2009 Poll Prospects And Alignments-2

[ravish]

In India the next general elections are to be held in early 2009.It is time to look back how the country has performed in the last five years. What have been the achievements and what have been our failures. For some of these developments the coalition that is in Power can be held responsible, while some of the developments are due to reasons beyond the control of the Government or the establishment.
Let us analyze some of the important developments. The most important has been the technological and economic advancement. There has been increased demand of Indian technological skill abroad. The demand for Indian made goods and services have also seen much increase. Our scientists have also met with success in exploring the outer space and in perfecting the Missile technology.
There has been reduction in the number of people living below the poverty line. There has been improvement in rural health and education as well as in communication and transport. However, the problems in these fields are so vast that the development is not visible in the desired level. Malnutrition, ignorance, poverty and disease are still very widespread within the 200 million strong weaker section of the Indian population. However, it will be incorrect to say that there has been no substantial improvement in these areas problematic areas.
There has been opening up of new industries and also new service oriented jobs which have created many job opportunities. Small and medium private enterprises have also increased in number and the economic growth in the last few years have been quite impressive by Indian standard.

In the security aspect the period has seen unprecedented amount of terrorist attacks in different parts of the country. In addition the Naxalites have also made substantial inroads in different parts of West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. The use of firearms have also increased substantially both for political crimes and normal crimes. There has been increased number of murders and kidnappings for randsom. Thus the law and order situation in some parts of the country is far from satisfactory.
On the external front, peace has prevailed on our borders. However, there has been no headway towards a permanent and lasting settlement of all our outstanding problems with China and Pakistan. Cross border terrorism has come down but it has not decreased the terrorist activites within the territory of India. In fact, the terrorists have been carrying out operations with impunity anywhere in India. The most disturbing part is that a few of our citizens belonging to the minority community have been brainwashed by these foreign elements and have become their collaborators. Another disturbing factor is the possible emergence of Hindu terrorist groups as a direct reaction to the activities of the Islamic terrorists.
The separatist movement in the North East has remained by and large dormant but has not died out. On the other hand,
Then comes the role of the political parties and the various political formations. The oldest of them is the Indian National Congress. It is no longer a formidable force in the North Indian States and its existence is mostly dependent on its alliance with regional outfits. The next political party in importance is the BJP. It has tremendous potential as a political party but has a leadership crisis within and there is increasing signs of infighting within the organization. The rest of the political parties are mostly small regional formation. They will be the one who will play a decisive role in the formation of the next government at the Centre.