It is a script that threatens to go terribly awry for Janata Dal (U) strongman and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the charismatic vote-catcher and development icon who had handed out a spectacular drubbing to the 15-year Lalu-Rabri regime in the state in the 2005 assembly elections and repeated his winning streak in this year's Lok Sabha polls as well. In the just-concluded by-elections in 18 assembly constituencies, Nitish Kumar suffered major reverses when his arch-rival and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad staged a surprise and scintillating comeback in alliance with the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) of Ram Vilas Paswan.

"You are playing with fire" was the Supreme Court's chilling observation to the Mayawati government of Uttar Pradesh on September 11 2009. The observation had the desired impact. Work on Maya's dream projects came to a halt even as a pall of gloom descended over the think-tank of the Chief Minister's secretariat. The SC's chilling observation from a bench comprising Justices BN Agarwal and Aftab Alam came in the wake of reports that the UP government had gone back on its assurance that it would stop construction at all places where memorials and statues of Dalit leaders are coming up in Lucknow.

After years of wrangling that had threatened to rupture the fabric of higher judiciary in India, the Supreme Court has finally agreed to make public the assets of its judges on a website, bringing the curtain down on an unsavoury controversy and preventing a possible spat between the judiciary and the legislature. But the August 26 landmark resolution of the Supreme Court did not come on a platter.

After swamping Indian markets with sub-standard electronic goods and toxic toys, China is now harbouring a more lethal idea of fragmenting India into 20-30 independent states with the help of "friendly countries" like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, which would eventually facilitate Chinese occupation of Arunachal Pradesh.

In a big ticket boost for bilateral relations, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited India with a packed five-day schedule, inking three important agreements, reaffirming Washington's support to New Delhi in its fight against terrorism and ensuring survival of the controversial Indo-US nuclear deal. The three agreements pertain to the creation of a Science and Technology Endowment Board, a Technical Safeguards Agreement and End-use Monitoring (EUM) arrangements, which will allow Indian procurement of US defence technology and equipment.

It was a serious blot on Delhi Metro's reputation. It was the second accident that shook the faith of the people on Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) as a pre-fabricated concrete segment of an under-construction Metro bridge collapsed on July 12 along with a portion of the girder launcher killing six people including an engineer from Gammon India, the construction company involved in the construction of Phase-II of the metro projects in Delhi.

Even after six decades of India's independence, Bihar presents a sorry spectacle of its resource-rich economy languishing in an unending trap of poverty, botched dreams of development and undercurrents of unrest. The fact is not lost on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is being hailed as one of the development icons and is desperate to change the fortunes of millions living in crushing poverty in the state where power, jobs and clean water still remain luxuries.

Nursing wounds of shattered hopes in the 15th general elections, the BJP is presenting the unsavoury spectacle of a divided house with its senior leaders indulging in a free-for-all blame game, forming groups and hoping to jockey themselves in top positions within the organisation and in Parliament if the saffron outfit goes for a revamp. It all began with BJP leader L K Advani's key strategist Sudheendra Kulkarni penning an article in a magazine wherein he slammed the RSS for the party's stunning electoral debacle. The RSS made Advani "look weak, helpless and not fully in command" as compared to his Congress counterpart Manmohan Singh…We harped too much on the UPA's failures without convincing people we were better…Never in the history of the Jana Sangh or the BJP was the party enfeebled by so much disarray," he observed in the article.