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The diversity of Indian civilisation is under attack. First, it was religious polarization which often sparked communal violence. Now the effort is to deepen the divide in the country’s already caste-ridden Hindu society. Under the cover of protecting “holy cow”, the Sangh Parivar’s self-proclaimed protagonists of India’s unity and integrity are trying to destroy the multi-faceted plurality of the Indian society.

Maybe at last, Prime Minister Modi himself and his senior colleagues realise that neither growth nor jobs could materialise, as was hoped to be conjured up while making wild promises on development to the electorate in 2014. And so, the “incremental” changes as at present will not do with so much of unfulfilled expectations.

Now that the Marxian prediction of a crisis of capitalism is unlikely in the foreseeable future, several comrades are trying to come to terms with the imperatives of the present.

After spending nearly 16 long years to construct and pass a constitution amendment bill facilitating goods and services tax (GST) since Atal Behari Vajpayee initiated the move in 2000 by setting up a committee under West Bengal’s then Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta, an economist, to design a model for GST and oversee its preparations, state governments are yet to be fully convinced about the way the centre would respond to their revenue claims once the bill is passed by Parliament and become a law in due course on successful completion of the remaining formalities, including required clearance by state legislatures, for the Constitution amendment. The subject has been deliberated upon by four national governments, both inside and outside Parliament. Leading the current concerns of the states on the tax disbursal mechanism is West Bengal’s present Finance Minister, Amit Mitra, an eminent economist who is also well versed in taxation laws and practices as a former director general of the Federation of Indian Commerce and Industry. Mitra is now the chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers.

The recent cabinet reshuffle by the Prime Minster Narendra Modi handed the believers a big surprise. It was a deviation from the erstwhile Modi mantra– “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance” – to the now in-practice “Maximum Government, Maximum Governance” – in the footsteps of former PM, Dr Manmohan Singh. It was a shift from the smallest government, of 45 council of ministers in 2014, to 77 ministers in 2016, even bigger than Manmohan Singh-led government.

Irom Chanu Sharmila, the iconic anti-AFSPA activist from Manipur, has created history. She was on hunger strike for 16 years, demanding scrapping of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). She sprang a surprise by announcing last Tuesday (July 26) that she would end her fast, contest elections and, if everything goes in accordance with her plan, she would marry her Goan-British boyfriend.

BHOPAL: Strange things are happening in Madhya Pradesh. Can one imagine a situation in which a Minister joins a group of legislators, which sought to gherao another minister? This unprecedented episode took place right on the floor of the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The hallmark of a genuine politician is the ability to exercise restraint in word and deed in the face of extreme provocation. The responsibility to do so is all the greater if the leaders belong to the ruling party. The CPI(M) leaders in the State seem to be failing to measure up to this standard if their recent statements are any guide.

Why is the South Indian superstar Rajinikanth such a big draw for politics as well as films? Come every election - Assembly or Lok Sabha - there is suspense about whether the matinee idol would jump into politics. He is still one of the biggest political draws in Tamil Nadu, though he has not openly been identified with any political party. Since 1996 when the Congress wooed him promising to make him to make him the chief ministerial face, almost all the parties have been knocking at his door. Declining this offer, ultimately Rajini supported the Moopanar (Tamizhaga Maanila Congress) -Karunanidhi (DMK) duo stating, 'If Jayalalithaa is voted back to power, even God cannot save Tamil Nadu.'

With global economic recovery ambling in a wobbly way, backlash against globalization and a potential retreat into protectionist fortress by country after country are looming large, casting a pall of gloom over the prospects of acche din for all.