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The Centre has formally recanted the gazette notification of May 18 by the Agriculture Ministry to cap the license fee for all new genetically modified (GM) seed technologies which sought to regulate bilateral pact between seed technology providers and licensees. Some of the provisions of the May 18 notification were deemed draconian by the GM seed/crop technology holders and their cohorts in India, particularly those in the BT. cotton industry and trade.

The Supreme Court of India has revived from death the specter of a common medical entrance examination for all medical colleges. Ostensibly, this common entrance examination called National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) is to create a level playing field.

BHOPAL: Two sudden and dramatic developments have landed Madhya Pradesh government in a highly difficult position. The two developments are – one, a controversial Facebook message by a district collector Ajay Gangwar lauding the contribution by Jawaharlal Nehru and two, brutal murder of a practicing lawyer and his brother.

A debt bomb is ticking against the Indian Railways, which if not taken care of on a war footing, has the potential to drown this behemoth under a never-ending debt trap. According to a RTI reply to journalist Shashikant Sushant, the Ministry of Railways has said that as on December 31, 2015, the debt burden from domestic market borrowings through its financial arms, Indian Railways Finance Corporation (IRFC) was Rs. 82,961 crore, Rs.37, 309 crore tied up from multilateral sources like World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and Rs. 150,000 crore from Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). This viewed together with Rs.100, 000 crore tied up with Japan for building 500 kilometer long Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed bullet train over the next six years, comes to a total gargantuan sum of Rs.370, 270 crore. This considered in the light of a massive investment of Rs.8.5 lakh crore proposed by the NDA Government under the stewardship of Railway Minister, Suresh Prabhu over the next five years, is indeed a debt trap for Indian Railways.

LONDON: The Obama administration’s hyperboles and warnings appear to have finally succeeded in scaring away from the common Britons from voting in favour of Brexit. A survey by a daily newspaper carried barely two days back underlines that rank of Remain campaigners have got strengthened with older voters turning backs on Brexit.

Subramanian Swamy is something of a loose cannon and a freelancer who is used by the BJP for odd jobs which cannot be done by a minister, who has to abide by the constitution, or a party member who is sensitive about his reputation.

Few political parties, in normal circumstances, have done so much better in state or national elections for their second term in office as Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal did recently. Nothing could dampen the spirit of the electorates in the state – not even the punishing six-phase election schedule under sweltering heat and large scale transfer of officers from their line duties by the Central Election Commission merely at the behest of opposition complaints – to get their Didi and her party, TMC, romp home with much larger majority in the assembly. If the latest election mandate in favour of TMC is any indication, the party may further garner the support of electorates to emerge as the largest single political group from any state in Lok Sabha after the 2019 parliamentary election. It is only natural that the ruling political satraps in states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi are looking for an early informal accord with Mamata Banerjee in anticipation of their better performance in the next Lok Sabha polls.

The thumping victory of Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal assembly election , despite media bashing and goons’ indulging in violence to disrupt election process, reflected that people of West Bengal would continue to repose confidence in TMC and did not want to bring back the Left-Congress combine in the State. Their primary need is resurgence of West Bengal, spearheaded by development. They defied three decade’s left ideology and concept of complacency with smallness. They would like to taste the alternative to left, who can provide better living , not only for rural people, but also for Bhadralok and intellectuals in Kolkata.

What is the most important achievement of Narendra Modi’s government in two years of its rule? The answer is from sagging public image to a dramatic improvement in public perception. Defeat after defeat after spectacular performance in the Lok Sabha election brought down Prime Minister’s image and people started saying that he has lost his charisma. First the humiliating defeat in Delhi elections, followed by a setback in Bihar poll, where Modi campaigned himself, and Uttarakhand imbroglio, created the impression that the BJP under Modi’s leadership is going down hills. Then came the elections in five state and the BJP performed a miracle; its landslide victory in Assam, ousting the firmly entrenched Congress, restored Modi’s image.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government has got off to a good start, ushering a new era of hope, optimism and people-friendly government.