If one day it’s Male, the next day it is Rome. If one day, it’s Mamata Banerjee scuppering a deal with Bangladesh, the next day it’s the DMK threatening the survival of the government for failing to take on the Sri Lankan government. Listening to the hyperventilating television anchors in India, one can be excused for thinking that the whole world has rallied against India.

The streets of Cairo are filed with angry Egyptians bitterly divided into two camps – the  pro and anti Morsi supporters.  Tanks and military troops have appeared on the streets of the Egyptian capital  and the recall of the anti-Mubarak  protests of January 2011 is  disturbingly familiar.

The protests over the offensive anti-Islam video continued with renewed  intensity and anger  on Friday (Sep 21)  – a  day of prayer across the Muslim world  and  Pakistan was the most violent with as many as 19 deaths and over 200 people being injured in the police firing that ensued. The total death toll that began with the killing of the US Ambassador to Libya on September 11 has now touched 49 – with some of the more seriously injured still in hospital.

The controversy over the leaking of a confidential communication between the Army Chief , General VK Singh and the PM has become increasingly bitter and acrimonious as the deliberations in Parliament suggested. One hopes that the meeting on Friday (March 30) between the principal interlocutors will help to calm the turbulence, which if left unchecked can have very serious long term implications that will damage for national security.

The immature way in which we have reacted to the publication of Joseph Lelyveld’s book, Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India, shows how superficial have we become as a society.

Dear Mr Gandhi, The elections in UP are, understandably, your major preoccupation.  It is difficult to predict the result. But even if you do well, will India have reason to celebrate? Electoral success will show that you are better than the opposition. But that bar is now so low that is almost an embarrassment to trumpet that one is merely better than the opposition.

The UPA government is facing a major crisis. The government ill-timed its decision on allowing FDI in multi-brand retail. Both from the viewpoint of economic realities of India and the present political situation, any political observer will be surprised by the timing of the decision. The government’s credibility is at rock bottom. The leadership has been unable to counter the allegations of both corruption and economic mismanagement. The agenda of Parliament was already loaded with issues embarrassing to the government. With great difficulty, it attempted to ward off a voting motion on price rise and agreed to a voting on a resolution on black money and corruption. In the midst of Parliament session, the Cabinet took a decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail.

On Monday (August 15), the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh unfurled the national flag to celebrate India’s 65th Independence Day and the attainment of ‘freedom’ from oppressive colonial rule. In comparison to many of  its  peers who were similarly liberated from the colonial yoke, India has much to be satisfied about after 64 years and the comparison with Pakistan is perhaps the most  favorable and less so with China.

The Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, Shri Omar Abdullah has recently suggested that the provisions of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 could be made inapplicable to some parts of the State of Jammu & Kashmir.