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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.

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Government in Kerala was plunged into a serious crisis with a section of the Kerala Congress(Mani) MLAs threatening to resign and withdraw support to the Government on the controversial Kasturirangan report issue.

The next Lok Sabha elections are round the corner and Assembly elections to Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Sikkim will also be held simultaneously. What kind of Lok Sabha will emerge after the 2014 polls? Will it be better or worse than the 15th Lok Sabha? Will the UPA make a come back though farfetched as it may sound? Will the Modi led NDA capture power or will the third front form the government? Crystal gazing provides a hazy picture.

New Delhi : India, Sri Lanka and Maldives reviewed their trilateral maritime security cooperation signed way back in October 2011. At a discussion at the level of national security advisers of three countries here on Thursday, they expressed satisfaction over the progress in the implementation of various activities in the identified areas.

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh is currently facing one of the worst crises in its history. According to official estimates, standing rabi crops of wheat, gram and masoor in more than 10,000 villages have been either totally or partially damaged by hailstorm and untimely heavy rains that hit large parts of the state in the last week of February. Lakhs of farmers have been ruined and the output of food grains in the state may go down by 50 to 80 per cent, suggest preliminary estimates.

Within 75 days from now, India will get its 16th Lok Sabha and a new government at the centre. I am not here to predict the nature of the new government, its combination or whether it will survive its full term. But having saying so, I can guess that main attraction of this political battle is zoomed towards two aspects. One, whether Narendra Modi will fulfill his not-so-long standing dream of addressing the nation from Lal Qilla and second, who will emerge as number three party in India.

New Delhi : The Election Commission has caused a casualty to the Union Minority Affairs Minister Rahman Khan’s much awaited publicity.