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All those who expected Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deliver on his election-campaign promise of cleaning up Indian politics of money power and crime, making a break with short-term caste-and-community calculations, and placing merit above personal loyalty, would be sorely disappointed at his cabinet reshuffle, including the induction of 21 new ministers.

BHOPAL: Both the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress are in serious trouble. The reason is mounting discontent over the distribution of tickets for the three-tier urban bodies which will go to polls during the current month and also during December this year. How much serious situation is in both the parties can be appreciated by the headlines in a local English newspaper. The headlines are 'After resignation of top leaders, Congress faces ticket-for-cash charges'. The other headline is 'Rebels galore in BJP too.'

Given the size of the country’s domestic market of goods and services, the prime minister’s vision of manufacturing in India is no doubt a very practical idea not only from the point of view of the scale of local consumption but also the opportunity it holds for the export of surplus production. No country can sustain an import-led economy forever. However, its success will depend on the price and quality competitiveness of ‘Made-in-India’ products and services vis-a-vis imported ones. That is easier said than done. Entrepreneurs in a free economy are not in control of the factors of production, including costs of funds, raw material, labour, technology and conversion. The challenges are as much internal as external. And, industry has to perform at the highest level of efficiency to charter Made-in-India’s success. Simply, there is no escape from cost audit and maintenance of cost records on a regular basis by industry that many are trying to avoid by influencing the government to amend the cost rules.

LUCKNOW: Mission 2017 to capture power in Uttar Pradesh has prompted a major political move which is to play aggressive dalit card to woo member of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes who constitute more than 22 per cent of the total population.

If all goes well, India and Russia will shortly ink the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India & the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan & Russian Federation. The coming visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India next month is supposed to impart a new dimension to the bilateral ties between India and Russian Federation and speedy finalization of the FTA between the two countries, will be one of the major tasks in the summit. The bilateral trade between the two countries crossed to $12 billion in early months of 2013 and by 2015, it is expected to touch $20 billion.

KOLKATA: Way back in 1994, the then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao formulated India’s ‘Look East’ policy. Its aim was to strengthen economic ties, increase trade and commerce between India and her eastern neighbours and provide greater market access to one another for mutual benefit. Several projects like the 3200 km long India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway were taken up to accelerate the implementation of this policy. This particular project has taken an inordinately long time and is yet to be completed.

This was, perhaps, the worst beginning for Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra. His government would have easily won the trust vote with the NCP first deciding to abstain in voting, but, later, agreeing to vote with the government. Then whose idea it was to pass the motion through voice vote and cast a doubt on the legitimacy of first-ever BJP government in the state? Whosoever’s idea it might have been—government’s or newly elected Speaker Haribhau Bagde’s-- it has reduced the credibility of the Padnavis government. Former Chief Minister Prithviraj grabbed the occasion to say the faux pas has put a question mark over legitimacy of the BJP government.

If you have not watched the YouTube video Enna Da Rascalas: South of India, you should. It is a crisp catchy-tune video made by a talented group of artists calling themselves the Culture Machine and Stray Factory. It has gone ‘viral’, logging more than 1.2 million hits in 7 days. It humorously aims to inform people about the different peoples of ‘South of India’ and their distinct cultures, lifestyles and other attributes. ‘There’s no Madrasi, we are all padosi (neighbours)’ – was the main message. Using the tune of ‘We didn’t start the fire’, it does a better job in showcasing the foods and old monuments of ‘South of India’ among other things than sarkari ‘Incredible India!’ tourism promotion campaigns.

The annual feature, G 20 Summit, has turned out to be a mere talk shop. No substantial effort has been done at the multilateral level to salvage the global economy. Whatever efforts are been made, are at national level for generating more demand to keep up the growth pace of their economy.

At a recent economic summit organized by World Economic Forum, the investors bemoaned the absence of any big ticket reform under Modi government. They lamented that against all high hopes generated by the Modi model of development before election, the government failed to announce any major reform which could stoke investment. In the summit, the echo from the investors was clear. They were waiting for clear-cut reforms which can draw the road map of development. They were looking for definite steps which can inspire them to jump in the playing arena.