THE Modi government is going about making appointments in key positions of the government and the state which are controversial and liable to inflict damage on the institutions concerned. Lt. General Bipin Rawat has been appointed as the chief of Army Staff. The government has selected him by superseding the most senior general, Lt. General Praveen Bakshi.  The next in line in seniority was Lt. General P M Hariz.

THE stand-off between the higher judiciary represented by the Supreme Court and the Modi government has escalated in the past few weeks.  The Supreme Court was informed by the attorney general last month that out of the 77 names proposed by the collegium for appointment as judges in the High Courts, the government had accepted the appointment of 34 judges while 43 names were sent back to the collegium.

THE railway accident involving the Indore-Patna Express at Pukhrayan, near Kanpur, has taken a terrible toll.  146 passengers perished and over 250 were injured, some of them maimed for the rest of their lives.

THE withdrawal of 500 and 1000 rupee notes is unfolding as a war on the common people instead of a war on black money.The media has been focusing on the long queues of people outside banks, ATMs and post offices waiting to exchange the withdrawn notes for fresh notes upto a paltry amount of Rs 4,000 (now Rs 4,500).  But this is only one feature of the problems faced by the people. What is worse is the monetary shock leading to the loss of livelihoods and incomes for crores of workers, farmers, fishermen, small traders, shopkeepers and all those who are dependent on cash transactions.The pic

NOVEMBER 7 this year marks the beginning of the centenary of the October Revolution in Russia (by the old Russian calendar, it took place on October 25).