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The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s assertion on Monday that “reforms need political backing to succeed’ has not come a day too soon as his own coalition government is hobbled by lack of political backing within his own alliance partners, leave aside bipartisan backing from political parties across the spectrum. With the economy into the crucial second quarter, the slowdown set in the inaugural year of the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17), appears to be staying longer than forecast, if the latest reading of the situation by the RBI is any pointer.

At last, Telangana’s here. The people of this backward region have realised their sixty-year’s dream while the prosperous Andhra region has lost out. The Congress Party has taken risks in taking a decision after years of dithering. But the million-dollar question is whether the creation of the 29th state is a solution or a problem? On the face of it, more problems are staring at the Congress than the solutions.

New Delhi: India has invited Asian countries to invest in industrial townships and manufacturing zones.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There will be good news for the Congress, trumpeted Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy before emplaning for Delhi to attend crucial talks on reconstitution of the State Cabinet, touted as the sure-shot formula that would wipe off the deep stains caused by the solar scam.

BHOPAL: There seems to be no end to the travails and troubles of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan. The outcome of the poll survey done by CNN-IBN and Hindu – which predicted a landslide victory for his party, the BJP, in the general elections in Madhya Pradesh – had boosted his morale but the disclosure of entries in the diaries seized by the Income Tax Department has seriously dented the reputation of the BJP.

Political expediency by the Congress leaders finally won over reasoning in deciding to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh and creating the new state of Telengana. The question posed in political circles is: Will Andhra’s loss be Congress Party’s gain? Many in the ruling party say that dividing a prosperous state like Andhra Pradesh was a grave mistake.

New Delhi: Following the final report of the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) appointed by the apex court in the country to deliberate on the safety of genetically modified (GM) crops, the Indian Government has called for “a healthy scientific debate” on this “contentious” topic that has generated “strong opinions on both sides.”

At the end of a marathon session in Hawaii (on Mauna Kea), India signed up the ‘Thirty Meter Telescope’ along with USA, Canada, Japan and China on 25 July. TMT, the next-generation astronomical observatory, will be on stream in 2022 on, Hawaii. A unique and vibrant collaboration among universities in the USA and Canada, China, India and Japan, it will aim at an unprecedented scientific endeavour with global reach.

If some of the categorisations preferred by former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, such as ‘known knowns’ and ‘known unknowns’, are applied to the next general election, the first phrase will seem apt for assessing Narendra Modi’s influence on the BJP’s prospects.

It was the bloodiest of all state-level village panchayat elections, which symbolise India’s grass-root democracy. The recently concluded five-phase West Bengal panchayat elections made a mockery of the mercifully police and paramilitary-protected Indian democratic system leaving nearly 30 people dead, hundreds injured and thousands homeless in state-wide political violence, arson and looting. The final death toll taking into account those critically-injured fighting for life in hospitals may touch 50.