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With the outgoing Minister of Information and Broadcasting Manish Tewary in the UPA Government having broken ice over the irrelevance of the Ministry of I & B in the current media scenario, his successor Prakash Javadekar in the Narendra Modi Government having endorsed that, rumour is rife in the corridors of power that this Ministry would be dismantled. The private media, both print and electronic, are gung-ho, lapped it as an opportunity for giving effect to the ruling NDA Government’s professed policy for minimum government and maximum governance, and a prop up of the much touted so called self-regulated regime of private media.

After President Pranab Mukherjee’s address to Parliament on behalf of the new government, many people seem to have convinced themselves that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to adopting a “moderate”, rather than hardline Hindutva, stance; some like Congress MP Shashi Tharoor predict that he’ll inevitably evolve into an altogether new person: a liberal “Modi 2.0” who believes in inclusion and reaching out to his opponents.

If the fiscal stimulus put in place by emerging economies such as India and China in the aftermath of the world’s worst financial crisis of 2008 cost them dear in terms of high fiscal deficit and slowdown in growth, the accommodative monetary policy of advanced countries continues to exert a disruptive and disproportionate spillover effect across the globe. More particularly so, in emerging economies such as India which has had to contend with the abrupt exit of institutional investments and speculative attacks on currency.

Former defence minister A.K. Antony is not the right person for analyzing the causes of the Congress’s defeat. For one, his proximity to the Nehru-Gandhi family cannot but limit his perspective, making him overlook the baneful effect of the party’s feudal ambience on its electoral appeal. For another, as a left-leaning person, he will tend to approve of the family’s populism even if groups in the Congress, albeit small ones, may have differed since profligate measures distort the balance sheet.

NEW DELHI: For over 300 Indian passengers of the AI-102 flight from New York to Delhi at noon of Saturday, 14 June, life was placid until they boarded the carrier.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Pradesh Congress President, V. M. Sudheeran is a happy man these days. Well, he has every reason to feel good. The reason: his vigorous campaign for an anti-liquor movement in the state, has just received a huge boost with senior Cngress leader from Kerala and former defence minister A. K. Antony extending full support for it.

Return of political stability with a single party dominance at the Centre does not automatically translate into unlimited power for the new government to make early breakthroughs in fulfilling the great expectations BJP had generated in its vociferous vote-seeking campaign. These are still early days of the new Government’s learning curve in the art of policy-making, picking out options relatively feasible for a start.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A long-standing dream of millions of Keralites and non-resident Keralites (NRKs) took a giant step towards realisation with the Union Government welcoming the State's proposal for forming an airlines of its own.

KOLKATA: The theme of this despatch is best defined by a direct quote from a retired Judge, Kolkata High Court.

The coming assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir will be first test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his stunning victory in May’s Lok Sabha elections. Will the Modi wave, that helped the BJP get single-party majority in the Lok Sabha, remain intact till October/November when the elections in the three states are scheduled to be held? If so, the BJP is sure to sweep in Maharashtra and Haryana howsoever popular measures the Congress may take. The scenario in J&K is altogether different. A slight pause, however, in the Modi wave is bound to help the Congress-NCP combine in Maharashtra where BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is not comfortably placed. The populist measure—five per cent reservations for Muslims and 16 percent to Marathas—taken by the Prithiviraj Government is likely to yield results provided there is thaw in Modi wave.