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Paradoxical though it may sound, India's vital power generation sector is in the process of surrendering itself to China by increasingly embracing the latter's technology, using its capital goods and employing its engineers. The process, which many fear has strong security implications, started quietly during the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime.

'Command Economy' has been a term to describe the central governments drawing up massive economic and social programmes and controlling them with ruthless deadlines. It was customary for the Cold War media to derisively narrate the collapse of such national schemes under bureaucratic fudging in USSR and pre-1980 China. Our PM is not an admirer of the command economy, at least after he became finance minister of the Narasimha Rao government. But his new enthusiasm for centralised scheme management with rigid deadlines signals interesting trends in the functioning of the UPA2.

The liberalisation-privatisation process in industry was initiated in the early eighties. India has since made much headway in this direction in spite of dithering as well stop-go tactics by successive governments in India. But this process is now acquiring a dangerous momentum and dimension.

Veteran Congressman K Rosiah looks firmly in the saddle, at the behest of the High Command, with rebellious ministers getting back to work, as Andhra Pradesh goes through an economically difficult period of drought, high food prices, swine flu epidemic and a financial crunch. Right from the mourning period for the late lamented Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR), a large section of Congress MLAs, mainly the first-time elected, and several Ministers in Rosiah Cabinet have been agitating for anointing his son, 'Jagan' (Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy), to wear his father's mantle.

NEW DELHI: Low level of employment and high prices of essential commodities and foodgrains have to be of utmost concern for the Government and its critics. Both issues have explosive socio-political potential. There cannot be any let-up in the situation in the near future owing to the continuing crisis and slowdown of the economy despite the Manmohan Singh Government trying to soft-peddle it.

New York: The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are undergoing a revolution that is “comprehensive and necessary” after years of accumulated suffering by millions of people across the region, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez told the General Assembly today as he urged other States around the world to follow the path of socialism.

New York: The Security Council today affirmed its commitment to the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons and established a broad framework for reducing global nuclear dangers, in an historic summit-level meeting chaired by United States President Barack Obama.

New York: The drought crisis in war-torn Somalia is turning increasingly acute and spreading to regions previously spared, with half the country's 7 million people in need of aid, an increasing risk of deaths, and insufficient international donor response, a senior United Nations official said today.

New York: The major international financial and economic arrangements are unfair and have not kept pace with a changing world, South Africa's President told the United Nations today, calling for the reform of key institutions so that poorer countries have a greater say in how they are run.

New York: The consumption of drugs should be made illegal to break the increasingly close links with production, trafficking and organized crime, Colombia's President told the General Assembly today as he warned about the dangers posed by the illicit drug industry.