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In the absence of certainty over the smooth passage of crucial economic legislations due to the numerically weaker position vis-à-vis the seemingly disparate but united by Opposition parties against their common foe in the Upper House, the NDA-led by the Bharatiya Janata Party is increasingly resorting to Ordinance Raj. Such executive diktat by the ruling dispensation, albeit being abhorrent in a democracy as it woefully lacks the imprimatur of Parliament, is inevitable, given the obduracy of even the original reform patent-holder, the Congress Party that has a dual and divided commitment to economic reforms in and out of power!

People of Jammu & Kashmir have voted massively and overwhelmingly for a better and secure future but the verdict, unfortunately turned out to be a fractured one. Also, the pattern of voting was divisive—Jammu voted overwhelmingly for the BJP and the valley for the PDP. Sadly, neither the BJP nor the PDP could get a clear majority to form a government. The National Conference could get only 15 and the Congress just 12 seats. This created a piquant situation; if the PDP joins hand with the BJP, it will be against the wishes of the people of the valley. Mahbooba Mufti’s party got the votes on anti-BJP plank and the BJP was totally rejected in the valley. On the contrary, the PDP was routed in the Jammu region.

BHOPAL: On December 29, 2014 Babulal Gaur created history. On that day he completed four decades uninterrupted membership of Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha. Perhaps he is the only living politician of Madhya Pradesh who never tasted defeat. His first electoral victory was in 1974 when he contested election as an independent candidate supported by all the non-Congress, non-communist parties.

Year 2014 was assuring for India’s foreign policy. There was a number of incoming and outgoing visits by the heads of the government and heads of the state. India’s interaction with powers like US, Russia, China, Japan, Australia, South Korea took place in this year. There was a gap in the activity at the top level in April and most of May due to the election process in the country. With the change of the government in May 26 after the polls, some expected a definite change in the country’s foreign policy owing to ideological reasons. But belying their hopes this did not occur as it logically should. What happened was not a shift in the country’s foreign policy, but in the emphasis in certain areas.

What does the crystal ball say about the year 2015 after an eventful 2014 for Prime Minister Narendra Modi? No doubt Modi has emerged as the man of the year while the Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and Aam Admi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal were the losers of the year. The New Year essentially will have to be the year of delivery. For now Prime Minister is basking in the glory of his landslide victory but how long this honeymoon will last is not known. He has raised too much expectations and the world is watching whether his magic wand will work. Changing the mind set at the national level is going to be a big challenge, as he will find it soon.

Even with a major new offensive against the Bodo extremists in Assam and adjacent areas getting under way, security analysts in Assam are not convinced that the culprit involved in the recent massacre of some 80 tribals would be brought to book.

Odisha Chief Ministr Naveen Patnaik may face a difficult challenge if the revival of the Congress party takes place at this juncture when he is engulfed by a series of scams – from MineGate to CoalGate to land and housing scam to relief scam to the new Ponzi scam. He knows pretty well that at present the BJP will not disturb him much as the Modi government at the Centre would seek BJD’s help in passing some important bills in the Rajya Sabha. The only challenge can come from the Congress which is already aggressive and can become an effective challenge if it revives itself.

Time was when India proposed, the US disposed. Now, reverse is the trend. The US proposes, India delivers or dithers. The Indo-US relationship has taken a full circle over the decades. The $2-trillion ($5-trillion in PPP term) Indian economy is billed to become the largest in the Commonwealth by 2018 and 3rd largest in the world by 2024, according to Cebr Global’s World Economic League Table (WELT). The US is clearly looking for action to be part of this projected massive expansion of India’s economy. India’s largest trading partner wants to be everywhere, in every sector – from defence, nuclear, financial services, infrastructure to manufacturing, retail and e-commerce — ahead of its European and Asian rivals such as the UK, Germany, France, Russia, Japan and China.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s desperate efforts to assuage the anger of the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC), which is extremely unhappy about the U-turn of the Chandy Government in its liquor policy, have ended in a fiasco.

It’s humanly impossible not to be revolted by the killing of 134 innocent children in Peshawar by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and not to feel a surge of empathy with Pakistani citizens. This barbaric attack galvanised unprecedented solidarity demonstrations and vigils in South Asian cities.