A RECENT interview by Dassault chairman CEO Eric Trappier (Mint, October 26, 2018) throws some light on the Rafale deal, even if inadvertently or by reading between the lines. The deal remains shrouded in mystery mainly due to the stubborn refusal of the government to share information and due to so-called clarifications by government spokespersons including the minister of defence which have only caused more confusion.
THE Trump administration that has been making concerted efforts to undermine the postwar liberal order is now set to jettison the Cold War nuclear order that introduced a modicum of nuclear sanity in the world. After the demise of Soviet Union in 1990s, the use of nuclear weapons as a political weapon reduced considerably. Although the nuclear proliferation bogey was extensively used against Iraq and Libya, but the politics of nuclear disarmament did not find much favour with the United States (US) strategic community.
No Public holiday on May Day From 2019, May Day will no longer be a public holiday in Tripura. The BJP- IPFT coalition government has removed the international Workers' Solidarity Day from its list of public holidays. An order to this effect has been issued on November 3. Instead, May Day has been included in the list of restricted holidays. In Tripura, May Day was made a public holiday since 1978 when the first Left Front government assumed office.
THE Modi government’s spat with the Reserve Bank of India, like its sudden resurrection of the Ram temple project, indicates the desperation it feels at its dwindling electoral appeal. Having dealt a huge blow to the small-scale sector through its measures like demonetisation and the GST, having aggravated through its inaction the impact on the Indian economy of the world capitalist crisis, and of Trump’s protectionism that has followed, it is now quite desperate to salvage some support for itself as the Lok Sabha elections approach.
REPLYING to Congress president, Rahul Gandhi’s letter on the women’s reservation bill, the law minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad wrote: “….the BJP and the Congress, should come together and over a 'new deal' to Indian women to ensure equality and adequate representation. As part of this 'new deal', we should approve, in both houses of parliament, the women reservation bill, the law prohibiting Triple Talaq and imposing penal consequence on those who violate the law, and the law prohibiting Nikah Halala.
THE Lok Sabha took up discussion on the prevailing flood and drought situations in various parts of the country. CPI(M) leader P Karunakaran began the discussion by paying homage to the innocent people who have lost their lives due to flood and heavy rainfall throughout the country, and said flooding has affected Kerala, Maharashtra, Assam and some parts of Tamil Nadu. Intense rainfall has caused a significant damage to life and property. Out of 1033 villages, 965 villages have been affected in the hilly areas of Idukki in Kerala. About 119 people have lost their lives.
BY a sleight of hand, RS Sharma, the TRAI chief, has changed his irresponsible challenge “harm me using my Aadhaar” to “hack my Aadhaar database”. The two are completely different issues. What the ethical hacker community – yes, there is one – has shown is the immense harm that they could have done to Sharma, but did not. They only showed us the danger from Aadhaar to our privacy, and they succeeded quite convincingly.Sharma claims that whatever the hackers did, it did not involve hacking of the Aadhaar database; and that his emails were not hacked.
NARENDRA Modi, the prime minister of India while speaking at the public meetings in Uttar Pradesh boasted about the ‘enhanced pace of completion of developmental projects’ by him and his government. He remarked that the previous governments were responsible for stalled projects in the country, particularly in UP. According to him, a list of incomplete projects was prepared and the target was set (though four years of the government have already passed) for their completion.But is it really true?
CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on August 8THE Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses its profound grief at the death of a veteran of the Dravidian movement, DMK President and a stalwart of Tamil Nadu politics, M Karunanidhi. He was chief minister of Tamil Nadu five times. He was elected to the Tamil Nadu assembly thirteen times without losing a single one.Karunanidhi was a man of many parts. He was an able administrator, writer, a skilled orator and upholder of rational and secular values.
