED bulbs – said to be five to seven years each – it will mean a lot to the domestic users, especially the poor. The cost is an issue. But, the government is prepared to get it subsidized at the initial cost of power distribution companies, which are allowed to recover it under easy monthly installments included in regular electricity bills. So far, looks so good.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: State conferences are occasions for serious introspection encompassing, among other things, a post-mortem of the past mistakes, initiation of remedial steps and readying of a credible action plan for the future. But when such conferences are converted into a platform for launching vindictive vituperation against rivals in the party, the very purpose of holding such conferences is defeated. That, unfortunately, is the fate which has befallen the Kerala CPI(M)’s state conference held at Alappuzha.

It’s a telling comment on the state of the Indian National Congress that a four-member committee it appointed four months ago to devise a strategy to rejuvenate the party and fight the Modi government has turned out a non-starter.

A turnaround in the economy is visible. GDP growth, based on new series of 2011-12, was forecasted at 7.4 per cent in 2014-15, up from 6.9 per cent in 2013-14 and a spurt from 4.8 per cent in 2012-13. Paradoxically, China’s GDP, which was pitching for higher growth even after Lehman shock, is on downward swing. China’s GDP growth was 7.4 per cent in 2014, down from 7.8 per cent in 2013 and a deep plunge from 11 per cent in 2010. IMF has further trimmed Chinese GDP growth. It slashed Chinese GDP growth to 6.8 per cent in 2015 and 6.3 per cent in 2016. Days are not far when India’s growth will outsmart China, the economists believe.

LUCKNOW: Shocked by the party’s debacle in Delhi assembly polls, Uttar Pradesh BJP leaders feel that PM Narendra Modi and party national president Amit Shah would bring about change in their style of functioning to ensure better performance of party in 2017 assembly polls.

Does Prime Minister Modi’s last week’s comments on religious tolerance represent a turning point in the attitude he and his party have hitherto pursued towards minorities and also on the issue of using religion for political ends? A related question is: Will his changed stance stop the Hindutva hardliners from inciting communal sentiments like what they have been doing since Modi government’s assumption of office nine months ago?

For all the BJP’s earlier assertions of being a “party with a difference” – a claim which it no longer makes presumably because of the ridicule it will evoke – the party has long proved itself to be as bad, if not worse, than all the others.

The ongoing investigation in the recently surfaced corporate espionage matter in the economic Ministries of the Union Government as also in the now infamous Neera Radio tapes cases has revealed the questionable involvement of journalists of all hews in the nasty games of business and statecraft. This obviously puts journalists in the public spotlight. Their professional clout, personal connections with persons in powerful political, bureaucratic and corporate sector positions make them very resourceful, tempting the interested groups in trade, commerce, industry, government security set ups to tap them for intelligence gathering, lobbying for various benefits on quid pro quo basis and other favours. This also makes the media persons greedy bombs so much so that news reporting and their reviews and interpretations are coloured, in the process denying the people their inherent right to correct and fair information. Of course, there are exceptions that help maintain the nobility of journalistic profession, which outshines.