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KOLKATA: The Vision Statement adopted at the just-concluded ASEAN-India Summit held in New Delhi has cheered the people of Northeast India by holding out hopes of increased trade between North East Region (NER) and the member countries of the ASEAN.

The year 2012 had been the year of scandals - political, business and media - and corruption in public life, in India as well as in the rest of the world. To be honest, India’s politicians, businessmen, bureaucrats and military brass may derive some comfort from the fact that the country is still behind some of the world’s front ranking economies such as China, Russia, the USA and members of European Union.

When powerful people show concern and promise speedy action on injustice, there is a transient moment of hope. Given how many times this charade has been played in front of the people, including this time with regards to the Delhi rape and violence incident, it may be useful to take this incident up as a case and analyse. This may be a useful exercise in calling out the double-speak from the Indian nation state.

LUCKNOW: While the national leadership of Congress and BJP has supported the bill for constitutional amendment for bringing quota in promotions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the state leaders are virtually in a revolting mood.

The countdown to the New Year has already begun. The year that went by was full of events and ended with a huge agitation and public outcry against the gang rape of a 23-year-old college student. What does the crystal ball say about the year 2013? What will be the fortunes of the ruling UPA-II and the NDA? What about the economy and our foreign policy?

BHOPAL: With the denial of a second term to the state BJP President Prabhat Jha, cracks have appeared in the ruling party set-up of Madhya Pradesh.

Delhi along with the whole nation is witnessing an unprecedented agitation against the gang rape of a girl in a moving bus in national capital. The response of government to this agitation was far less than adequate. The government failed to gauge the level of resentment and adopted a bureaucratic approach to it as reflected in the reply given by Union Home Minister in Parliament. This was not a first instance of such heinous crime, but the HM was responding to the crime in a very casual manner.

From New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, which hogged the headlines for two years as the locale for civil outbursts against corruption, to the gates of central authority on Raisina Hill, where demonstrators vented their fury over growing incidence of rapes of women, makes up an alarming signal for the UPA Government grappling with economic woes and its own survival.