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With the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) resuming its stir for a separate Gorkhaland state in North Bengal and the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) opposing it, observers fear a fresh round of tensions and a possible outbreak of violence in the region.

The far reaching and game changing indirect tax reforms—Goods and Services Tax has the potential to push up India’s economic growth by at least two percentage points. This means that India, which is currently the fastest growing economy at over 7.6 per cent annually will grow by 9.6 per cent or even in double-digit with a small and incremental push in other areas of reforms like labour, ease of doing business, infrastructure in the next decade.

NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (CPI) has strongly condemned the continuing police excesses in Chhattisgarh. In the name of fighting the Left wing extremists the Chhattisgarh, police is targeting the tribal people and subjecting them to unimaginable tortures, the CPI has said.

BHOPAL: The MP government has issued a notification for judicial inquiry into the jailbreak and alleged encounter of eight SIMI operatives, four days after chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made the announcement. Justice (Retd) SK Pande will head the one-man inquiry commission in Bhopal.

In a sudden recall of Britain’s historical relationship with India, UK prime minister Theresa May, chose India for her first overseas trip outside of the European Union. As she landed in Delhi on Sunday night, she appears to have run straight into the infamous Delhi smog which had reduced visibility. A similar fog interfered with the clarity in the perception about mutual relations of the two countries. Not to be surprised, from the start, the visit appears to have been marked by this difference in perception and divergent direction.

Having made a mess of the Samajwadi Party’s (SP) electoral prospects in UP by sparking off internecine squabbling, the party’s national president, Mulayam Singh Yadav, is trying to make amends by replicating Bihar’s pattern of a mahagathbandhan or a grand alliance in next year’s assembly elections in the state.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Better late than never. An unconditional apology from Assembly Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan to Kerala Governor P. Sathasivam for not inviting the latter to the inaugural of the year-long celebrations of Kerala State’s 60th formation day has helped to clear the air.

Generally unnoticed in India’s mainstream media, there are positive signs of change in India’s East and Northeast regions. Bangladesh and Nepal have proposed to India small but significant steps to improve regional power and road connectivity during the last few days.

Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and the railway board may disagree, 65-year old Indian Railways — since the country’s regional rail systems starting in 1855 were nationalised and brought under a single network in 1951 — is not only one of the government’s most inefficient and corrupt bodies, but it is also the most insensitive department to its key customers, the Indian public. The decision by the railway authorities to print on rail tickets in capital letters that it “recovers only 57 per cent of the cost of travel on an average” is unprecedented and probably the most arrogant and insulting way to communicate with a fare-paying passenger. Such a communication may also be meant to tell such a passenger that ‘be happy with what you get from the railways — poor condition of coaches, bad quality food and drinking water, stinking toilets, deteriorating travel safety and frequent long delays in travel time on long distant trains — because that is what you can get at best for what you pay for your rail travel.’ On paper, however, the annual earnings of Indian Railways, employing over 1.3 million people, is close to Rs. 1,75,000 crore ($25 billion) and profit is Rs.11,000 crore ($1.6 billion).

BHOPAL: Some new sordid facts have come to light confirming the general impression that there was total laxity in security in the Bhopal Central Jail. Jail sentries on leave was not the only reason behind lax security in Bhopal Central Jail on Diwali night when eight SIMI operatives allegedly escaped by reportedly killing a warder before police shot them down on the city outskirts.