At last a dribble of good news.

For years the Congress showed the long suffering Indian people the bottom of the economy. Now finally after years of slowdown the economy may finally be turning around. According to a study by HSBC Global Research the number of projects which were stalled has begun to fall. Capital goods production has increased. Capital goods are used to manufacture consumer products so it means an increase in investment. The present government has increased spending on vital infrastructure, such as railways and roads, adding 36,883 km of all-weather roads in 2014-15. By paying subsidies directly into bank accounts of the poor the government saved Rs 127 billion by reducing loss due to pilferage. More than 165 million new accounts, which can be operated with zero balance, have been opened to bring the poor into the economy. The government is using the Socio Economic and Caste Census of 2011, during Congress Raj, to pinpoint the reasons for deprivation so that help can be targeted according to need. These range from lack of education, skills, housing, employment, health, nutrition, water, sanitation, social and gender mobilization and entitlement. Linking recipients of benefits to Aadhar and to their bank accounts will create an audit trail which will prevent misuse and provide real help to the needy, without increasing costs. The other good news is that for the very first time India's Prime Minister will visit Israel. Ever since independence the Congress followed a policy of blind support for Palestine and against Israel. Partly it was because we had to import oil from Arab countries and partly it was cynical pandering to the Muslim ' vote bank '. In return for our blind support the Arabs have always supported Pakistan against us and even charged a premium for selling us oil. Israel not only has a very sophisticated defence industry, to protect itself against hostile neighbors, it is a developed country with a very high standard of living. Being a small desert country it has developed advanced methods of agriculture and even exports farm produce. Arab countries are all Sunnis, except Bahrain which has a majority Shia population but is ruled by a Sunni family. Arabs feel threatened by the nuclear deal with Shia Iran which may result in the lifting of sanctions and the arms embargo. Israel sees a nuclear Iran as an existential threat and is staunchly against any deal. We have written before that it should not come as a surprise if the Arabs help Israel to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. What if the Taliban or the ISIS or the Al Qaeda take control of Pakistani nuclear weapons, which are moved around in vans to confuse US surveillance, and hand them over to Iran? The morons of the US and Europe have made a great mess of the middle east and are making it worse by their constant meddling. India has a lot to gain from a strategic alliance with Israel.