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There are two certainties about the general election result. One is that the BJP will be the largest single party in the Lok Sabha and that the Congress’ tally will be around 100 seats. If a rough prediction is made about the seats won by the three main combinations – the NDA, the Third Front and the Congress – it will be something like 220, 220 and 100 in the 543-member Lok Sabha.

New Delhi: India-US deal on civil nuclear cooperation is unlikely to make any significant head way as the American side is apprehensive of the present Indian liability regime. It has urged the Indian side to align its laws with the international convention on nuclear liability.

Amidst the sagging growth in the economy, BJP-ruled states performed much better than Congress ruled states. All the states, which are currently under BJP governance, achieved much higher growth in GDP than the national average growth of 5 per cent. For example, in 2012-13, BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh clocked the second highest growth in GDP at 10.02 per cent, after Bihar (ruled by JD). It was followed by Chhattisgarh with 8.57 per cent growth and Goa by 7.6 per cent in GDP. In 2011-12, Gujarat pitched a growth by 8.53 per cent. Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat witnessed exponential growth by of over 8-9 per cent during the past three years. In 2012-13, no Congressed-ruled State achieved GDP growth higher than 7 per cent.

If corruption is a key issue before political parties in this coming Lok Sabha election, including the Congress party, which presided over the biggest and the largest number of corruption cases in its10-year rule leading the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), they need to come out clearly about governance goals and compliance commitment concerning both the government and corporate life in their respective political and economic manifestos. Parties failing to do this may be regarded as only casual about corruption giving merely lip service to the biggest social evil that is eating into the vitals of the country’s economy and its progress.

New Delhi: India Inc has said that it would need “cheap funds” from other countries like Japan and Singapore to build infrastructure and enterprises in Africa.

LUCKNOW: Poor response to Narendra Modi’s rally in state capital on March 2 has not only unnerved the BJP leadership but also exposed sharp infighting and groupism in state unit.

Now that the stage is set for the world’s largest democracy to go to polls in April-May 2014, many questions come to the fore. What sort of government people will elect? Will BJP-led NDA or the Congress-led UPA form the government at centre? What will be role of Arvind Kejriwal-led, Aam Aadmi Party? What, however, appears certain is that no party is getting a clear majority.

It must have been one of the most dreadful weeks for the country’s 13th President, in which he displayed extraordinary political conviction, firmness and probity to withstood extreme pressure from the government and some of the big guns of the party he actively served for five decades to reject their verbal appeals to get a bunch of anti-corruption ordinances promulgated, just days after the 15th Lok Sabha was prorogued and before the Election Commission was ready with the next Lok Sabha election schedule. By doing this, President Pranab Mukherjee has upheld the highest honour and dignity to the country’s top constitutional post saving it from political manipulation.

If necessity is the mother of inventions, effective strategising is indispensable for the success and survival of political parties.

In the early days of industrialization, factories were located near the source of raw material or production enablers or points of consumption. While availability of manpower was an important consideration, it was not really a limiting factor. Moving skilled labour force or managerial talent to centres of production was easier than vice-versa.