September 24, 1984, Forty Years Ago: Top central leaders are believed to have told some state Congress (I) leaders that the Centre is considering reinstalling the party’s government in the state.

Dissanayake has hinted at continuing close ties with Delhi. India did not feature prominently in the election campaign and Delhi enjoys some goodwill for assistance during Sri Lanka’s economic crisis. It is important, then, for Delhi to continue to build on the bilateral engagement

We have created a system in which citizens have been taken out of governance. Every once in a while, they push back, seeking some say in how a locality is governed. In the absence of formal powers to govern, they create conditions of chaos, and find new ways of hurting each other

New President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has recognised the importance of India for Sri Lanka’s security and economic development. He has not given any indication of prioritising relations with China over India

Continuing with a discredited CM and then disempowering him is not the way. Centre must involve Opposition, call an all-party meeting

For India, the Quad has opened up expansive avenues of regional cooperation with the US and its Asian allies

September 23, 1984, Forty Years Ago: Election Commission, which needs merely 42 days to go through its pre-election formalities, will be given enough time to make the arrangements.

Joint Commanders’ Conference is a welcome step. A comprehensive review of the military is imperative.

Today’s virtual life demands the opposite from girls, that they seek validation from their peers online. The psychological cost to viewing airbrushed lives is that we feel compelled to airbrush our own.

The Kovind Committee assumed, wrongly, that the NDA government will be able to pass the Constitution Amendments Bills in Parliament. On the contrary, the Opposition can easily muster 182 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 83 MPs in the Rajya Sabha to defeat the Bills.

In the run-up to its centenary next year, the RSS will move into new quarters in Delhi, far more spacious than its original campus in Nagpur. Three towers, a dozen storeys high, are near completion in Delhi’s Jhandewalan.

We should celebrate that voters came out in larger numbers last week than anyone can remember from past elections. But it is still unclear why this has happened. When the results come next month what will we discover?

The sweeping nature of the violence in this case is more in keeping with extremist non-state actors. Israel, which has been a victim of terrorism, must know that it risks becoming like its proclaimed enemy

Elections must be held whenever and wherever governments lose public trust. One nation one election undermines the will of we, the people

The proposal to reduce pint size may be better for good health, but for the average Jane and Joe, who have enough on their minds, the last thing they need is a government-sized fly in their beer

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N T Rama Rao won a vote of confidence in the state Assembly which earlier elected N Venkataratnam of the ruling Telugu Desam as Speaker with a big margin.

Privileged or otherwise, women are vulnerable to abuse; to being systematically excluded from positions of political, social and cultural power. But power, unlike intellectual nuance, operates in black and white — it aligns along clear-cut gender, race, religion, language and wealth axes.

For too long, books by women have been treated as a subset of literature by men, representing a smaller canvas against the purportedly wider scope of men’s writing

US central bank cuts rates as inflation moderates and unemployment rises. Its reverberations will be felt across economies

The success of the new laws depends on more than addressing structural deficits. It requires comprehensive, across-the-board training to upgrade quality and knowledge and change mindsets

If Islamabad has been intransigent, New Delhi has not always fully upheld the treaty's spirit. Both India and Pakistan should make efforts to protect the treaty

The point is — it feels great to be treated as special in crowded spaces. That is why even myths of heaven and hell have levels

September 20, 1984, Forty Years Ago: The expulsion is seen as a major bid by the party leadership to crush a possible revolt by the followers of Sanjay Gandhi who have been sidelined ever since Rajiv Gandhi took over the reigns of the party.

Creating a self-sustaining population in India's forests will require ironing out glitches, putting lessons to good use