Nov.06 : Normally, we would have welcomed home minister P. Chidambaram's offer to the Maoists to discuss problems like land acquisition, forest rights of tribals, discrimination et cetera. However, our home minister - though quite intelligent and dynamic (especially when compared to his predecessor) - seems to have not read his full brief on the Maoists. He says that he is not asking them to give up arms but to only eschew violence as a means of redressing their grievances since the government is willing to talk to them.

Nov.06 : Normally, we would have welcomed home minister P. Chidambaram's offer to the Maoists to discuss problems like land acquisition, forest rights of tribals, discrimination et cetera. However, our home minister - though quite intelligent and dynamic (especially when compared to his predecessor) - seems to have not read his full brief on the Maoists. He says that he is not asking them to give up arms but to only eschew violence as a means of redressing their grievances since the government is willing to talk to them.

July.09 : At the midway point of his term, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is facing a stern test, with murmurs in New York and world capitals growing about his eligibility for the traditional second term. The rebuff he received from the ruling military junta in Burma in turning down his request for a meeting with the Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi facing trial has done nothing to enhance his reputation.

March.26 : These are difficult days for the European Union. They are difficult for the rest of the world as well, with one striking difference. The most audacious and successful adventure in post-World War II history is foundering because the economic meltdown has accentuated the contradictions among member states and their views on the future.

The Lisbon treaty that would have given the EU a symbolic sense of unity and leadership with a high-profile President and one foreign minister was shot down by Ireland in a referendum after French and Dutch voters had earlier rejected the treaty’s original version. The result has been that the EU is still subjected to the rotating presidency, and the luck of the draw has the Czech Republic in the presidential seat, a new former Communist member that cannot be expected to lead the heavyweights and the rest to surmount the crisis.

The arguments will continue till the cows come home, but the American success in swinging the Indo-US nuclear deal, with considerable Indian diplomatic help, in the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) will have two major consequences: It marks the beginning of a new phase of relations with the United States, and it is the one substantial legacy of the nearly five years of the Manmohan Singh government.

It is also significant that the deal approval comes at a particularly fractious time in domestic politics, reflected in the government’s inability to build a greater consensus around a landmark foreign

Quite apart from the decisions the world economic summit of 20 nations took or did not take, the meeting represented a power shift that was impossible to miss. After knocking at the door of rich nations for years and lately being invited for "coffee breaks", as suggested by one, the so-called emerging economies were invited in as legitimate participants in resolving the most serious economic crisis the world has faced since the Great Depression.

June.3 : Considering the performance of various political parties in the 2009 elections, no impartial observer can question the fact that the Congress is the clear winner. And the general opinion in the country has been that the elections were conducted in a fair and impartial manner. Of course, there is the widespread impression that cash was distributed to gain votes and one hopes that this matter will receive the earnest attention of all political parties, particularly of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). This charge, however, should not detract from the credit due to the Congress for increasing its strength in the Lok Sabha from 145 to 206 as it was a charge against rich candidates from all political parties and not targeted at the Congress alone.

Sept.23 : The legislative measures as well as the procedures in force for fighting corruption among public servants have come in for sharp criticism, both in Parliament and in the media. However, very few have dealt with this problem with the frankness and sense of urgency as the Chief Justice of India (CJI) K.G. Balakrishnan in his speech at a seminar in New Delhi recently. Justice Balakrishnan not only pointed out the main lacunae in India’s anti-corruption laws and procedures, but also offered several practical suggestions to rectify their deficiencies. Some of his important suggestions are: confiscating the assets of persons convicted of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, creating more designated courts and separating Central Bureau of Investigation’s investigating and prosecuting functions. However, the brunt of Justice Balakrishnan’s criticism was on the requirement of prior sanction of the competent authority to initiate proceedings against public servants. Referring to the inordinate delays in getting sanction, the CJI stated that "the quality of governance suffers when decisions are made on account of other considerations related to political patronage, kinship or caste and linguistic identity". This may appear as strong words, but they reflect the concerns of most citizens at the gross misuse of the provision for prior sanction.

July.15 : With the appointment of Mr Kapil Sibal as minister for human resources and development (HRD), people’s hopes for substantial reforms in education, particularly in higher education, which had been grossly neglected in the last five years, have been rekindled and they are waiting to see the new government’s priorities in this crucial sector.

Oct 31 : October 31, 2009, marks the conclusion of 25 years after Indira Gandhi’s assassination at the hands of her own security guards. Only a few among the new generation which has grown up in India after this tragic event would have had the opportunity of seeing her or listening to her. The image of Indira Gandhi in the minds of most of them is that of a strong-willed person, an iron lady unwilling to make any concession to her political rivals and always ready to take risks by doing what she believed to be necessary in the interest of the country.