View Articles

After the end of the second phase of the polls on April 11, the war of survival for BJP in Bengal has finally entered into a blind alley. The desperation of the saffron force is evident from the incongruous tactics being resorted to by it. While the RSS is out to communalise the scenario by pushing the Vishwa Hindu Parishad to celebrate Ram Janmotsva in the state, the Prime Minister has launched vilification campaign against Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. His style of campaign makes it explicit that he has not learnt the lessons from Bihar drubbing.

Dalit icon Bhim Rao Ambedkar is the flavour of this year as political parties are competing with each other for the Dalit votes which are up for grabs. For the first time, obviously with the Modi government’s efforts, the United Nations observed the Dalit icon’s 125th birth anniversary showcasing his universal appeal on Wednesday, a day ahead of his birthday. Prime Minister Modi himself paid homage to the departed leader visiting his birthplace in Mhow to observe social harmony day. To claim Ambekdar’s legacy, the Congress too organised a big rally in Nagpur on Monday.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Three days after the ghastly Paravur temple fireworks display tragedy which killed 113 people, a shell-shocked Kerala is reeling under its devastating impact.

There is no ambiguity. The Narendra Modi government has conceded ground to the USA administration and agreed to enter into the logistics support pact. In fact the Indian defence minister Manohar Parrikar announced that the pact, known as the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) will be concluded “in the coming months”. India and the US are working on a key agreement that will give either country access to logistics support from the other besides refuelling and berthing facilities.

Even as the global economy slows down further and recovery remains fragile, India can draw some comfort that its current status as the fastest-growing economy is intact with growth projections retained at 7.5 per cent in 2016 and in 2017 in IMF's World Economic Outlook April 2016.

Put students, television, cricket match, Kashmir and India into a mix and what you typically get is violence or intimidation against Kashmiri students in universities across the Hindi-belt. That is usual. That is how it is supposed to be. Sometimes the Kashmiri students have even been banished from the university or thrown out of their hostel overnight. None of these makes “national” headlines.

Last week’s two developments highlight the paradoxes Indian politics often experiences. One was Vice-President Mohammed Hamid Ansari’s timely call for complete separation of religion and politics. The other was the claim asserted by both Maharashtra Chief Minister Devender Fadnavis and self-styled yoga guru Ramdev on chanting of Bharat Mata Ki Jai.

LUCKNOW: with the appointment of Keshav Prasad Maurya MP, an OBC face, BJP is aggressively playing caste card to grab power through Mission 2017.

Battle-lines are now drawn in Tamil Nadu for the May 16 poll to the 234-member assembly, with the ruling AIADMK leader Ms. Jayalalithaa giving a flying start to her party's campaign for renewal of mandate, at a mammoth rally in Chennai on April 9.

The tiny state of Panama, a central American republic of just three million people, has long been known to the global shipping community for its famous 77-km long canal, a world wonder, and also as a US promoted rogue state registering ships, largely from the US, plying in the oceans and seas around the world under Panamanian flag, helping shipowners to hide their income and profit and violate all kinds of maritime regulations, including those for seafarers.