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The beginning of the year 2017 has started with positive developments for the strengthening of the anti-BJP forces in the country following the Election Commission allowing Akhilesh Yadav led Samajwadi Party to use Cycle as the election symbol. This paves the way for a new power equation in the Uttar Pradesh politics which can checkmate BJP in the coming seven phase assembly elections in the state beginning on February 11 and ending on March 8.The supreme domination of the young Chief Minister of the SP has opened up the possibility of a formidable alliance between SP and the Congress in the assembly poll. All indications suggest that with both Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi agreeing in principle to the need for such a unity in the UP polls against the BJP to stop the marching forward of the Hindutva forces, there will be not much difficulty in the distribution of seats. In any case, SP as the major party, will be contesting in around 300 out of the total of 403 seats in the UP assembly and the Congress and other allies will be left with around 100 seats.

India’s economy took a big hit from the sudden, ill-prepared November 8 decision to withdraw a massive quantum (86 per cent) of money in circulation, that now gets reflected in the global institutions’ growth estimates in fiscal 2017 and forecasts for the year ahead. It is time for the Modi Government to shift from a state of denial of contractions to repairing the social and economic damage from the disruptive ’notebandhi’ or “surgical strike” on honest millions.

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh chief minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, has launched yet another unique programme. This programme has been named as 'Anand Utsav'. The programme has been launched under the auspices of a specially constituted (Anand Vibhag Happiness Department). This department is headed by an officer of the rank of Additional Chief Secretary. This particular Additional Chief Secretary (Iqbal Singh Bais) also heads the chief minister's officer. Thus this programme will be supervised by the CMO.

Around 40,000 Rohingya Muslims belonging originally to Myanmar, have settled in India after being hounded out by Myanmar authorities and they are spread over eight states with a substantial number in Jammu. Indian intelligence officials are worried that some Rohingyas settled in Jammu, have got training under jehadis in Pakistan and Afghanistan and they are a threat to te Indian security in this sensitive region. Sources say that the concerned activists have international jehadi connections and they have already taken part in some actions in other countries.

Last week, Mondelez International Inc and its subsidiary, Cadbury, a global confectionery and snack-food major, reached a $13-million settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over questionable payments made, or bribes paid, to influential persons through an 'agent' by Cadbury’s unit in India in 2010 to secure various clearances. The news might have come as a shocker to India’s own Securities and Exchange Board (SEBI) in Mumbai and the company affairs department of the government in Delhi, which had no clue about “the speed money” Cadbury India paid to officials and probably some politicians as well to get licenses and approvals for a chocolate factory at Baddi located in Himachal Pradesh.

Shares of rail traffic, both in passenger and freight, have come down drastically since Independence vis-à-vis other modes of transportation despite volume of rail traffic having gone up substantially in absolute terms.. Presently, passenger share of Indian Railways has come down to 13 percent from 75 percent at the time of Independence. There is a worrying trend of decline in actual number of passengers since 2013-14. The number of rail passengers in 2012-13 was 8421 million, which has come down to 8151.90 million in 2015-16.

The Narendra Modi Government’s economic policies including demonetisaion in November last year, have lead to increasing joblessness in the country making a mockery of ache din projected by the Prime Minister when he took over in May 2014.The economic crisis has accentuated in the rural areas with the demonetisation as despite all talks of supplying notes to the rural banks, the situation is grave and the cash based trade in the rural areas, has collapsed. Since many of the links have been disrupted, it will take time for the rural businesses to come back to the normal condition.

Recent developments in Uttar Pradesh appear to have catapulted BJP into pole position, ahead of principal rivals Samajwadi Party and BSP as the election campaign goes into overdrive with poll schedule from February 11. This is a poll for the BJP not to loose and if it fails to win a majority that has to be seen as a vote against demonetisation which has caused job losses in UP. If that happens it augur badly for UP and in rest of the country, as it suggests demonetisation is being badly received.

BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav’s complaint about poor quality food being served at border posts in the western sector should not be taken lightly. A mere departmental enquiry ordered by the home ministry is not enough considering the seriousness of the charge, for the allegations also include illegal selling of ration supplies and other provisions meant for the force in collusion with vested interests.

India favours pro-active participation in the deliberations at the coming meeting of the Arctic Council in Alaska in the middle of 2017.As a country with observer status, India will like to leverage its present strength in scientific research in view of the geo-strategic importance of the Arctic Sea and the region’s important role in governing climate change that has global consequences. India will be cooperating with the other interested countries like Russia, China, USA, Norway, Japan and South Korea in stepping up research activities so that the Arctic resources can be utilized for global development.