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After its spree of electoral victories since 2007 the ruling Akali Dal finds itself politically at the receiving end. Three recent developments have forced the Akali top brass to go on the back foot. The first is the resentment generated by the dedication of the Blue Star memorial built in the Golden Temple Complex to Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Second is blunting of its threatened offensive against the Congress and UPA government on the Wealth Tax issue. Third is the party’s tactful retreat from its anticipated offensive against the Centre on Sarabjit’s killing in the Lahore jail.

Militarily India is no match for China. However unhappy and anguished India may feel about the constant Chinese provocation by way of its frequent intrusions and dogged presence of its troops inside the Indian territory in Ladakh in the north-west and Arunachal Pradesh in the north-east, the issue of stamped visa to residents from J&K and Arunachal seeking to visit China and the building of strategic infrastructures in countries such as Nepal, Pakistan, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar, encircling India, it would be simply foolish on the part of the country to step into the Chinese booby trap by adventuring into a military response.

BHOPAL: 'Unite or perish', this warning served by Congress Vice-President, Rahul Gandhi while interacting with party workers of Madhya Pradesh during his recent two-day visit to the state, seems to have had some effect on the faction-ridden party.

All eyes are set on the election results of Karnataka assembly on May 8. The questions raised are; will any party get an absolute majority or there be a hung house? The trend in the recent assembly elections has shown that the people prefer one-party rule and do not vote for a hung house. This was demonstrated in successive Uttar Pradesh elections. The same was the trend in Bihar election and recently held Punjab and Himachal Pradesh polls. In Bihar, Nitish Kumar romped home comfortably; in Himachal, the Congress sailed through comfortably and in Punjab, Akalis retained power.

New Delhi : India has urged the Asian countries to take measures for addressing common challenges by investing resources in areas that help to empower all sections of the society.

After delivering some grim messages with a sombre outlook for the economy in 2013-14 in its Macro-Economic Survey, the Reserve Bank has kept up with policy easing to address risks to growth, albeit with a quarter percentage point cut in key lending rate, Repo, lowering it to 7.25 per cent with immediate effect.

LUCKNOW: With the emergence of several prime ministerial candidates from Uttar Pradesh, it has become a major battleground for political parties.

New Delhi: Despite US resentment India is likely to go ahead with its plans to develop the Chabahar port in Iran.

The Congress’ star campaigner RaGa (Rajiv Gandhi) and the BJP’s new poster boy NaMo (Narendra Modi) have shifted their focus to Karnataka quietly to test their vote catching ability. The feverish comparison between the two potential prime ministerial candidates has come down in the media as both have chosen a low profile campaign. While there was expectation that Karnataka would be a battleground for the two leaders to test their charisma, neither of them has shown interest in clashing with each other before the 2014 polls. The ground reality shows that neither Rahul not Modi want to be a win or lose factor. They don’t want to stick their neck out for reasons best known to themselves.

The government is planning another sell out of farmers’ interest at the altar of the proposed India-EU Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA). Several rounds of negotiations have taken place and the talks are at an advanced stage.