PETTY POLITICS

• The one event that rocked Australia’s traditional ennui towards politics was Kevin Rudd’s by his trusty deputy Julia Gillard. At least the event created a furore, unlike the (yawn) Federal elections which began as a damp squib and finally went out altogether as weeks passed with both parties lobbying to win favour with the Independents to come into power. Julia Gillard is now Prime Minister and Labor is in the hot seat… for how long is anyone’s guess!

• Another global coup of a completely different kind was US President Barack Obama’s whirlwind Apart from charming the country and finalising mutually beneficial deals, the icing on the cake was Obama’s declaration of support to India for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. This is clear recognition of India’s increasing prominence on the global arena. India this year got its non-permanent seat into the UNSC, after a gap of 19 years.

• After a court battle of 60 years, the Allahabad High court judged that the Ayodhya land dispute would be resolved through a three-way division. Hindus and Muslims are joint title holders of the disputed land, it said, and one-third each will go to the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and the party for Ram Lalla. The verdict has been generally hailed as a sensible, Solomon-like decision by was rejected in his bid for Vice-Presidency of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in end June, being outvoted by six countries, and supported by only three. Sharad Pawar took on the role as President amidst the global cricketing media’s extremely vocal opinions about the rejection.