Since we ‘made our tryst with destiny’ and woke up “to life and freedom”, in every aspect of our lives, we have been trying to move towards a comparatively more open and liberal society, which gives people more and be
“The river [Ganga] is no ordinary image in which the divine has come to dwell. She is celestial-unmediated and immediate. Whatever is holy, whatever is merciful, whatever is utterly auspicious is already there,” writes Diana L. Eck in
Shiv Visvanathan rightly prefers to be introduced as a social science nomad. He is an itinerant thinker, wandering across boundaries of academic disciplines and professions. An anthology of his writings naturally displays that eclecticism.
What is today the mother of all imbroglios, Kashmir, was a script directed by the wily British rulers, as part of their design to divide India. The British had used Mohammad Ali Jinnah to veto the idea of an independent India without a sep
United States presidential elections are hardly three months away. Voting will take place on November 8. The Tuesday following the very first Monday in November is observed as Election Day in USA. USA has a presidential system of d
Noida’s once booming real estate sector is today sailing through choppy waters, and the weather is only expected to turn rougher, with the Akhilesh Yadav government contemplating to hike the circle rate and also increase the stamp duty.
Opposition is not necessarily enmity; it is merely misused and made an occasion for enmity, said Sigmund Freud, one of 20th century’s most influential thinkers. In what seems to be a classic examp
This is no laughing matter. Navjot Singh Sidhu, a former Indian cricketer who guffaws throughout The Kapil Sharma Show on television, has quit the BJP and his Rajya Sabha seat and there is a distinct possibility of his joining the Aam Aadmi Party
Smriti Zubin Irani’s fall from grace is dramatic. The minister who would regularly wade into nasty controversies had it coming all this while and one needn’t be taken aback. Irani headed a crucial ministry that dealt wit
It is outrageous that rape and rape survivors are being taken so lightly. It is as if rape has been turned into some kind of a flippant drawing room conversation and we have stooped so low as to dehumanise women whose lives have been ravaged.
The rush of immigrants to Europe and harsh realities of global economy may be the trigger for the United Kingdom to seek a formal divorce from the European Union, but the differences and tensions between the two were visible to even a first time t
There is something unique in Narendra Modi, even his enemies will admit that. The kind of stir his foreign trips create and the impact they leave is something that has not been witnessed before. His style, his oratory skills, the way he takes prid
“Political science is actually pronounced as ‘prodigal science’ and it is a subject on cookery.” This statement is not coming from a kindergarten kid who is trying to make sense of a term which he has heard for the first ti
The Central Board of Films Certification (CBFC) finally relented, and decided on June 13 to let Udta Punjab move on. But by then enough damage was already done – to the board’s image. Its previous move to delete all references of Punja
Mahatma Gandhi once said, "A nation`s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) of the ministry of rural development assists the weakest citizens of our country li
On February 16 last year, my father went for a routine medical check-up as he was not keeping well. The doctor said he needed to be hospitalised. That evening our life began to fall apart. His condition stabilised, but a battery of
I still vividly remember that nippy February evening in 2010 when and I and my wife drove down to a real estate broker’s office in Noida and booked our dream flat in Amrapali Silicon City, with the hope that we would, in a couple of years, s
There is a very disturbing news report about the entire political spectrum agreeing that RTI is misused and some constrictions and impediments should be developed to muzzle it. This is indeed a sad state of affairs. Samajawadi Part
Dear Beta, I am sorry for pushing you to death. In fact, I have to apologise to you for many things: • Each time you showed me your mark-sheet, I got angry and lectured you on how you need to do better next time.
On a dry winter morning in December 2012, while crossing the bridge over what seemed like narrow waterway in an eastern UP town, I noticed a mountain of garbage in the stream. This shrunken, polluted and narrow stream was river Varuna. I, a cub re
