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The contrast between India’s two recent science and technology (S&T) projects couldn’t have been starker. One, by delivering accurate early warnings about Cyclone Hudhud, saved thousands of human lives, and prevented destruction of property on a monstrous scale. The other put India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) Mangalyaan spacecraft successfully into a distant orbit around the planet—a technological achievement, but without much scientific, leave alone social, consequence.

As always, the electorate has sent a clear message to every party in the just concluded elections.

LUCKNOW: The three-day RSS national conclave, which ended in Lucknow, the city of erstwhile nawabs, on Sunday expressed concerned over decline in people’s participation in RSS shakhas all over the country.

As the slow-grinding economy enters the second half of fiscal 2015, a tinge of optimism pervades policy-making circles in Modi Government that recovery would now begin to gather some steam to hit at least a minimum of 5.5 per cent GDP growth, in a distinctly improving macro-economic environment.

Results in assembly election in Maharashtra are on expected lines: no party got majority and the BJP emerged as the single largest party, having secured only 121 seats in 288-member house, falling short of 22 seats to get majority. But in Haryana it was a real surprise: few expected clear majority for the BJP when in the last election the saffron party could get just four seats. The Congress, which ruled Haryana for 10 years under leadership by Bhupinder Singh Hooda, got worst-ever drubbing, getting only 15 seats in 90-member assembly. It has been seen wherever the Congress gets less than 20 percent of votes it never revives. One wonders if that will be so in Haryana where the Congress, though badly defeated, has still deep roots.

KOLKATA: One of the first priorities of the NDA Government on coming to power was to address the task of speedily narrowing down the asymmetrical gap in India’s defence vis-à-vis China along the entire Himalayan border. In fact, this should have begun in right earnest more than half a century ago, immediately after India’s disastrous military defeat at the hands of the Chinese in 1962. But, for reasons best known to them, successive Central governments chose not to give adequate attention to this vital task. Despite the trauma, India went into hibernation, as it were. It meant a growing asymmetry between China’s offensive capability and India’s defensive capability. This has gone on for over half a century, widening the asymmetry.

Stung by the results of the last Lok Sabha elections and buoyed by the success in some of the by-elections held after that, leaders of some regional parties formed by the splinters of erstwhile Janata Dal have started talking of the unity of Janata Parivar. Janata Dal leader Nitish Kumar is leading this “Unite Parivar” campaign and he has succeeded in Bihar by forging an alliance with RJD of Lalu Yadav and defeating BJP in most of the Assembly Constituencies, where by-elections were held a couple of months ago. After the success Nitish Kumar is eyeing at other states. He has approached Mulayam Singh Yadav and Ajit Singh of Uttar Pradesh, Om Prakash Chautala of Haryana, MP Virendra Kumar of Kerala and HD Deve Gowda of Karnataka. Naveen Patnaiak of Odisha has also been reached, but he is reluctant to join such unification campaign as yet, but had sent one of his party subordinates as his representative in one of meetings held before Lok Sabha elections only to test the depth of water, but he has not shown any interest in joining the present move of leaders from Bihar.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It was a momentous occasion worthy of a celebration. And the Kerala Congress(Mani) did celebrate the fiftieth year of its formation in grand style.

Paradoxically, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi succeeded in persuading the Japanese and Chinese investors, he failed to influence the big American investors. Instead, his political wave and speech impelled the Indian Diaspora only. While a number of billion dollar projects were signed during his visit to Japan and the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to India, no major deal was signed during his visit to USA. Nor any major commitment was made by the US government.

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh is the home state of Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi – the founder of ‘Bacchpan Bachao Andolan’.