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The suspicion that India’s public sector banks have been hiding huge losses on account of non-performing assets (NPAs) under the carpet year after year is now proved to be true. Thanks to the bold decision taken by the State Bank of India’s (SBI) newly appointed chairman, Pratip Chaudhuri, to revisit the audited financial accounts of the bank in the last quarter of 2010-11, that is before his taking over the charge, a Rs. 6,059-crore hole was discovered on the bank’s assets position.

KOLKATA; Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leaders, who had sworn earlier never to discuss their Gorkhaland demand with West Bengal government, finally broke their oath.

Who is responsible for the present Ramdev crisis, which the government finds itself unable to extricate? Is it the miscalculations of the yoga guru, or the misplaced confidence of the government in its ability to deal with him, or the support of the BJP and RSS to the cause or the jealousy of the Civil Society group led by Anna Hazare? Apparently there is all round bungling from all sides leading to this embarrassing situation, which is a textbook case how blunders could be made.

One wonders whose idea it was to bring out a book to commemorate 125 years of the Congress. The events during period — from 1964 to 1984 — were analysed by independent authors, journalists and historians in which Indira Gandhi dominated the political scene. Criticism notwithstanding, it was a noble idea indeed to pen down objectively and correctly the history of the Congress for 20 most crucial years—from 1964 to 1984. History is a cruel judge of the people and events. Harsh reality has to be faced even it means criticism of the Congress leaders of the period, particularly Indira Gandhi. She was indeed a great leader but she did commit mistakes; operation Blue Star, after all, cost her life.

Nothing has gone right with UPA-II in the two years it has completed for it failed (a) to draw the right lessons from the end-result of the 2009 national voting while viewing it, with an air of over-confidence bordering on arrogance, as a decisive vote for the Congress party, and (b) to provide effective governance, as reflected in the emergence of corrupt deals, and the incompetence in getting to grips with basic livelihood issues like ravaging inflation. The Congress leadership of UPA cannot get away from its disastrous record, both political and economic, by taking shelter under “coalition compulsions”.

After the Left parties’ crushing defeat in the Assembly elections in West Bengal and Kerala—which itself followed reverses in recent Lok Sabha, municipal and village panchayat elections—, some commentators speculated that the “third pole” in Indian politics would get further weakened. The polity would become more bipolar as the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party would gain from the Left’s erosion.

After the initial bungling, the Congress may have earned a temporary reprieve with the anti-corruption campaign assuming a political colour. As long as it was being conducted by non-political actors, the party did not quite know how to deal with them. Hence, the sad and yet amusing spectacle of a 125-year-old party running around like a headless chicken when a maverick monk with weird ideas landed in Delhi in a chartered plane. And, as if to hide its own folly of such undignified behaviour, the government resorted to force to send Baba Ramdev packing from Ramlila maidan to Haridwar.

Situations in abnormality-hit areas never remain static. The latest example is the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Events of the past 12 months have given rise to two questions. For how long the State’s prevailing stable security environment will continue? Will the pro-Pakistan sentiment fueled by the separatists in the Valley in the past three decades get diluted in the foreseeable future?

KOLKATA: From all accounts and feedback from common people, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Ms Mamata Banerjee has made a good, confident beginning as the new Chief Minister of West Bengal.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Trouble is brewing in the Kerala unit of the Congress with a host of leaders training their guns on the Kerala Pradesh Congress chief Ramesh Chennithala for the party’s lacklustre performance in the assembly elections and the manner in which ministerial berths were filled up.