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While presenting the union budget for 2016-17, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Government plans to revive unserved and underserved airports in the country to give a fillip to regional connectivity. He also said that there are about 160 airports and airstrips with state governments which can be revived at an estimated cost of Rs 50 crore to Rs 100 crore each in parnership with the Centre.

The two day visit of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the United States of America on June 7 and 8 and the joint statement of Modi and the US President Barack Obama give definite pointers to a tilt in Indian foreign policy towards the US and this marks a milestone in terms of deviation of the country’s foreign policy from the objective of non-alignment. The foreign policy has to undergo changes taking into the global geo politics and even in the UPA regime under Dr. Manmohan Singh, there were definite signs of shift towards the US as a part of Dr. Singh’s craze for high technology and big investments from the US, but still there was a dividing line. The NDA Prime Minister has crossed that line and openly declared that “today our relationship has overcome the hesitations of history”.

With the end of the crucial set of assembly polls in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Kerala, politicking has already started for the Lok Sabha polls in 2019. Mamata Banerjee, the biggest winner of this round in terms of percentage of seats, made that very clear. These assembly polls were crucial as they come to define the nature of the forces that would be the principal adversaries come 2019. So, after the results are out and the dust has settled, what does it look like?

Should the Congress Party be worried about the continuing erosion of its workers and leaders? Are the rats leaving the sinking ship? There is no doubt that the party is losing its organisational depth, more so since Modi came to power. There is rebellion brewing in various states. This week alone saw the exit of two senior Congress leaders - Ajit Jogi in Chhattisgarh and Gurudas Kamat in Maharashtra frustrated with the Congress leadership (read Rahul Gandhi). While Jogi, a former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, has launched his own outfit, Kamat wants to quit politics altogether. To add to the confusion, six Congress MLAs left the party in Tripura on Monday.

LUCKNOW: Biennial elections for 11 Rajya Sabha and 13 Vidhan Parishad polls on June 11 have forced major political parties to keep check on their MLAs to protect from poaching. BJP is being blamed to the threat of poaching and purchase of MLAs as the party has fielded extra candidate in Vidhan Parishad and supported high profile independent for Rajya Sabha.

BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh BJP by deciding to back an independent candidate for the Rajya Sabha has added an element of uncertainty in the elections to the Upper House scheduled for June 11. According to the strength in the MP Vidhan Sabha, the BJP can send two members and the Congress one. Originally the BJP decided to sponsor only two candidates but at the last minute it decided to back in independent candidate. It is said that decision to sponsor third candidate was taken at the behest of central leadership.

After having a military logistics sharing deal with the USA only a couple of months back, India preferred to sign agreement with Ukraine for manufacturing of 500 transport planes as well as the supply of gas turbines for Indian warships at the Defexpo India 2016 held in Goa.

The second bi-monthly monetary policy statement of RBI Governor Dr Raghuram Rajan, on June 7 leaves policy rates unchanged, as was expected, given the recent upsurge in CPI inflation with its future trajectory 'somewhat uncertain'.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Groupism in Congress has become a thing of the past, gushed Ramesh Chennithala, in the first flush of having taken over as the Leader of the Opposition (LOP) and leader of the Congress Legislature Party. Ramesh was named for the post as former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy refused to become LOP, having accepted responsibility for the crushing defeat the UDF suffered in the Assembly election.

Controversies are an undividable part of a functioning democracy. They erupt in hordes in election years and play an important role in influencing the course of politics. With eight months left in Punjab Assembly elections, the state is also witnessing controversies which have started polluting the state’s religio-political atmosphere raising the question whether Punjab is heading for the eighties pre-terrorism situation.