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Jammu and Kashmir has seen several coalition governments in the past few decades but the present BJP- PDP government led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is indeed historic. This was the first time that aspirations of both Jammu and the valley have got representation in the state government. All along it had been the valley, which had dominated the state. It is an alliance of unnatural partners who had fought against each other in the elections and the two share nothing in common except their hunger for power. In spite of all these if the coalition could survive the next six years it will be an achievement of strange bedfellows.

New Delhi: Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA), the apex Industry Chamber for the Consumer Electronics and Home Appliances Industry in India, submitted a white paper on “E- Waste in India” to Mr. Ashok Lavasa, IAS, Secretary Environment and Forests, which highlights the background of India’s E-waste management. The paper provides an analysis of the regulatory framework (E-waste Management and Handling Rules 2011; and Implementation Guidelines), current E-waste management practices in India, global scenario, comparison with best international practices and recommendations to the government in response to the draft amendments to the rules proposed by MoEF.

Since I am a Bengali, the People's Republic of Bangladesh has a special place in my heart. The People’s Republic of Bangladesh was born partly out of a struggle to protect the dignity of Bangla, the mother tongue of many of its people, against assaults from Urdu, Pakistan’s state-sponsored language that served the purpose of fostering ‘national unity’. Any multi-lingual nation-state that has policies favouring some languages over others as part of its ‘unifying’ agenda is a state that is fundamentally insecure about diversity and views that as an existential threat, irrespective of politically correct official stances. ‘National unity’ is the slogan aimed to silence those who point out this basic fact and want to maintain their own dignity.

In pre-emptively moving to bring down the repo rate to 7.5 per cent with immediate effect, no doubt data-based, Governor Dr Raghuram Rajan has also characteristically responded to issues emerging from the Union Budget 2015-16 and the historic accord between Government and RBI on monetary policy framework, in his statement of March 4, 2015.

BHOPAL: In Madhya Pradesh, politics took a dirty turn when the State Vidhan Sabha Secretariat was made to lodge an FIR against the former speaker Sriniwas Tiwari and former Chief Minister, Digvijay Singh accusing them of making irregular appointments in the Vidhan Sabha secretariat. The FIR was lodged on February 28, which happened to be the birthday of Digvijay Singh. According to the FIR, most of these appointments were made from 1993 to 2003. This was the period when Tiwari was the Speaker and Digvijay Singh was the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government does not seem to be serious about making things in India, for India and for export. There is nothing particular in the NDA government’s first full budget that carries specific agenda to push structured production in India to substitute imports and create surplus for exports the way China first pursued such an objective through the 1990s and followed it over in the last 14 years of this century. China asked foreign companies and investors to produce in China through a joint venture route with the state participating in equity mostly in kind through land allotment and labour deployment. China insisted on board level berth, technology transfer over a period of time and a minimum operational schedule. The original Chinese model for make-in-China programme may have little relevance to the present day business situation in democratic India, but the government does not seem to have a specific programme to boost large production of goods and services in India. At least, the 2015-16 budget that seeks to raise Rs.23,300 crore from duties and levies does not provide any special push, specific incentives to all or select foreign investors to produce varieties of products in India at globally competitive quality and prices to tap the local market as well as to export.

Sureshbhai Patel, a 57-year-old grandfather from rural Gujarat, had gone to visit his prematurely born grandson in the state of Alabama, USA. He was brutally assaulted by the local police as he was taking a stroll in the neighborhood where his son lives. The man received severe spinal injuries and is now partially paralyzed. While such gross injustice should attract condemnation as it has from various sectors of US civil society and elected representatives, the there is something about the reaction of powerful brown people resident in the subcontinent that requires introspection. After the Sureshbhai Patel assault news broke, Delhi’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) sprang into action, putting on its ‘empathy’ for brownman Sureshbhai and ‘outrage’ hats at the same time at the excessive use of force by the police.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The election of Kanam Rajendran as the new secretary of the Kerala unit of the Communist Party of India (CPI) is the best thing that has happened to the party, which is at a critical juncture in its political life.

Sometimes events of immediate relevance overshadow issues of potentially wider ramifications. One such event is the Akali Dal-BJP combine’s sweeping victory in the outgoing week’s municipal council and nagar panchayats polls and relatively less spectacular performance in the Municipal Corporations elections. The other event is the Centre’s enhancing the states share in central taxes from 32% to 42% in the wake of 14th Finance Commission recommendations.

Mr Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister, smartly projected a visionary image for the first full-fled Union Budget of the Modi Government for 2015-16, which in overall terms is less assuring of the 'Achhe Din', promised by the Prime Minister, coming within sight in the foreseeable future. It holds out more attractions for business in the hope all that would help to revive investments and create jobs.