http://www.indiainteracts.com/ http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/08/06/Third-alternative-is-now-a-possibility-thanks-to-Cong-BJP/ 06-08-2008 http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/08/06/Third-alternative-is-now-a-possibility-thanks-to-Cong-BJP/ The trust vote is over. But the manner of securing confidence in the government has undermined the trust of the people the government has lost its moral authority. But apart from the question of ethics, there are several important issues of governance which have come to the fore. The proceedings in the Lok Sabha has not only affected the position of the government but the http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/08/05/Corridor-Whispers/ 05-08-2008 http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/08/05/Corridor-Whispers/ RBI top job race--------------------Hectic lobbying is on for next governor of Reserve Bank of India as Y.B. Reddy s term is ending in September this year. Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan is a front-runner but a section of the Congress is keen on Montek Singh Ahluwalia for the coveted post. Another set of party leaders feel Ahluwalia should be drafted in the party and made http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/08/05/DrThimappaiaha-legend-who-went-unnoticed/ 05-08-2008 http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/08/05/DrThimappaiaha-legend-who-went-unnoticed/ The Bangalore newspapers and television channels have done a great disfavour to its readers by virtually ignoring the passing away of the Grand Old Man of Karnataka cricket, Dr.K.Thimmappaiah on July 27.That is generally the case with regard to treatment of the death of most sportsmen of yesteryears, whether they rose to stardom or were ordinary. One or two English newspapers, who waste much newsprint on http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/08/02/Omars--Amars-are-pragmatic-fellow-travellers/ 02-08-2008 http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/08/02/Omars--Amars-are-pragmatic-fellow-travellers/ Two confessions stood out in the run-up to the trust vote in the Lok Sabha on July 22. One was by Amar Singh, the Samajwadi Party general secretary who played a key role in bailing out the Manmohan Singh government after the Left snapped ties with the UPA over the nuclear deal. The other was by Omar Abdullah, the National Conference president, who made a by-now http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/07/31/PM-was-enslaved-not-by-the-Left-but-by-the-2004-mandate/ 31-07-2008 http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/07/31/PM-was-enslaved-not-by-the-Left-but-by-the-2004-mandate/ Since the adoption of our republican Constitution and the inception of our parliamentary democracy, seldom has our political system faced such a serious question of credibility, as it has on the `trust vote . Inducements, threats and allegations of offering bribes have indeed tainted the vote. Paradoxically, even those members of Parliament who-as per provisions of the RPA -cannot contest the next general elections for http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/07/31/Raising-Retirement-age-Yeddyurappa-Cannot-stop-there/ 31-07-2008 http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/07/31/Raising-Retirement-age-Yeddyurappa-Cannot-stop-there/ The Chief Minister B.S.Yeddyurappa has lived upto his reputation as a Finance Minister who does not want to burden the common man with new taxes. The people at large are already experiencing the ill effects of double digit inflation, the shortfall in the production of agricultural produce, the crisis facing the farmers and the escalation in the cost of petroleum products.There is no doubt http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/07/30/-Uneasy-relationship-between-Congress-SP-in-Madhya-Pradesh/ 30-07-2008 http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/07/30/-Uneasy-relationship-between-Congress-SP-in-Madhya-Pradesh/ On the political front, it is unusually quiet in Madhya Pradesh where the Assembly elections are due in less than four months. Either chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan is active, doling out promises to various sections of the people and making adjustments and re-adjustments of the bureaucrats in the field, or the ruling party s youth wing, BJYM, is in the news because of its haughty activities. http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/07/30/Corridor-Whispers/ 30-07-2008 http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/07/30/Corridor-Whispers/ Chinese spokes in N-deal?-------------------------------What are the Chinese up to? Dr Manmohan Singh and his close aides are a bit disappointed by the Chinese regime s response to the smooth passage of the n-deal. Most national governments had heads of Nuclear Suppliers Group countries congratulating the good doctor for winning the crucial vote in parliament. But the Chinese have kept mum. In the Congress, a http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/07/29/Cash-for-vote-inquiry-What-is-the-BJP-protesting-about/ 29-07-2008 http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/07/29/Cash-for-vote-inquiry-What-is-the-BJP-protesting-about/ The Cash for vote controversy is assuming a distinctly uncomfortable hue. This is despite the prompt action taken by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee as expected of him from every quarter. His decision to call the three BJP MPs, confer with them to convince himself about the prima facie need for an enquiry and his subsequent decision to form a seven member committee all follow a pattern expected http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/07/27/Manmohans--Advanis-are-personally-honest-but-politically/ 27-07-2008 http://indiainteracts.com/template/columnist/2008/07/27/Manmohans--Advanis-are-personally-honest-but-politically/ Let us teach ourselves and others that politics can be not only the art of the possible, especially if this means the art of speculation, calculation, intrigue, secret deals, and pragmatic maneuvering, but that it can even be the art of the impossible, namely, the art of improving ourselves and the world , said Vaclav Havel, Czech dramatist and statesman.The Congress party and its leaders