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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.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala continues to pay a heavy penalty for giving the BJP the cold shoulder in the Lok Sabha elections. That is the unmistakable message beamed by both the Railway and the Union Budgets presented by the Narendra Modi Government.

The first full budget of the Modi government is low on hype but high on content. The budget does not take ambitious new moves, but takes numerous small ones for long term impact. In the end, it is an intelligent document for achieving the principal goal of job creation through higher growth. This is how it tries to achieve that goal.

Intriguingly, both the Congress and the BJP are currently involved in internal skirmishes. Nor are they of a minor nature common to most parties which have to deal with factional squabbles.

This is undoubtedly a different budget, much different than anyone has seen or read since the independence. The poor, the downtrodden and the old may think they have the most – insurance, pension, health care and all that. The unemployed youth, aspiring small entrepreneurs may find the budget providing a basket of hopes. The salaried middle class carries more money into their pocket even without lower tax levies. The states are treated most ravishingly ever. Eastern states, including West Bengal and Bihar, and newly created Andhra Pradesh have more. The give-away list goes on and on. There is little to grumble about the budget. The only fears are the remote possibility of an international oil price surge beyond $75 per barrel and a real drought.