View Articles

The latest developments concerning Ukraine and United States of America’s unilateral announcement of sanctions against Russia have exposed the continuing domineering attitude of the western powers headed by the USA in influencing the course of the global economic developments in their favour at the cost of the newly emerging economies. The Ukraine crisis has once against shown that the non-western countries have to seriously think of an alternative financial system so that the US and its allies are not in a position to make use of its domination of the international financial agencies to browbeat the other economies. The non-west economies are now strong enough to take a position that will guarantee their rights and privileges in the global financial system.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The contrast in the moods prevailing in the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) camps is too glaring to be missed. While the LDF is confident of winning a majority of the 20 seats from the State, the UDF, even as it exudes optimism, is worried about the reports emanating from the various District Congress Committees (DCCs).

One may like it or not, Narendra Modi’s campaign has become Modi-centric. Ever since he was named BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate, Modi’s campaign has turned into one-man show. The tone and tenor of his electioneering from its very inception has had overtones of the individualism. The poll publicity magnifies Modi’s image at the expense of that of the party. Voters have been asked to vote not so much for the lotus symbol but for Modi. “Modi is the party; Modi is the manifesto”, is the refrain of party workers who, indeed, demoralized before Modi’s advent on the scene, have enlivened up once more.

The worst period of Indian economy is over. The downtrend in growth has bottomed out. The world economic institutions, viz, IMF and World Bank, are on the run to revise India’s growth projections. IMF revised India’s GDP growth in 2014-15 from 4.7 percent to 5.4 percent and World Bank pushed it from 5 .0 percent to 5.5 percent. FIIs are flocking to pour their fund in Indian equity market. The new government will be blessed with the platform of bouncing back of the economy on the growth trajectory. Can the new government gear up the growth?

Notwithstanding BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s persistent claim of the success of the Gujarat model and the need for its nation-wide replication for faster development and higher empowerment of the people, the Modivision appears to be not only politically prejudiced but also undermines the very indomitable Gujarati spirit of entrepreneurship. Modi’s so-called development treatise has provoked controversies across non-BJP ruled states and among Congress party bigwigs pointing at its statistical shortcomings and inapplicability outside Gujarat. The criticism is partly correct.

Andhra Pradesh has always had a role in the formation of the Central government with its 42 Lok Sabha seats. Interestingly, for the past two decades it is either the TDP or the Congress, which had kept the UPA or the NDA governments going. While the TDP was the lifeline of the NDA government, the Congress in the 2004 as well as the 2009 polls, contributed a good number of seats for the UPA 1 and UPA 2. Now with the bifurcation of the state, the Congress is on the back foot.

The greater Boston area of the United States of America has a very good public transportation system. This comprises of buses, local trains, boats and the metro rail. The Red line is one of the metro routes, stopping at Harvard and MIT, the two institutions where I have spent all of my academic-professional life outside Bengal. This means that I have taken the Red Line metro many, many times. One of the stations on the route is called Porter Square. Soon after the metro leaves a stop, there is a recorded voice which lets the passengers know what the next station is. The way that voice said ‘Porter Square’ was in what can be called a Bostonian accent. That is apt since the metro is in Boston, most users of the metro are from Boston and that is the accent they are most comfortable with.

As the nation is on the cusp of a change at the helms of administration with the outcome of the poll after mid-May throwing up any odd combination of political parties to rule the country for the next five years, the biggest challenge confronting the economy is how to get investment activities kick-started. It is common knowledge that for more than five years, investment activities, both public and private, had not been on course but was in moribund state due to a medley of factors.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala BJP leaders are riding high on confidence, post polling in the Lok Sabha elections. The long-standing gleam in the eyes of BJP activists would become a resounding reality this time around, aver THE BJP leaders and activists alike.

In some ways, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal has retained a measure of innocence, if that’s the word, as a functioning political party.