As things stand at present, the general election scheduled for May/June 2019 is for the BJP to lose rather than for a motley group of opposition to win. Already the fissures are visible. Mayawati’s romance with Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party was a brief encounter signifying the former’s determination to keep aloof from any coalition. The Telangana Chief Minister responded to his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee’s with the caveat that an anti-BJP coalition would have to exclude Congress.
Ms Banerjee flew to New Delhi to cobble together a partnership of sorts with likeminded groups, studiously [at time of writing] kept clear of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, but met his mother Sonia and a motley group of other leaders, from Sharad Pawar, and BJP dissenters such as Yashwant Sinha and Aroun Shourie. Meanwhile the the twittering Rahul Gandhi twittering and snapping incoherently at Prime Minister Modi heels convinces few if any serious person he has the mettle to lead India.
Hindutva mob on rampage
The mainstream BJP, it would appear, is unable or unwilling to control the antics of the Sangh parivar’s lunatic fringe. West Bengal witnessed prolonged mob violence of Ram Sena demonstrators at the Ram Navami celebrations equipped with swords and pistols clashed with the police. The Ram Sena consists almost exclusively of Hindi-speaking migrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Three people were killed in the violence at Ranigunj.
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was understandably outraged at such behavior and promptly issued a blanket ban on further Ram Sena demonstrations in the State (Times of India March 27).
Comedy of errors
BJP President Amit Shah, interacting with the media during a visit to Karnataka let loose a broadside at former BJP chief minister Yeddyurappa as the most corrupt holder of the office in the history of the State, the target, alas, was sitting at his side, much to the embarrassment of the party faithful. Shah meant Siddarahaiah, the present Congress Chief Minister. Shah’s gaffe could take its toll of the BJP’s fortunes in the upcoming Assembly polls on May 12, with results to bedeclared on May 15.. A generous electorate might forgive the mix-up, seeing that he was in foreign territory far from the northern Hindi belt (Times of India, Hindu March 28).
Opinion poll prediction
Opinion pollster Cfore, which has never failed with its assessment of winners and losers, has predicted a comfortable Congress victory in the Karnataka Assembly elections, with an enhanced Congress victory, with the BJP increasing its vote share at the expense of the JD (U). It attributes the Congress performance to the freedom given to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to select the candidates rather than handing down a list from the Congress high command as was the usual practice before. It appears to be working, according to the Cfore survey (Business Line March 27).
BJP mea culpa on Dalai Lama
In as apparent volte face, the BJP government at the Centre, sensitive to the charge of kowtowing to China, dispatched Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma and party General Secretary Ram Madhav to Dharamsala to participate in the ‘Thank you’ programme of His Holiness to mark his arrival in India in April 1959 from his native Tibet from where he fled. Beijing had made shrill protests to India on the Tibetan dignitary’s visits to Arunachal Pradesh, to which China has laid claim (Hindu March 31).
No change in India policy
India’s Ministry of External Affairs had instructed the Tibetan authorities to move the venue of their celebrations from New Delhi in a bid to smoothen the Sino-Indian Summit in June at Qingdao between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Sources in the ministry said that there was no fundamental change in India’s China policy, from Doklam to OBOR [One Belt One Road Chinese project in which India has refused to participate] (Times of India March 28).
Missile tracking system for Pakistan
China, for its part, has delivered an advanced missile tracking system to Pakistan. The system is an aid to the development of Pakistan’s offensive missile capability, opined Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, which had received confirmation of the deal from a top member of the China Academy of Science. The Post attributed the sale of the equipment to India’s development of the Agni V intercontinental missile which can hit Beijing and Shanghai Hindu March 23)
The Gallic saying puts this best: ‘The more things change the more they remain the same’.
Road map for 5G ready by June
India’s ambition to position itself as a lead player in 5G technology will reach fruition by June, said Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundarajan. ‘A high level forum on 5G, which includes global experts, industry experts IITs, IISc, has already commenced work and done a fair amount of deliberation. By June India will have a full road map ready on this.’
