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New Delhi: At a time when talks of black money is in the air in the current poll season, the chief of the global action body has urged India and other member countries to check the evil trend through 'risk-based approach.'

At the very outset, I should make my position on certain things very clear. I believe that there are many, many ways of being human – none of them being ‘better’ or ‘worse’, ‘progressive’ or ‘regressive’, ‘forward’ or ‘backward’ than others. There is no rank order of ‘civilizations’, cultures, millennia and the like. For that matter, I am not sure what ‘civilisation’ means, unless you define it by a set of arbitrary parameters and ascribe those parameters some kind of inherently positive value, just because you fancy them. This line of thought may be particularly irritating to those who, after their unfortunate birth in brown-land, were born-again when exposed to White people’s worldviews.

With Lok Sabha polls almost coming to an end, the political parties have already started looking ahead for a post poll scenario. While the general expectation is that there is not likely to be a decisive verdict, the track record shows that there could also be some surprises. In 2004 the ‘India shining’ ad blitz adopted by the BJP created an impression backed by several poll surveys that it was coming back to power. But even to the surprise of the Congress, the UPA came to power. In 2009 also, the expectation was the NDA might come back to power and to the surprise of all, the UPA 11 came back. Now the media and the BJP have created hype that Modi led BJP will form government.

BHOPAL: On April 24, the day voters in ten Lok Sabha constituencies in Madhya Pradesh were choosing their representatives, a DIG rank IPS officer surrendered in a Bhopal Thana. This police officer was absconding after he was found guilty of manipulating the admission of his daughter and son-in-law in a post-graduate course in Medicine. It is alleged that he paid a heavy bribe to the authorities concerned.

KOLKATA: The seven Northeastern states send 22 members to the Lok Sabha, Assam leading the pack with fourteen. So long Assam was considered a Congress fortress. But the fortress is no longer impregnable. Decades ago, former Congress president Devakanta Borooah used to say that as long as Congress enjoyed the support of ‘Ali-Kuli-Bangali’ (meaning the Muslims, the tea garden labourers and the Bengalis), it could not be defeated, This time, the BJP has dented the tea population and won over large sections of Bengalis. The Muslims seem to be divided whether or not to support the BJP which is likely to become the ruling party at the Centre. Some think that whichever the ruling party, the Muslims cannot afford to antagonise it.

General Election for 16th Lok Sabha will be known for many firsts. This is the first election, in which the centre point of attack and counter attack is a person, who is not in power at the centre. A leader occupying the central place in campaign of all parties during elections is not new to India. In 1977 Lok Sabha election, Mrs Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India was the main talking point of almost all parties contesting the election. In 1989, Rajeev Gandhi commanded the same place. But both of them were sitting Prime Ministers at that time. In Lok Sabha election of 1980, the main slogan of Congress (I) was, “Indira Lao, Desh Bachao”. Mrs Gandhi was the main focus of the Congress campaign, but her opponents were not obsessed with her in 1980 in a way which had been seen during 1977 elections.

Two weeks ago, many public-spirited Indians complimented the Election Commission for banning public speeches and rallies by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Uttar Pradesh chief campaign manager Amit Shah, and the Samajwadi Party’s fiery Azam Khan, both of whom had made provocative speeches for or against religious groups.

One obvious impact of Narendra Modi’s ascent will be to boost investor confidence. But, it will be wrong to believe that the moneybags will arrive with overflowing satchels from Day One to court the new dispensation. Instead, they will like to wait and see how the social scene pans out.

LUCKNOW: The communal polarization in Uttar Pradesh created and sharpened by politicians in the run up to election 2014 will go beyond polling day. That religion has become a basis for voting for a candidate is apparent but the divide runs far beyond. It has started to tell on the symbiosis between Hindus and Muslims, living and working side by side for generations in the small towns and villages of India’s Hindi heartland.

Economic rhetoric has gained traction in the ongoing elections for 16th Lok Sabha, with BJP leader Mr Narendra Modi and his high-profile colleague, Mr Arun Jaitley, throwing some light on policy directions of a Modi Government, which they have taken for granted, when poll results are announced on May 16.