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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.

Politicians have a way of trivialising even the most serious issues. Immediately after the latest estimate of poverty was released by the government earlier this week, tongues started wagging not about the major insights thrown up by the figures but about how much was needed to buy a meal in different parts of the country. The buyers were the politicians, who, by all admission, would never take a meal that they claimed were available for Rs 5 or Rs 15. However, clamour started and the one-upmanship went out of control. In the end, it turned out to be a ridiculous show of ignorance.

NEW DELHI: What is the common thread running through the sad stories like Delhi gang rape, rain-fed disaster in Char Dham and the poisoning of mid-day meals that killed 27 innocent hungry schoolchildren in a Bihar village in Saran district? It is the absence of a system, a process in governance vital for running the daily routine in order.

Communication between Arunachal Pradesh and other parts of the country would improve in a major way once India’s longest road-cum-rail bridge (4.98 kilometres) is built on the mighty Brahmaputra River.

Wittingly or unwittingly, the Nobel laureate and Bharat Ratna awardee, Amartya Sen, has treaded on grounds that have a distinct political colour. He has said in interviews “as an Indian citizen I don’t want Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister; he has not done enough for minorities or for the majority.” There is nothing wrong in this but, at the same time, it is not just quite right for a man of his stature to make a politically loaded remark, may be unwittingly.

The global lobbyist for genetically modified (GM) crops, ISAAA, has now shifted its focus from advocacy for transgenic crops to the geopolitics of re-drawing political boundaries of countries.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The hallmark of a shrewd politician/political party is the ability to turn even adversity to account. Such an opportunity has presented itself for the Congress high command in the wake of the solar scam, which has shaken the Congress in Kerala and the party-led UDF government to its very foundations.

Is the government’s desperate bid to open up security-sensitive defence and services sectors to foreign investment and equity control borne out of frustration caused by its incompetence to see several large, long-pending, billions of dollars worth foreign-funded core sector projects in areas such as energy, steel and mining through?

New Delhi: India has conveyed to Bangladesh that by September, this year it would supply 500 MW power with inter-grid connectivity.