Vodofone merger
The merger of Vodofone India and Idea Cellular was in the final stages of approval by the Department of Telecommunications. Ms Sundarajan said Foreign Direct Investment was involved, and also liberalization of licences. The process was being expedited. Once completed, the merger will create the largest telecom operator in India, with Rakesh Sharma as its CEO (Hindu March 28).
India’s holdings of US Treasury Bills soar
India’s holdings of US Treasury Bill reached a record high of $148 billion in January. Record high foreign fund flows are spurring the Reserve Bank of India to buy more US gilts, of which India is presently the world’s 11th largest holder, having recently surpassed Saudi Arabia. The country’s foreign exchange reserves stand at an all-time high of $421.914 billion (Economic Times March 27).
Bandhan Bank restores banking image
It seems only the other day that West Bengal’s homegrown Kolkata-based Bandhan Bank voyaged into the deeper waters of commercial banking from the modest microfinance entity for rural businesses. Driven by the faith and enterprise of its founder, then unknown Chandrasekhar Ghosh, now the toast of his peers in the banking world, the ascent of Babndhan Bank’s dramatic rise is stunning. Its current bumper listing has made it the India’s eighth most valued bank, ahead of the likes of the Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank. Bandhan Bank shares closed 27.3 per cent higher at Rs 477.20, compared with the issue of Rs 375. (Mint, Economic Times March 28).
Railways to revamp 68 stations
The Indian Railways is set to revamp 68 designated stations from its own engineering and construction resources rather than await private sector collaboration. The Rail Ministry has instructed all its zones to start work immediately and complete the project within a year (Economic Times March 27).
BHEL to set up Gujarat power project
State-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has won its largest solar photovoltaic contract for setting up a 75MW power plant in Gujarat. The order was placed by the Gujarat Industries Power Company Ltd. ‘Against stiff competition BHEL has won an order …on engineering procurement and construction … Significantly this will be BHEL’s largest project till date,’ said a company statement (Business Line March 27).
Surge in Maruti’s new Swift bookings
Maruti Suzuki’s new Swift passenger car has received a record 100,000 bookings in 10 weeks. Acknowledging the milestone, a company official said about 15 per cent of customers had opted for auto gear shift variants. ‘This is actually a significant percentage but it may go up further,’ said the official. Maruti’s internal research revealed that style had emerged top of the three factors for the choice of Swift (Business Line 27).
India’s first step in Artificial Intelligence
Last year, the government set up a taskforce under aegis of the Commerce Ministry to examine the means of leveraging Artificial Intelligence for economic growth. The report focuses on where AI technologies can be beneficial to the Indian state, the economy and the empowerment of its citizens. It thus identifies the 10 specific areas for rapid AI integration: manufacturing, fintech, health, agriculture, technology catering for varied abilities, national security, environment, retail, public services, retail and education. (Mint March 28).
Revisiting cold Fusion
Cold fusion and Low Energy Nuclear Reaction (LNR) technologies have been the despair of many scientists across the world, but India is taking the first steps to restart research into it some 25 years after it was shut down at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). Three research groups are re-entering the field. IIT-Kanpur is concentrating on transmutation of elements at lower temperatures. IIT-Bombay has constructed the apparatus to produce energy spikes, but researchers that hese were the desired product. BARC, is revisiting the cold fusion paradigm, but its scientists are reluctant to discuss their work.
Pros and cons
However cold fusion devotees claim that significant progresss has been made in achieving repeatability. Given the challenges posed by LENR, the government should fund the project, says M. Srinivasan, who was associated with the first Pokhran nuclear test of 1974. This view is endorsed by Prahlada Ramarao, former Chief Controller and Distinguished Scientist at the Defence Research & Development Organization.
Kanpur-IIT Professor K.P. Rajeev asserts that results were promising but much work lies ahead (Hindu March 18).
