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During his interaction with editors, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had referred to the 'hard lobbying' by industry groups against certain provisions of the just passed nuclear liability bill. But their demand could not be met due to the opposition in Parliament. He then pointed out that the Indian suppliers will be the biggest beneficiaries of the massive nuclear power investment in the coming years. The tone and tenor of this part of PM's exposition was that such lobbying has now become normal part of the system, and there was nothing abnormal about it.

Food first. It is rather amusing that India's Supreme Court should be suddenly waking up to the problem of precious foodgrains rotting in government godowns because of inadequate storage facility and 'order' that food going waste in godowns be distributed free to the poor. Equally amusing was the government's response to it. Poor Sharad Pawar, the union agriculture and food minister, who first thought it was only an apex court 'suggestion' and his ministry would examine if and how it could be implemented!

KOLKATA: These days, the non-left print and electronic media in West Bengal have stopped giving publicity as before to left leaders who congratulate themselves on carrying out a successful strike, bandh or some other disruption of normal life.

Faltering economic recovery without any significant dent on unemployment has lately been the biggest worry for President Barack Obama, as successive polls lowered his rating in crisis management and threaten the Democrat majority in midterm elections while Republicans are glowing with hopes of regaining control. Economic outlook has remained uncertain till now while unemployment is stuck at 9.6 per cent. Until recently, the President had not more demonstrably used his political capital as much as the economy needed beyond assuring Americans that recovery is on track but that it would take time to impact on jobs.

Eyebrows are raised at the aggressive posture of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during one of his rare interaction with a group of editors this week. What does it mean? Is the PM fed up of criticism against him not only from the opposition but also from the media and the party? Has he reached the limit of his patience?

KOLKATA: For Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, former Chief Minister of Assam and founder-president of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), the wheel has turned full circle, as it were. The party that had expelled him in July, 2005, for “anti-party activities”, took him back into its fold and fully rehabilitated him earlier this month and unanimously elected him leader of the Asom Gana Parishad Legislature Party - and thereby the Leader of the Opposition. With State Assembly elections due to be held by next March, this is an important development in State politics.

The Indian nuclear scene has acquired a new look. The erstwhile Indian nuclear programme has been enlarged many times over in a short span, after the Nuclear Suppliers' Group lifted sanctions on India's nuclear interaction with the world.

The three-day conclave of Overseas India scheduled at the beginning of 2011 is likely attract young generation. There would be two pre-conference seminars on healthcare and education, topics of interest to Overseas Indians.

It's impossible not to be moved by the human suffering and devastation caused by the floods in Pakistan for more than a month, which has made life hell for millions of people, a majority of them poor. One-fifth of Pakistan, an area the size of England, is under water. Twenty million people have been affected—even more than those affected in Asia by the 2004 tsunami. Millions have become homeless. Cattle have perished by the lakh.

The observation by a Congress spokesman, Janardan Dwivedi, that Sonia Gandhi could be the party president for 40 times was in the nature of a Freudian slip. Although he was responding to the BJP's criticism about the constitutional requirements in this context, the evident overreaction indicated both sycophancy and a defensive ploy. Subconsciously aware that a person becoming the party chief for four times in succession was not a normal event, Dwivedi banked on the age-old maxim of offence being the best defence.