Articles by K G Kumar

The coverage by Indian television channels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the us smacked of frenzied veneration and falling victim to snake-charming guile.

The resounding victory of the Left Democratic Front in Kerala was more than an expression of disgust at the corrupt misrule and otiose performance of the shamed United Democratic Front. It was also a call to arms for the LDF constituents to lift Kerala out of its development dilemma. Yet the early manoeuvres of and within the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the LDF's leading member, have left the electorate with more than a sense of dismay.

yadav grandeur has for the moment got the better of more mundane economic realities.
But how long will this apparently har monious relationship between the yadav rich farmer and the farmhand under the Janata Dal flag last? The answer largely depends on the ability of the present regime to provide some tangible material benefits to the less-privileged sections of the community. So far, Laloo Prasad's government has roused tremendous expec tations among the poor backward castes in general and yadavs in particular without doing much to fulfil them. While fully recognising the cohesive strength of the caste factor, it is therefore difficult to predict an indefinite continuation of the present arrangements in the absence of any concrete gains accruing to the poorer yadavs. The change may not occur in the immediate future, but the material basis for it nevertheless exists in the unsatisfied aspirations of the vadav masses.

K G Kumar While the Gulf war may have dealt a body blow to some international airlines, the industry worldwide is now on the upswing, with more flights, fare cuts, better and flashier service and all-round unabashed wooing of passengers in the offing, especially across the Atlantic FOR the airline industry worldwide, the Gulf war wava cash-crunching nightmare. That scary period is now past and in Europe and the US air travel shows signs of picking up. But for trans-Atlantic air travel in general and British aviation in particular, the immediate post-war months seem to have blown up gusty winds of change. These have made some airlines gleeful, while one big name, British Airways (BA), is none too happy.

Newly conscious, many Tamil Nadu fishermen have been recently protesting against the proposed Soviet-aided 2000 MW nuclear power plant at Koodangulam, a village in Kanyakumari district. They fear that the plant's effluents will pollute their seas and destroy their fish. The police action at Kanyakumari on May Day could have been meant to teach the Tamil Nadu fisherfolk the hazards of opposing Koodangulam