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On the same day the newspapers carried two news related to enforcement directorate. Both the news related to the chief ministers of two states. While the ED carried out raids at some offices and premises in Bengal, connected to the Trinamool Congress MP and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, its sleuths raided the official residence of the political advisor of chief minister of Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Baghel in Raipur. It was ED’s birthday gift to Baghel.

A combination of nationalism and neglect of north Bengal will be the twin issues on which BJP seeks to retain Dhupguri Assembly constituency in north Bengal. Strategically located near Nepal and Bangladesh, a by-election is scheduled to be held in this Assembly segment on September 5. The results will be announced on September 8.

Now that India has soft landed on the south pole of moon, the dust it will raise will travel from moon surface to the earth.

Just after 6 pm, August 23, Chandrayaan-3 landed on the moon. ISRO — the Indian Space Research Organization — erupted in cheers. Vikram-lander and a rover called Pragyan were deposited on the lunar surface. India was only the fourth country to be on the moon, and the first on the particular spot on the lunar surface on the far side of the moon. Future generations of Indians, nay the world, will profit from the landing. It is the politicians who disappoint, squabbling over bragging rights. The Congress says India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru started the whole shebang and should get the credit. Supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi say “Modi hai toh mumkin hai”.

From 19th century German statesman Otto von Bismarck to economist John Kenneth Galbraith and, more recently, US President Joe Biden, politics has been described as the “art of the possible” by many crafty practitioners of the art.

The reported move by the Narendra Modi government to create a new post of Chief Investigation Officer of India (CIO) on the lines of Chief of Defence Staff (CDO) and the National Security Advisor (NSA) is a blatant attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court as a collateral target and institutionalise the use of premier investigative agencies as the ruling party’s, or to be more precise, the PMO’s political tool as part of a nefarious design.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has meticulously built a narrative against corruption in India to project political parties in opposition and their leaders corrupt and to make himself appear free of blemishes. However, his narrative is only half of the truth, since all the opposition leaders are not corrupt on the one hand, and there are financial irregularities and corruption galore on the other under his premiership.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi losing charisma and mass appeal in the eyes of the people, and the corral of ‘ghar wapasi’ amongst the turncoats who had opted for the BJP in more certain times energising the Congress headquarters, the ruling party is faced with the increasing threat of desertion by senior national leaders just ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

In the rush of Chandrayaan-3 coated with the latent fear whether Vikram-Lander will do a Vikram-Vetaal and never complete its mission, the Opposition experiment, INDIA, appeared to have gotten clean out of mind with the INDIA constituents doing what each of them is adept at. So, Rahul Gandhi with wanderlust strong as ever, went to Ladakh and did more people-contact, which had been his wont since the Bharat Jodo Yatra took India by storm.

Latest report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) tabled in Parliament in the monsoon session 2023, has flagged that Indian Railways could not generate a net surplus from its gross earnings of freight traffic, passenger services and sundry segments during 2021-22 ending March 31, 2022, compared to 2020-21. It points out funds for pension schemes were diverted for publicity of other schemes (It is PM’s personalized publicity as is the case in all development funds of Ministries/Departments that CAG report has not mentioned for obvious reasons). Operating Ratio (OR), the gap between earnings and expenditure, during the period was 107.39 in 2021-22 against 97.45 in 2020-21. It meant Railways spent 107.39 paise to earn 100 paise (rupee one). A higher OR indicates a poorer ability to generate surplus. As compared to the OR of 97.45 during 2020-21, there was deterioration in 2021-22.