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LUCKNOW: Mayawati's decision that her party BSP will not contest by-elections for 12 assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, will help BJP in a big way.

It is indeed sad that the country’s highest award – Bharat Ratna – has been politicized and mired in controversies for being used to reward people for specific service rendered or being turned into a bait to lure caste or regional based support. If the highest honour of the land has to be restored to its intended glory, the award has to be delinked from politics and the process of selection of the recipients needs to be made transparent.

Amidst surprise, Modi’s thrust on One Model Village development programme in his first fiery Independence speech from the rampart of Red Fort triggered debates all around the country. While the leftists said it an election speech, Congress taunted it a pipedream and the intellectuals were bewildered, saying it all-rhetoric-no-reform. Mr Modi announced the launching of Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, under which every Member of Parliament would be asked to develop one model village in his constituency by 2016.

As fiscal 2015 nears the mid-year, hope revives stronger for at least 5.5 per cent growth, despite a wayward monsoon, and should it materialize, the Modi Government could well trumpet that it had overcome the UPA baggage of “economic mess” and below 5 per cent growth over the last two years.

BHOPAL: Supporters of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan heaved a sigh of relief when Nand Kumar Chauhan was appointed President of the Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party. The search for the new chief of the state party began after Narendra Singh Tomar was inducted into the Union Ministry. Tomar was president of the State BJP during the last two general elections to the State Vidhan Sabha. He had excellent rapport with Shivraj Singh Chauhan.

India’s search for quality power seems destined to be stunted. The power ministry and public sector units are all gaga about thermal power capacity addition year-on-year to the current figure of 53,000 MW. Of this, NTPC’s contribution to capacity is 44,128 MW including the latest dedication of Mouda Super Thermal power project Stage I for 1,000 MW capacity.

KOLKATA: Assam is on the boil now following a fast-developing sequence of events. Armed Nagas raided and burnt several villages, killing two, on Assam-Nagaland border near Urimghat in the Golaghat district of Assam. This was on August 12. Angry villagers stoned the motorcade of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, when he tried to visit the area on August 18. He was unhurt but the police lathi-charged and fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Was the gas leak at the public sector unit, Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd (KMML), sometime back, in which 130 school children had to be hospitalized, an accident or was it a well-planned effort to ensure the permanent closure of yet another PSU unit in the State?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has junked the Planning Commission. His announcement on the Independence Day scrapping it was not a bombshell as speculations to that effect were doing rounds in the corridors of power. What was not expected was his invitation to the public to come up with suggestions for an alternate body. One would have expected the government to give a thought about the alternate body before announcing its liquidation. Now until the new reformed commission is formed, there will be a vacuum.

LUCKNOW: BJP national president Amit Shah faces biggest challenge to retain all the 12 assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat going for by-elections in Uttar Pradesh on September 13 this year.