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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A determined attempt by the dominant A and I groups in the State against Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, V. M. Sudheeran has been thwarted by the Congress High Command. The immediate upshot of the High Command’s decision has been that Sudheeran will remain the KPCC president.

The persistence of financial flows routed through offshore financial hubs such as Panama and Mauritius with the concomitant upshot of fiscal losses stemming from “the disconnect between income generation and productive investment” have been deftly dealt with by the UN Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD). The latest flagship annual publication, World Investment Report (WIR), 2016 pertinently underscores the urgent need to create “greater coherence among tax and investment policies at the global level.

Even though post-Brexit anarchy vibrates UK, panic has tamed in India and Asian countries. Green shoots are visible. After an initial jerk, stock market bounced back to the original upsurge trajectory within a week. BSE Sensex of 30 companies leaped to 27,145 on 1st July, after crashing by 700 points to 26,398 within a day of referendum. Rupee returned to its stability. According to Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian, the whirlwind of Brexit ended and India turned a “safe heaven” for investors. India was the third or fourth least affected country, he said.

Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani has an uphill task running an airline beseiged with problems not of his own making. Last month-end, he had to quit an ongoing meeting at the CII headquarters in upscale New Delhi to rush to his minister to explain a delayed flight from Delhi to Hyderabad which caused powerful union minister of urban development Venkaiah Naidu to cancel an important meeting in the Andhra capital.

Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi was right in saying India lived in its Six lakh villages and cottage industries alone could create much needed jobs and livelihood to the majority of the 1.25 billion people. In India 60 per cent of the population still is dependent on agriculture but they accounted for just 15 per cent of Gross Domestic Product. So vast number of people are disguisedly unemployed in the farm sector and the number is increasing with land holdings getting fragmented generation after generation. So what is the way out to ensure rural prosperity and the answer is simple: to develop clusters of small industries dotting all over the country.

What looked like a mere cabinet expansion turned out on Tuesday to be a major reshuffle of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s council of ministers. And the result; the stunning demotion of Smiriti Irani from HRD to textile and dramatic promotion of Prakash Javadekar, elevated to cabinet rank and given charge of HRD, marked a comprehensive ministerial appraisal. The Prime Minister’s office has prepared reports of performance of each minister for two years. This was the basis for promotion and demotion of ministers in the recent cabinet reshuffle.

Once again there is speculation whether Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will come to active politics or not. This ‘will she, won’t she’ question is dogging the Congress, which is presently facing an existential crisis. No one should be surprised at Priyanka’s entry as it had always been held that she would join politics at some time or the other. That ‘some time’ has come now. The only question is will the dynastic face click?

KOLKATA: It seems pre-election fears among a section of opposition parties in West Bengal are coming true: there has been very little movement in recent months in the ongoing official probes into three major financial scams in the State.

Nobody would disagree with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he, during his “Mann Ki Baat” programme on June 26, described 1975 Emergency period as the “darkest night for democracy”. But Modi’s critics will not be wrong if they charge his government with introducing a ‘soft’ version of Emergency by taking contradictory stands on some crucial issues. Its biggest example is adoption of double standards on anti-terrorism issue and his party hotheads’ divisive actions.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Is the Kerala Congress (M), a prominent ally of the Congress in the United Democratic Front (UDF), getting ready to leave the Front?