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People in the two Bengals use the word ‘Goonda’ quite liberally – to refer to anything between a naughty child to the local political thug. But in the eyes of law, who is a Goonda? One of its many legal definitions is to be found in the Control of Disorderly and Dangerous Persons (Goondas) Act (East Bengal Act IV of 1954). There is goonda is someone ‘involved in affray, rowdyism or acts of intimidation or violence in any place private or public so as to cause alarm to the people living or frequenting the neighbourhood’.

The India-US political relations have suddenly got a jolt after the Khobragade affair and as of now, there are no serious efforts from the two sides to limit the damage to the bilateral economic ties. With the Lok Sabha elections due in India in April/May this year, there is every possibility that there will be no fresh initiative and the problems relating to visa controversy, energy collaboration and differences over intellectual property rights policy, will be left to the new Government at the centre after it takes over in the last week of May this year.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited’s (RIL) latest denial of its alleged involvement in Rs. 6,500-crore plus money laundering through a Singapore-based ‘open-and-shut’ company, Biometrix Marketing Pte Ltd, and its reinvestment into group firms in India, including the one engaged in KG basin gas exploration, as foreign direct investment (FDI) raises more questions than provides convincing answers to the seven-year-old transaction the legality of which is yet to be established by the Delhi High Court. Legal luminary Prashant Bhushan, an anti-corruption crusader and Aam Aadmi Party leader, has raked up the issue once again as a Lok Sabha election campaign ammo. Surprisingly, RIL’s response appears to be weak, if not less convincing.

The aim of 1991 economic reforms was to do away with the License Raj. It was the main source of corruptions. Babus amass huge wealth through the means of licenses issued for manufacturing and trading. Various licenses and approvals were required to start a manufacturing and import businesses. A huge money were flowed under the table to expedite the issue of licenses. A manufacturer had to wait for eight to ten months to get an industrial license. Similar periods were required t to obtain an import license. Most of the big houses deployed brains to liaison with the babus and expedite the issue of licenses through bribes.

Described years ago by his bête noire, Lalu Prasad Yadav, as ‘Abhaga (unfortunate) Paswan’, the Lok Janshakti Party leader, Ram Vilas Paswan, is on his way to become ‘Bhagyawan (fortunate) Pawan’ as he positions himself to play a crucial role in the post election-scenario in Bihar. Paswan’s return to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance comes close to 12 years after he quit the Vajpayee government to protest against the 2002 communal riots of Gujarat.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is bent upon making a determined effort to emerge as the third option in Kerala. The moot point is: will it succeed in accomplishing what the BJP has failed to achieve so far?

It could be easily the biggest scandal surrounding top government appointments under the UPA regime seemingly spiced with all those ingredients as political influence, invisible power play by a top cabinet minister and arbitrariness that would make a good script for a Bollywood potboiler. Reports surfacing on what exactly went on behind the selection and appointment of Archana Bhargava as the executive chairperson (CMD) of historically credit-sharks controlled nationalized United Bank of India (UBI) are more shocking than last year’s Railway Board recruitment scandal that cost Railway Minister Pawan Bansal’s job.

Now that the Telangana bill is awaiting President’s nod, what would be its political and electoral repercussions in Andhra Pradesh? Will the Congress calculations go awry if the TRS does not play along? Will the TRS opt for only poll alliance? These are some of the questions that are being asked in the political circles.

The country’s modest export growth of 6.3 per cent during the current fiscal (2013-14) with estimated merchandise export turnover of 326 billion dollars, after some heady growth rate in double- digits in the recent past, portends daunting challenges ahead. With the rate of imports uncharacteristically notching up meager growth boding bad for both manufacturing and domestic trade, India’s chances of logging sustained spell of higher trade growth appear at risk in the face of none too benign world economic growth in general and world trade in particular.

It has been rightly said that in Indian politics, nothing is predictable and nothing is unpredictable. The hobnobbing of Ramvilas Paswan with BJP is further authenticating this saying. With the collapse of Soviet Union, the politics based on ideology has too collapsed and what we are watching in India is the ideology based on power politics.