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Massive imports of oil and natural gas have exacerbated India’s big trade deficit, which is a hurdle to the acceleration of economic growth. Light at the end of the tunnel comes from a technological breakthrough last week by JOGMEC (Japan Oil Gas and Metals National Corporation). It succeeded in extracting natural gas from sea-bed deposits of methane hydrate, popularly called “fire ice” because it is a white crystalline solid that burns. India has some of the biggest methane hydrate reserves in the world. It will reap a bonanza if technological progress allows gas to be extracted from hydrates economically and safely.

BHOPAL: As has been happening since the first general elections, come polls and the various organised groups start mounting pressure on the governments to accept their demands — whether just or unjust. The same trend is visible in Madhya Pradesh, which goes to the polls in the month of November this year.

Important states like Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where the BJP is in power, and Congress-ruled Delhi and Rajasthan are going to polls this year. If the Congress wants to stop Modi juggernaut before 2014 general election, it must retain both Rajasthan and Delhi. While in Rajasthan chances of the ruling Congress look bleak, in Delhi the party is better placed.

New Delhi : India is likely to seek expertise in cotton from Tajikistan and the latter would seek former’s help in developing its horticulture and food processing industry.

It all started with the pro-liberation and secular Awami League (AL) winning the last general election with three-fourth majority in the parliament. They were riding on the youth vote, who are newly inspired by the spirit of liberation of Bangladesh, but now have reached a state of confrontation against a massive rally in the heart of Dhaka, led by an apparent coalition of non-Jaamat-e-Islami (JI) Islamist parties and organisations led my relatively unknown Hefajat-e-Islami (HI). JI is, in fact, the largest Islamist political entity, however, much smaller in vote share than the major two parties — the AL and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

KOLKATA: Not entirely facetiously, senior opposition leaders in West Bengal often marvel at the similarities between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the CPI(M), the party it defeated after 34 years of uninterrupted rule.

How trustworthy is Coal India (CIL) chairman S Narsing Rao’s supply commitment to the power sector in terms of both quantity and quality for the current financial year? Supply is linked with production. When CIL is failing to meet its annual production targets for the last several successive years, how can it guarantee that its supply commitment to the power sector in 2013-14 will be fully met?

New Delhi: India and Mauritius have agreed to cooperate with each other in the area of election management and administration.

Barring one variable – fiscal deficit control – Finance Minister Chidambaram’s much-touted reforms and pep talks to ginger up the economy, which had hit its lowest point in a decade, have failed to get either the home investors on the move or to attract the badly-needed capital flows to finance peaking external deficits.

With some stakeholders declaring the possibility of early Lok Sabha elections, the players are getting ready to face polls. The million-dollar question is will there be early polls?