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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In politics, timing is as important as perception. If your timing goes awry, you end up paying a heavy penalty in terms of credibility and erosion of ground support. Likewise, it is of utmost importance that you create the right perception among the public at large. On both counts, the CPI(M), which heads the Left Democratic Front(LDF) Government in Kerala, suffered a loss of face by its clumsy handling of the Law Academy Law College issue.

Some elections acquire unusual significance. February 4 Punjab Assembly election was one of them for a number of reasons. Its outcome will decide the political future of the 90-year-old five-time chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, as his age factor may act against his contesting 2022 poll.

The massive push for digital transactions and less-cash society ostensibly to fight black money menace may soon have few takers as digital payments have started dropping after their initial rise in November and December, following selective demonetization of high-value currencies. If the latest representative Reserve Bank data is any indication, the government’s campaign for digital transfers is not cutting much ice with the general public. The easing cash supply situation is slowing down digital transactions. The RBI data showed digital payments, last month, were 10.2 per cent lower in volume and seven per cent lower in value compared to December. The number of digital transactions reportedly dropped from 102.8. crore in December to 99.3 crore in January. In terms of value, the number declined from Rs. 105.4 lakh crore in December to Rs. 98 lakh crore, last month. The data included transactions on debit and credit cards, electronic fund transfers, digital wallets and mobile banking transactions. The RBI data is representative of payment systems on a daily basis since December 2, capturing card transactions of four large banks, prepaid instruments from eight non-banking firms and mobile banking figures from five banks to represent a trend.

In West Bengal, the ongoing political battle between the ruling Trinamool Congress(TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party just got uglier, following the arrest on a corruption charge of Mr Jaiprakash Majumdar, the state BJP vice president. He has just been given bail by the court.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in Parliament, ridiculing his predecessor Dr. Manmohan Singh, wasn’t just for voters in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. He was setting the agenda for 2019. On February 19, the Modi government completes 1,000 days in office. The milestone may be only statistically symbolic but comes in a period of intense and defining political significance. On March 11, the verdict in five state elections, particularly the large state of UP, will be known. Immediately after the negotiations for next vice-president and president will begin.

It is now finally official. The murmurs in the global nuclear industry were getting louder in the recent years about the malpractices of the Japanese major Toshiba which owns the US company Westinghouse. Now Toshiba has decided to withdraw from the construction of nuclear power plants in United Kingdom and India and this decision poses a big uncertainty over the future of India’s ambitious nuclear power programme with US collaboration.

DEHRADUN: Amidst speculations over the probable outcome of Assembly election in Uttarakhand, BJP and Congress are still groping in the dark- barely two days left for the poll- with the voters keeping them guessing. The political, social and media circles are abuzz with wild conjectures over “who will have the extra edge”. This implies that no party is confident enough about its chance to form the new government.

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu's Political Crisis, with ruling AIADMK entangled in leadership battle between incumbent Mr Panneerselvam and Ms. V K Sasikala, till lately a close aide of “Amma” Jayalalithaa, deepened further as the State keenly awaited return of Acting Governor Mr Vidyasagar Rao, to adjudge the situation and make the next move.

The top brass of Coal India Limited, India’s unassailable monopoly entity in coal industry and, the world's largest coal producer, is on pins and needles due to tapering off of demand. The CIL’s ambition of reaching an annual output level of billion tonnes by 2020 –hitherto a realistic target- has suddenly turned into a mirage. This pessimism is scripted in a recent report prepared by India’s largest public sector undertaking. Although remaining under wraps, it has been circulated to the unions that are a part of statutory Joint bipartite committee for the coal industry (JBCCI) on conditions of secrecy.

Since the feudalism inherent in the choice of Sasikala as head of the legislature party in Tamil Nadu by a large number of MLAs runs counter to modern-day practices, a revolt against Jayalalithaa’s former aide was only to be expected.