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While the USA and its allies, especially the Nato countries, have already been spreading canards and indulging in disinformation campaign against Russia, in their latest design have come out with the allegation that Putin is attempting to stir up anti-immigrant sentiment in Germany in an attempt to topple Chancellor Angela Merkel. Little doubt Merkel has been an ardent advocate of continuing sanction against Russia, imposed in the wake of Ukraine and Crimean crisis, but the fact also remains that in the war against ISIL and Islamic state, she has been on the Russian side. Obviously at this crucial juncture, Putin would not cherish the idea of losing a supporter and admirer.

The demand for the revival of the jinxed Women’s Reservation Bill is raising its head once again. The chorus is now led by none other than the Congress president Sonia Gandhi who had revived it on Tuesday in Parliament. It was she who was instrumental in getting the bill passed in Rajya Sabha six years ago but could not get it through the Lok Sabha. Ironically, the Bill providing for one-third quota for women in legislatures has broad support from all political parties, yet the same parties have stalled the passage of this Bill in Parliament for the past 19 years.

Union Government’s media outreach programme, worked out recently following recommendations of a Committee of Secretaries, followed up by Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to implement that and approved by the Prime Minister’s Office, is not new at all. At its best, media outreach strategy is repackaged as altogether a new programme, which has been tried by successive Governments since the globalization of Indian economy commenced in July 1991. In all such cases, it has come a cropper. Nevertheless, prompted by the negative sentiments generated by the media against the previous UPA Government that changed adversely public perception against it, this exercise of the NDA Government appears to be well intended. But how far will it improve and enlarge media outreach favourable to the Government, only the time will spell! Till then the people concerned will watch with bated breadth.

The young Avani Chaturvedi yearned as a child to fly like a bird. She could not be a bird but she will certainly fly, on wings of the Indian Air Force, carrying in her fighter plane enough lethal power to rain havoc with mere touch of her finger tips. She is chosen along with two other girls to start training from this June as fighter pilots. Avani is fortunate enough to have been born in a city and in a house of well to do parents who strived hard for her education at best school. The band of teachers helped her to climb and her parents allowed her to walk on her chosen path leading to the Indian Air Force.

Flamboyant Vijay Mallya’s now defunct dream airliner Kingfisher Red had an inbuilt recipe for disaster ever since it began operations in early 2005. He confided to many at the time that his main objective of starting this venture was to “finish” Naresh Goyal’s Jet Airways. This led to not just a cut throat competition which is acceptable in business, but a new and untested business model which was unsustainable in the long run.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the date for the crucial Kerala Assembly elections having been announced, the process of candidate-selection by various parties has gathered speed. The State Assembly elections will be held on May 16.

The second Gyan Sangam that wound up its two-day brainstorming deliberations on March 5 under the initiative of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who launched in Pune in January 2015 the maiden one, has come out with an endorsement for bank consolidation so that the behemoth structure of public sector banks can be pared down to render them effective and efficient results on the ground.

Making of a Railway budget is always a difficult exercise in India as this is one area where every member of Parliament wants something to be done in his constituency irrespective of whether the project is technically feasible or economically viable. So it is a tight-rope walk for any Railway minister in blending populism with requirement. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has done well in this balancing act this year, his second Railway Budget. Given the resource constraints, he has done well to present a growth-oriented and pragmatic Rail Budget that strives to bring smile on everybody's face while trying to consolidate and fix the creaking rail infrastructure.

With assembly elections knocking at the door, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has become conscious of the menace and rule of terror of the crime syndicates and their bosses. The syndicates have been active in West Bengal for years, but the Mamata government preferred to ignore their presence. The reason was they suited to the needs of the Trinamool Congress and its government.

Why does the government have to routinely make distressed year-end sale of PSU stocks to cover its annual budget deficit at huge cost to ordinary shareholders? For instance, for only Rs. 5,030 crore the government sold some 41.22 crore NTPC shares, representing five per cent of its stake in the country’s largest power company, at a throwaway floor price of Rs.122 apiece. Twenty per cent shares were reserved for retail investors. The sale deal was opened and closed just a few days before the 2016-17 budget was presented in Parliament. Stock traders knew it was coming. NTPC stock prices remained suppressed for quite some time. In fact, few PSU stocks in the market command a fare value vis a vis private sector competition. Before the NTPC sale offer, the scrip was trading in the secondary market at Rs 124.70, down 1.69 per cent over the previous evening close.