IN the concluding week of the Budget Session, Parliament passed some important bills. The Lok Sabha passed the National Commission for Backward Classes (Repeal) Bill and the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Third Amendment) Bill. Speaking on this, P Karunakaran said certain communities in the country have been suffering from extreme social, educational and economic backwardness. Giving the OBC Commission the constitutional status is a welcome step. The government should ensure that posts of the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Members of such commissions do not remain vacant.

Below we publish the remarks of Manik Sarkar, chief minister of Tripura at the third meeting of the governing council of NITI Aayog on April 23 in New Delhi.RATIONALISATION OF CENTRALLY SPONSORED SCHEMES All central assistance to state plan for north-eastern states should be continued on 90:10 basis. The process of release of the central share should be simplified. Government of India may release its share in two installments, the first release in April and the next after six months.

BJP has acquired the most aggressive posture and after Uttar Pradesh, Bihar is the next target, where it wants to expand its activities by fomenting communal trouble in different parts of the state. Nawadsh, Bhagalpur, Madhubani, Rohtas, Darbhanga have experienced such nefarious activities by the RSS and its affiliates but they have failed to ignite a fire.Ramnavmi was celebrated in such an aggressive way which was not seen before. Swords, spears and other such weapons were openly displayed during Ramnavmi processions all across Bihar. There is fear among the minorities.

IN his article ‘Not an Imagined Community’ (Indian Express, April 22) the RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha claims that the Sangh’s conception of nationalism is not invented but is a historical fact which is based on culturally inclusive development of the Indian civilisation. This article (and especially its title) is a direct critique of the idea of the ‘nation’ as an ‘imagined’ political community which was potently described in Benedict Anderson’s seminal text ‘Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism’.

THE international focus is mainly on Syria following the American cruise missile attack on the country. The western media is full of stories about the alleged atrocities being committed by the Syrian government. The world's attention has been successfully deflected from the crimes being committed in Iraq by the United States in neighbouring Iraq as it struggles to subdue the Daesh (Islamic State) in Mosul.  The Iraqi military backed by the full power of the American air force and allied militias, is still struggling to completely liberate Iraq's second biggest city.