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If the top leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party had set out to demonstrate its cynical disregard for political decency, tolerance for colossal corruption, lack of political judgment, and sheer organisational incompetence, it couldn’t have done better than it did in Karnataka. The ignominious collapse of the BS Yeddyurappa regime after it was scathingly and convincingly indicted for monumental corruption by the Lokayukta, and the political shenanigans that followed, constitute a massive debacle and epic humiliation for the BJP.

Like the extra-constitutional National Advisory Committee headed by Sonia Gandhi, which guides the government’s legislative agenda, the formation of a panel comprising A.K. Antony, Rahul Gandhi and two others by the Congress president before she left for treatment abroad opened a new chapter in the party. Throughout its 126-year history, the Congress’s main policy-making body has been the working committee. Now, for the first time, it has for all intents and purposes a new “working committee”.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Emerging Asia’s capital markets have shown great resilience over the past year, but the recent sharp sell-offs in response to economic uncertainty in the US and eurozone underscore the need for stronger policies to boost investor confidence and reduce excessive volatility, says a new report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

New Delhi: The tragic sinking of the ship MV Rak Carrier off the coast of Mumbai last Thurday had exposed the lack of co-ordination gap among different security agencies in the metropolis and delayed action.

Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has commended the authorities for their strong rules-based policy framework, which has underpinned skillful macroeconomic stewardship and a rapid turnaround in activity. With the recovery expected to remain firm, a gradual withdrawal of the policy stimulus that takes due account of the significant global uncertainty is warranted in the near term. Directors noted that the main medium-term challenges for Mexico are to bolster its growth potential and address long-term fiscal challenges.

New York: Armed violence continues to affect large numbers of Iraqis, with minorities, women and children suffering disproportionately, torture widely reported and impunity rife, according to a United Nations report released today.

New Delhi: For achieving 8-10% overall GDP growth agricultural policy and schemes should be revisited to bring necessary changes for more participation of women in agriculture. This will help in enhancing agricultural productivity in the country, said the Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development, D.Purandeswari

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing Indonesia with a $100 million loan to finance community-driven projects that upgrade basic infrastructure in rural villages and improve sanitation services in poor urban neighborhoods.

In this era of mega scams and rampant corruption, Haryana’s ‘experienced” politicians seldom disappoint the people. They enliven the controversies by taking on their opponents by adopting self-contradictory stands. The latest example is the controversy over the leasing out of the under-acquisition five acres of panchayat land of Ulhawas village in Gurgaon district to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT) by granting change of land use (CLU).

The Congressional debate, disagreement and compromise on the US government debt ceiling apart, the Standard & Poor’s downgrading of the sovereign rating of the United States of America (USA), the world’s largest economy, is at best a hoax call that may be intended to warn the world about the possible consequences of a poor US debt management. The rating certainly does not reflect the reality of the intrinsic strength of the US economy and US dollar’s pervasive influence on the global economy. Although the USA’s debt-to-GDP ratio is quite high, almost 100 per cent after the congress and the senate approved a compromise formula to raise the sovereign debt ceiling, there are other rich OECD countries which have higher debt-to-GDP ratio.