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Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi was right in saying India lived in its Six lakh villages and cottage industries alone could create much needed jobs and livelihood to the majority of the 1.25 billion people. In India 60 per cent of the population still is dependent on agriculture but they accounted for just 15 per cent of Gross Domestic Product. So vast number of people are disguisedly unemployed in the farm sector and the number is increasing with land holdings getting fragmented generation after generation. So what is the way out to ensure rural prosperity and the answer is simple: to develop clusters of small industries dotting all over the country.

What looked like a mere cabinet expansion turned out on Tuesday to be a major reshuffle of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s council of ministers. And the result; the stunning demotion of Smiriti Irani from HRD to textile and dramatic promotion of Prakash Javadekar, elevated to cabinet rank and given charge of HRD, marked a comprehensive ministerial appraisal. The Prime Minister’s office has prepared reports of performance of each minister for two years. This was the basis for promotion and demotion of ministers in the recent cabinet reshuffle.

Once again there is speculation whether Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will come to active politics or not. This ‘will she, won’t she’ question is dogging the Congress, which is presently facing an existential crisis. No one should be surprised at Priyanka’s entry as it had always been held that she would join politics at some time or the other. That ‘some time’ has come now. The only question is will the dynastic face click?

KOLKATA: It seems pre-election fears among a section of opposition parties in West Bengal are coming true: there has been very little movement in recent months in the ongoing official probes into three major financial scams in the State.

Nobody would disagree with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he, during his “Mann Ki Baat” programme on June 26, described 1975 Emergency period as the “darkest night for democracy”. But Modi’s critics will not be wrong if they charge his government with introducing a ‘soft’ version of Emergency by taking contradictory stands on some crucial issues. Its biggest example is adoption of double standards on anti-terrorism issue and his party hotheads’ divisive actions.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Is the Kerala Congress (M), a prominent ally of the Congress in the United Democratic Front (UDF), getting ready to leave the Front?

The Congress appears to have finally shed its hesitations about making full use of Priyanka Gandhi’s charisma. Till now, it was apprehensive about her appeal overshadowing Rahul Gandhi. But the recent defeats in Kerala, West Bengal and Assam on top of the earlier setbacks seem to have finally convinced the party that there is no point in holding back its supposed trump card.

It is good that the government has finally recognized the urgent need for making India a more open FDI destination to attract MNCs to invest in India as Indian businessmen, always looking for fast buck, are rushing out of the country for a business address elsewhere, including tax havens. The latest government decision giving red carpet welcome to foreign funds and foreign management control in a host of businesses, including airlines, brown-field airports, food retail, single brand retail for cutting edge technology products, defence, small arms and ammunition manufacture, private security agencies, pharmaceuticals companies, DTH services and cable networks among others have come rather late. This country has not seen much Indian private investment in large brick and morter projects in the last 12 years. And, therefore, the government needs to do more to attract large foreign investment fast in a host of other areas, including manufacturing, the core sector, infrastructure such as railways, roads and sea ports, as there is little hope of Indian business houses being prepared to make much investment in these pivotal growth areas with longer gestation period and slower net return on investment.

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party national president Mulayam Singh Yadav is facing the biggest challenge from serious conflict within family members which may affect the party’s prospects in the 2017 UP Assembly polls.

The idea of the third front comes to fore when regional leaders get together or the ruling party suffers defeat. This happened when JD-U leader Nitish Kumar became Bihar’s Chief Minister again or when Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee invited state leaders to her sweating-in function.