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LUCKNOW: Deterioration in law and order, violation of the Supreme Court order by the Mayawati government in going ahead with the construction of statues and memorials in Lucknow are among the major issues, which are likely to dominate the election campaign for by-elections to one Lok Sabha and 11 assembly seats on November 7, 2009.

Will the ground realities surfacing during the election campaigns change the perception about the ruling Congress getting a comfortable majority in the October 13 Haryana Assembly elections? An answer to the question will have to wait till October 22 when the results will be out. However, a closer look shows the way the electoral wind is blowing and reveals the political and electoral trends confirming the state's reputation of being a land of unpredictable politicians. Both the Congress and the opposition parties are responsible for generating these trends.

A review of performance of the non lapsable Special Railway Safety Fund (SRSF) of the Ministry of Railways, created on October I, 2001 with a corpus fund of Rs.17, 000 crores to wipe out arrears of backlog in track renewals, bridges, rolling stocks and signalling gear under a time frame of six years, has revealed that shortfalls in the targets remained even after completion of the extended year of the Fund at the end of 2007-08.

The world has been taken by surprise, disdainful maybe for some, mostly within his own country, by the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize for the youthful 44th President of USA, Barack Obama, still in early days of his office but who has already swept the globe with his electrifying visions of universal peace and nuclear disarmament. That he has set out to be a harbinger of change and commit America to the path of reconciliation and build, in partnership with nations across continents, a new world order is by now well recognized.

The hype with which the UPA government had launched the Unique Identification Card scheme and its final shape as it exists now marks a study in contrast. The whole scheme now remains an epitome of poor planning, absence of consultation with inhouse experts and haphazard implementation. The only saving grace has been its association with a visionary like Nandan Nilekani. He can at least make the UIADI scheme a great technological demonstration with all its immense challenges.

BHOPAL: The death of an RSS worker during “Shastra Puja” (Weapons' worship), the handling of an automatic firearm by the seven-year-old son of the district Superintendent of police and firing in the air from a gun of prohibited bore by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan - all on Dusshera day in Bhopal - have kicked up a controversy.

NEW DELHI: The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, which seeks major changes in the functioning of the insurance industry in the country and allows the foreign direct investment to go up to 49 per cent from the existing 26 per cent in the companies, is facing rough weather as both the BJP and the Left are opposing the hike in the FDI and are alleging that the UPA 2 Government is selling the insurance sector to the multinational insurance companies of USA and UK.

The good guy image of Union Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed is suddenly under threat of getting sullied by our business head honchos and their high-profile associations. Khursheed has upset them with his unsolicited advice that companies should refrain from handing out 'vulgar' salaries to their executives. The corporate world has reacted strongly against the suggestion exhorting the age-old capitalist cliché that 'it is for shareholders to decide on director's remuneration and the government has no role to play in managing executive salaries.'

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Japan are providing technical assistance to help the Indian state of Karnataka prepare a road sector master plan that will address its expected needs for the next 10 years.

New York: A successful new climate change deal hinges on industrialized nations committing to ambitious greenhouse gas emissions targets and reaching agreement on financing to help poor countries adapt, a senior United Nations official has said.