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Neither India nor Pakistan covered itself with glory during their Foreign Ministers' meeting last week—the first ministerial talks since the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 2008. In fact, both have damaged their international image by demonstrating antipathy to each other's concerns and a refusal to establish a framework conducive to a productive dialogue. Both governments have disappointed a majority of people in their respective countries who had hoped for such a dialogue and some improvement in mutual relations. It is ordinary people whose progress suffers the most when bilateral relations sour and mistrust prevails.

Amit Shah is the third legislator and second minister of the BJP to have fallen foul of the law. The other two are Maya Kodnani, who was a minister of state in Narendra Modi's government before she was arrested for involvement in the 2002 Gujarat riots, and Manoj Pradhan, an MLA in Orissa, who was arrested in connection with the disturbances in Kandhamal in 2008.

Have the ghosts of terrorism and Naxalism started haunting Punjab? Yes, if one goes by the statements of the Punjab's Director General of Police P.S. Gill. Gill has said that the ISI is trying to push in militants through the Punjab border. “There are attempts from across the border to revive terrorism in Punjab. But we, along with the BSF, are ready to deal with any challenge”.

KOLKATA: SAARC countries are examining a proposal to set up a regional police force, to handle the problem of mounting crimes like terrorism, drug dealing and human trafficking.

Nitin Gadkari, who is just six months into office, has already become a target for his many failures. The rumour mills within the party churn out juicy stories as to how he had messed up issues like the Narendra Modi-Nitish Kumar spat, government crisis in Karnataka and interactions with the RSS. True, Gadkari, a provincial leader, lacks the stature to command a national party. It is also true that he took months to name his team and was not able to fix their work. He came with lofty ideas like performance audit for the cadre.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The speed with which the Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government has gone about the task of tackling terrorism in the State has earned praise - even from quarters which are otherwise ill-disposed towards it.

After its first quarterly review of the monetary policy in the current financial year, the Reserve Bank of India has raised the key interest rates once again. The rates have thus been raised for the 4th time in the current year.

The issue is no longer what the USA can do for India and its people to achieve better mutual trust and acceptance. It now seems to be on the other way round - what India and people-of-Indian-origin (PIOs) can do for America. While the Obama administration - the local approval rating of which has dropped to an all-time low at 40 per cent as per various pre-poll surveys ahead of the forthcoming November election for both the House of Representatives and Senate - may be concerned over low-paid job outsourcing to India by some of the large US firms, Indian corporations and PIOs are here to help boost the otherwise depressed US economy with fresh investments in growing numbers, sharing management expertise, sending students to expensive educational institutions and supporting and creating thousands of jobs in America, steadily and silently.

Increasingly, the UPA-II, one would hope, is re-learning from bitter experiences over decades of relative neglect of what basically ails India - alarmingly revealed by the Maoist challenge, dubbed as the “greatest threat” to internal security - in the headlong rush to higher growth as the 'mantra' for all ills and for the country to take its legitimate place in the hierarchy of nations.

The Congress and the BJP appear to be sailing in the same boat struggling to deal with their defiant rebels in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The three Reddys (Jagan Mohan in Andhra and Janardhan and Karunakar in Karnataka) hold the key for the survival of the two governments.