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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a positive development, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has ended its anti-government agitation.

BHOPAL: Despite squarely blaming defection and defectors for the overthrow of the Congress government, the Congress has decided to sponsor defectors for the forthcoming by-elections. While announcing second list of candidates the Congress allotted four defectors for the by-poll. All the four candidates joined the Congress after quitting the BJP.

Instead of banking on the RSS and committed BJP hands, the Home Minister, Amit Shah has put his bet on the Trinmool turncoats for navigating the assembly election waters of 2021 in West Bengal.

The BJP is slowly reconciled to live without its major allies now that its oldest ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has quit the BJP led NDA alliance on Saturday. The BJP and the SAD have been partners even in the Jan Sangh days. With a brute majority in the Lok Sabha, the BJP’s attitude is “go if you want to leave”. That is why there are no efforts to mollify the miffed allies as it was done during the Vajpayee era. There was a time in the eighties when it was difficult for the BJP to get allies but today Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in a strong position.

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Colombian President Ivan Duque, at their meeting in Bogota on September 20, talked about “managing the COVID-19 response … narco traffickers … and President] Maduro’s illegitimate regime,” according to the State Department. Sources said that the talks centred more on how to remove President Maduro from his position and install a puppet regime.

LUCKNOW: Opposition leaders have realised the potential of unemployment issue which could play an important role in forthcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

The jittery government acknowledged its failure to address the plight of migrant workers during COVID 19. The labour code included special provisions for protection and social welfare benefits to the migrant workers in Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020. It is not the first time that law was enacted to protect them. In 1979, it launched Inter-State Migrant Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Services) act in 1979. But, it seems the law was conveniently forgotten.

At a time when several central agencies are pursuing, in tandem with a number of television channels, the allegations of drug abuse by film stars, it might be expected that the same eagerness to unearth the truth would also be displayed by the official organizations and TV stations in nailing politicians who are facing criminal charges.

Bringing three important agriculture-related bills in Parliament at one go and getting them passed in less than a week’s time without any serious debate or special scrutiny are most unusual, if not unprecedented. On the face of it, the bills seek to double farmers’ income which the ruling BJP promised before the last Lok Sabha election. They also seek to conditionally contain retail prices of key agri products. Here lies the apprehension of both big and small farmers. Consumers are not convinced. Farmers fear a gradual extinction of the Mandis and the minimum support price (MSP) system. To prove the opposition perception wrong, the government took a highly unusual step by announcing increases in MSP of six Ravi crops — by two to six percent — months ahead of the schedule.

One can have a romantic view of something in which one visualizes everything wonderful in waiting. However, in reality things unfold differently. The centre has brought out several laws from its belly to reform the labour and the farm. These will solve the existing problems is a romantic view. The reality is that the recipes will make a deadly cocktail. We have examples of demonetization of November 2016 and lockdown of March 2020. Our romancing Prime Minister Narendra Modi had very romantic views about his decisions, but romanticizing could not help preventing disastrous consequences.