With inflation inching closer to double-digits, it does look like it is going to last longer than policymakers anticipated in Dilli. Price rise has already become a rallying point for the opposition parties.

The heat of inflation

In fact, the BJP's first political show of strength under newly-anointed chief Nitin Gadkari in the capital last week was to protest the price rise. The heat is on, literally, as Gadkari felt it too, when he wilted under the sun's glare. Not a particularly auspicious beginning for a man who is expected to turn around the party's fortunes.

The weather is rarely a topic of conversation except when people are baking in the scorching summer and everyone speculates about the arrival of the monsoon. Aware perhaps, of the possibility of an overheated economy, the government is now hoping that a normal monsoon, as forecast by the MET department, would come to its rescue.

But reading the patterns of the sky at the best of times is a tricky affair. So the nervousness is perhaps justified.

Reigning green
Green roads. Green games. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh clearly has made the environment matter, even if he has opened himself to accusations of delaying infrastructural projects. His latest obsession is 'green highways.' Ramesh has indicated that his ministry will not permit roads that cut across forest areas.

Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Games have given Dilli a chance to show off its green credentials, never mind the numerous trees felled to make way for stadia and new roads. Apparently, the Delhi sarkar has taken pains to plant three trees for every one that was axed, so that Dilli can retain its reputation as one of the greenest capitals in the world.

In Mumbai too, the government has signalled its green ambitions by specifying norms for greenery in public places. Among other details, the new norms state that all Mumbai roads will have a tree every 10 metres, and every public park will have a tree every 20 sq metres. When this is likely to translate into action is what many would like to know.

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