Amidst renewed acrimony between the redoubtable Congress and never-give-in Left over the famed Indo-US nuclear deal, many of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) constituents have developed their own pet theories to discount the possibility of Lok Sabha elections earlier than the scheduled first quarter of calendar 2009?which is exactly what an irreconciliable split between the two political groups would imply. Speaking his mind on the issue, a senior minister in the government from a Bihar-centric party said, ?Earlier it was ?deal compliance? that was high on the agenda, but now with the UPA-Left coordination committee in place, the government has become ?deal resistant?. So, there?s no chance of early elections.?
Trans-invest
Eavesdropper doesn?t know about the UPA government?s re-electability at this juncture, but India may soon become the first country to boast of a critical mass of trans-invest-ites, after finance minister P Chidambaram?s Budget proposals threw so many goodies at those who?ve got a raw deal from liberalisation, or are claimed by lobbies to have got a raw deal. There was a hefty loan waiver for farmers, for example, and a higher income tax exemption limit for women. It?s a good time, Eavesdropper heard a group of male investors agree amongst themselves, to start ploughing land, cross-dressed. Such, in their considered assessment, were the incentives to become a female farmer now.
Huff and puff
Call it the lull after the storm, if you may. The corridors of Rail Bhawan are quiet again. Now that the rail budget has had its victory lap in Parliament, the bustle of activity has been replaced by a sarkar-copyright languor. Eavesdropper hears that railway officials don?t have much work to do these days, except wrap up projects. The current fiscal is in its last two weeks, and there?s still some time to go before the steam chamber gets all huffy-puffy again.
