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Last February, the three-year-old Aam Aadmi Party with almost no experience came to power with an overwhelming majority. A year later, its report card shows that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has not been able to meet the huge expectations. He has four more years to prove his credentials. He himself has said that it would not be bad if his government fulfill about half the campaign promises in five years.

Why did Saudi Arab execute the cleric Sheikh Nimr since it was already aware that the consequences would be deadly? Certainly it was not the outcome of a decision taken in haste or without applying mind. The only logical explanation is that it was part of a well designed strategy to whip up sectarian tension and help the ruling family to consolidate its support amongst the Sunni regimes. History is replete with such instances when rulers take to sectarian stand to overcome the economic and political crises.

With India’s energy security based on fossil fuels like oil or coal to generate electricity under stress for the former and under scanner for the latter, the path to green growth in the post-Paris climate change agreement crafted by 192 nations including India is also not presenting an easy option. Given the uncertainty of renewable energy and the high initial cost in generating them from the elements like air, water or biomass, the road ahead is equally rocky and bumpy if there is no forward plan or proper spadework to get the schemes/programmes going sans snags and snafus.

India’s time-tested friend Russia has come forward to be a partner in the ambitious Make-in-India initiative in sectors like defence manufacturing, nuclear power, solar energy, heavy engineering and railways. Defence is a critical sector for cooperation between the two countries. Moscow still remains as a major supplier of defence platforms and equipment even though India has made a conscious effort to diversify its import basket for new technology transfer and has inched towards US. Druzhba-Dosti has placed the relationship between the two countries on a firm footing, particularly in matters relating to defence and security despite resentments in the country on account of Russia supplying fighter jet engines to Pakistan.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The simmering pot of Janata Dal(U) in the State is all set to boil over.

Introspection induces realism. It is time both security and civil forces handling the Pathankot airbase attack case undertake the exercise. This would help in the search for the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. The exercise, however, cannot be undertaken without drawing a balance sheet of the past and the latest happenings. This would necessitate a scrutiny of the role played by the major actors in these happenings.

BHOPAL: Strange things are happening in Madhya Pradesh ruled by the BJP. Can it be imagined that two members of a Ministry can oppose each other for the posts of non-party organisation. But such a situation has arisen in Madhya Pradesh. Elections for the posts of chief commissioner, president and vice-president of Bharat Scouts are to be held shortly. Strangely enough both Paras Jain, School Education Cabinet Minister and Deepak Joshi, Minister of State for School Education have filed nomination for the post of Chief Commissioner. All efforts by the state leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party to perusals one of them to withdraw from the contest has failed so far. Only School Minister of State used to occupy the post of Chief Commissioner of Bharat Scouts earlier.

The virtually unknown “historian”, Y. Sudarshan Rao, who cannot claim to have made any significant contribution to the subject, has left the post of the chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) unsung and unlamented.

Few can dispute the fact that the eastern states such as West Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa and Assam are among the country’s most mineral rich parts. Yet, they have been among the most neglected states in independent India thanks to the policies of the national government since the days of India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru was the author of the first major national economic policy that made the prices of steel, the mother metal, and coal, the country’s primary energy, produced mostly by eastern states, equal all over the country through a railway freight equalization scheme.

The coming two years—2016 and 2017—are crucial both for the Congress and the BJP and regional parties like BSP, Mulayam Singh-led SP, AIADMK, Trinamool Congress and CPI-M (particularly in West Bengal and Kerala). In 2016 elections are scheduled in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala. The year 2017 will see Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Goa going to poll.