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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The United Democratic Front (UDF) Government led by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has been buffeted by yet another controversy. Ironically, this time, it is the Chief Minister himself, the so-called USP of the Government, who is in the eye of the storm.

LUCKNOW: At a time when Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been announced as BJP’s mascot for campaign and his close lieutenant Amit Shah takes command of party in Uttar Pradesh to sell Hindutva and Rahul Gandhi visits Amethi and gives call to send 40 MPs to Lok Sabha from the state, both the parties should learn lessons from Handia by-polls where they lost deposits.

Ranchi: Tribals of Jharkhand, under the aegis of Jharkhand's Adivasi Jan Parishad, the body of various tribal groups, staged a massive demonstration today in Ranchi against their conversion efforts by Christian machinery in the state. A rally of above 5000 tribals, including large number of women, raised slogans against conversion on behest of foreign forces active in the state.

At last, the Finance Minister Mr Chidambaram has recognised that there are no quick-fixes to lift our economy from the morass into which it has been driven, more by our own past failings rather than as a fall-out of uncertain global environment. Yes, trade and finance are areas where the economy has had to bear the impact of volatile financial markets and weak post-crisis recovery in major developed economies hitting investment inflows and exports for nearly two years.

India is pitching in an aggressive manner for the full membership of the Sanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) for playing its due role in the affairs of the Asian region. The SCO membership is expected to give India more leeway in dealing more effectively with the energy security issues.

What are so very common among Navin Chawla, Polayil Joseph Thomas and Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma? A lot, in fact. All of them are retired bureaucrats, connected with corruption controversies, have deep-rooted political links and rewarded with such important jobs that have powers to destabilise government and to corrupt democratic institutions. The former IAS officers received their-post retirement rewards from the Congress-led UPA government, almost arbitrarily, under highly debatable circumstances.

New Delhi: Population of India is expected to surpass that of China around 2028, when both countries will have populations of around 1.45 billion. Thereafter, India’s population will continue to grow for several decades to around 1.6 billion and then decline slowly to 1.5 billion in 2100. The population of China, on the other hand, is expected to start decreasing after 2030, possibly reaching 1.1 billion in 2100.

Gujarat chief minister NarendraModi has crossed the first hurdle by becoming the chairman of the BJP’s poll campaign committee. This decision of the BJP’s national executive in Goa during the weekend is seen as a step towards his becoming the prime ministerial candidate of the party. Things are so far going according to Modi’s script. But the euphoria on his announcement became a damp squib when the focus turned towards the party patriarch LK Advani who resigned in protest from three of the party posts the next day.

New Delhi: Despite India’s role as a facilitator for restoring peace in the Arab world, it is not yet invited to the Geneva-II Conference on Syria scheduled next month.

After getting observer status at the May 15 meeting of the Arctic Council, India is working on a composite strategy to play a wider role in the exploitation of natural resources in the Arctic Ocean. Along with India, China, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Singapore have also been granted observer status at the last meeting of the Council.