ON the last day of his tenure as chief justice on August 26, Justice Ramana referred the pleas on political parties promising freebies to a three-judge bench to be decided by the new chief justice of India.  The Supreme Court, getting into the freebies issue, is an example of misplaced priorities and entering into an area which is not the business of the higher judiciary.

THE Modi government is deepening strategic ties with the United States on all fronts.  Three events which took place in the last few weeks highlight this growing proximity to the geopolitical designs of the United States. 

PRIME Minister, Narendra Modi, spoke recently about how a strong government should be.  Addressing a university convocation in Chennai on July 29, Modi said: “A strong government does not control everything or everyone.  It controls the system’s impulse to interfere…A strong government does not move into every domain”.  He further said: “A strong government’s strength lies in its humility to accept that it cannot know or do everything”.

THE rupee breached the 80 level versus the dollar for the first time amidst a widening trade and current account deficit.  The continuous decline in the value of the rupee is bound to increase inflationary pressures. This, coupled with already existing inflation and high unemployment, shows how the economy is being mismanaged by the Modi government by its pursuit of pro-big business policies.

THE drive to establish one-party authoritarian rule was clearly expressed by the union home minister, Amit Shah, at the national executive meeting of the BJP held in Hyderabad on July 2-3. Moving the political resolution, Amit Shah said that the next 30-40 years will be the era of the BJP in India. It is a small mercy that he did not talk about BJP rule for the next thousand years in the style of the Third Reich.