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From the scenario of the sixties, let me recall an episode in October 1960, of contemporary relevance. Then Chinese Premier Chou En-lai, on his last visit to India, addresses a press conference comprising some 300 Indian and foreign journalists on the roof-top of Rashtrapati Bhavan. The theme: India-China boundary dispute and its solution.

The assertion by a Shiv Sena apparatchik that the place in Mumbai’s Shivaji Park where Bal Thackeray’s body was cremated is not a memorial but a mandir, and that the organisation will not listen to any diktat for its removal by the government or the judiciary, recalls similar statements about the Ram temple in Ayodhya. At that time, too, the BJP and other saffron outfits had claimed that the belief about the birthplace of Lord Ram was a matter of faith and, therefore, beyond judicial arbitration.

New Delhi: India is a sellers' market and consumers are at receiving end. Investors are also facing great difficulties because of middle men are ruling the roost. Consumers seldom get the value they pay for in terms of quality, quantity and services. Moreover, they are being charged exorbitantly, and are at the mercy of the sellers. Consumers are being exploited even when the providers of goods and services are government controlled agencies.In this scenario, they need protection from all corners of the society, including the Media, along with a stronger and effective legislation and legal mechanism.

With the Lok Sabha elections only 15 months away, the questions are already being asked whether the Congress will again be able to outclass the Akali-BJP alliance in the 2014 poll. The party had won eight seats in 2009, while Akali Dal’s tally was four.

BHOPAL: Bhopal observed the 28th anniversary of the gas disaster on December 3.

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan performed an extraordinary feat on November 29. On that day, he completed seven years in office. Chauhan happens to be the first non-Congress Chief Minister of the State to remain in office for such a long period. Earlier, Kailash Joshi, VK Sakhlecha, Sunderlal Patwa, Uma Bharati and Babulal Gaur of the Jana Sangh (and BJP) served as chief ministers of the state but none of them could complete their term.

The bugle for poll 2014 has been sounded but before that government’s welfare policies, particularly UPA’s direct cash transfer (DCT) plan, will be tested in ten states going to polls in 2013.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The more things change, the more they remain the same in the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), which is in the throes of an agonising reconstitution process.