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When Omar Abdullah took over as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir after a well turned out Assembly polls in January 2009, there was a ray of hope that things may look up in the valley. It was expected that the young chief minister might bring peace and development in the valley. However, what is happening since June this year is a disappointing tale as the state has plunged into a major crisis due to mishandling and callousness.

BHOPAL: Ananth Kumar, the BJP national general secretary in charge for Madhya Pradesh once again sent shock-waves through the state BJP circles when he publicly advised the Chief Minister to show the door to 'sharabi” and “ayyash” (drunkard and lecherous) Ministers. According to Ananth Kumar, many Ministers in the Shivraj Singh Chauhan ministry “drink heavily, get up very late in the morning and don't bother to meet party workers”.

KOLKATA: There are unmistakable signs of a popular backlash of late against Maoist excesses in parts of Midnapore district in West Bengal, unlike in other Indian states. While local bandhs called by Maoists still force shopkeepers and others to stop their business, their leaders would do well to ponder why this should be happening within two years of their “operations” in a left-ruled state.

After maligning the Indian and British researchers who recently published a paper in The Lancet, a reputed medical journal, on antibiotic resistance induced in bacteria by a gene named New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1, the Indian government has demanded that the Indian scientists explain how they collected biological samples for the study and transferred them abroad without permission from the Indian Council of Medical Research. This is one of the oldest tricks in the bureaucrat's armoury: when confronted with an unpleasant truth, throw the rule-book at its source.

The world is painfully reminded on the second anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers in New York, which triggered a free fall in US financial market in September 2008 and a follow-on severe recession, dragging most nations into a destabilizing downturn and unemployment on a mass scale. Even as the global economy is yet to recover with confidence and weak data keep world markets depressed, especially in USA and Europe, there are new uncertainties including the sovereign debt crisis in EU zone.

The high level of understanding between Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh was a key feature of UPA-I. Such unity of views between the Congress president and prime minister was rarely seen before. Although the differences did surface over the nuclear deal, especially when Sonia openly said that the communists had a point in their opposition, they were resolved amicably enough, presumably because of Rahul Gandhi's intervention in favour of the deal.

JAIPUR: A disturbing drama by the corrupt in Rajasthan is being played on the streets in Jaipur. The central point in the event is huge money provided by the central government for the implementation of its prestigious scheme - the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme. There is a naked nexus between the politicians at the village and district levels and the officials of the State government. They have joined to shout the slogan : Let corruption prevail unhindered and unchecked. And Let corrupt prosper.

With the Himachal Pradesh politics having currently taken a back seat, the spotlight has shifted to the economic issues facing the state. The most important among them is the problems facing the apple growers whose produce, apart from hydropower and tourism, is the state's highest revenue earning source. The matter assumes added importance in view of the fact that Himachal is India's largest apple producing state and has reaped a record produce of 2.5/3 crore apple boxes this year.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Will the controversy-hit Smart City project become a reality? Or will it be strangled by the red tape? An answer to this question may be available by the 15th of this month.

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.