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Mr Arvind Kejriwal’s spectacular electoral conquest of Delhi, at the centre of the Modi Government, outshines, albeit over a smaller but politically sensitive area, the way Mr Narendra Modi managed to enthrone himself as Prime Minister of India but with just 31 per cent of an 800-million electorate backing him in May last. Mr Kejriwal's AAP ,making a clean sweep of the national capital region with 67 out of 70 Assembly seats, has politically hurt Mr Modi and has also raised new hopes for weakened opposition forces in the country to galvanise themselves for more state battles to come.

When the Union Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu presents his maiden rail budget 2015-16 in Parliament on February 26, 2015, he will have several challenges to meet. The major challenge would be to enhance rail capacity and de-bottleneck the rail network. Another important challenge would be removal of capacity constraints due to lack of investment.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Few state governments can rival the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Government in Kerala when it comes to kicking up controversies. So formidable is the reputation it has built over the years that almost anything it touches turns to controversy! In fact a joke doing the rounds these days is that, if there were to be a world cup for controversy-creation, then the Oommen Chandy-led UDF Government will be an odds-on favourite to win it!

The rise and rise of AAP has brought out a new phenomenon that people are willing to give a chance to any viable alternative. It is also the success of the volunteer model where the party was steered by young volunteers.

Easing of sanctions against Iran by the Western powers coupled with the drawdown of NATO forces from Afghanistan has prompted India to speed up its development plans of the Chabahar port. It is an opportunity for India, which has so far been denied direct overland link to Afghanistan by Pakistan, to take up the development of Chabahar port with all sincerity and commitment.

With barely two weeks to go for the presentation of the Rail Budget in Parliament, expectations run high this time round that the Ministry is in capable hand in Mr. Suresh Prabhu with proven caliber to set things right and launch the carrier in a growth path. The unassuming, urbane and with a no-nonsense approach and being grounded in the finicky auditing profession, Mr. Prabhu has been a trusted colleague of the Prime Minister Mr. Modi. Given his unobtrusive style of functioning, the Railway Minister had hit the ground running from the day one he assumed office after the exit of his predecessor Mr. Sadanand Gowda in the last Cabinet reshuffle. The Minister lost little time in putting in place a process re-engineering through greater delegation to zonal and divisional managers, besides ensuring greater transparency and accountability in the system that is the arterial mode of monopoly carrier for far too long with its settled habits that literally die hard unless the leadership is decisive and result-oriented to shed its complacency.

This winter has been most severe on the country’s teeming poor millions not because of any rapid fall in temperature, but because of an unprecedented food price inflation. This is despite the fact that India’s food and farm production are steadily going up. For the first time, the country’s annual food production is systematically outstripping the population growth. Yet, food shortage continues. Official data put India as one of the world’s top farm producers. Naturally, the question is: who is eating away the poor man’s food? What is contributing to food shortage leading to massive spurt in food and vegetable prices in the retail market?

The media outreach programme of the NDA Government, discussed and chalked out in a day long workshop at New Delhi on February 2, 2014 and presided by the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Finance & Corporate Affairs, Arun Jaitly is a well meaning exercise intended to strengthen the Press Information Bureau (PIB), the prime official media for dissemination of all official information and publicity of the Government of India and other official media units for keeping the people better informed about policy decisions of the Government and benefits accruing to the people.

It was indeed a Super Tuesday. The BJP was routed and the Congress completely decimated in the Delhi Assembly elections. This was unexpected and not even projected in the Exit Polls which had forecast a landslide victory for the Aam Admi Party but not a setback of this magnitude to the BJP. Delhi elections were not an ordinary state election— unheard off, never witnessed in the annals of history. It was a battle which could reshape the very nature of urban politics in a changing economy and alter equations at the national level. Increasingly politically aware and aspirational voters were looking for an agenda which mirrored their daily anxieties—prices, corruption, security, water and power—and they have found it in Kejriwal’s assurances.

The BJP’s massive defeat in the Delhi elections is a result of its failure to observe the rules of raj dharma of neutrality which ensures that no community lives in fear.