Rajya Sabha polls: Crass opportunism all around

"If independence is granted to India, power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues, freebooters; All Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles," so goes a quote attributed to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill but never authenticated. If true, it represents the damnable hypocrisy of a British ruler. If not, it still correctly prophesies the putrid squabbles littering the national political space today, seventy-five years after independence.

Examples abound, but the closest remains the just concluded elections to the Rajya Sabha held last week to fill 57 vacancies.

After all, it is not becoming of a nation that has aspirations of being a global power to be seen so crassly hurting the religious sentiments of another community, either within its own boundaries or beyond. While the BJP's polarising agenda may have worked in its electoral favour in the domestic arena, it can have major international ramifications in a hyper-connected world.

The UDD order sets aside Rs 484.88 crore for primary drains and Rs 1,005.12 crore for secondary drains.

The grant will focus the strengthening work in flood-prone areas like HRBR Layout, Veerannapalya, Nayandahalli Junction Near Rachenahalli Lake, LBS Nagar in Yelahanka, Someshwara Layout in Arekere, Anugraha Layout, BEML 5th Stage, Pai Layout, and Vad...

The BBMP will roughly spend Rs 8.7 crore per km of remodelling work.