Of late, there have been some anxious moments for broadcasters and no one knows where it’s been coming from, and why it’s happening. For starters, the ministry of information and broadcasting is the licensor for TV channels, in two categories: (i) news and current affairs (‘news channels’) and (ii) non-news and current affairs (‘general entertainment
Something unusual is happening in the defence arena: the Narendra Modi government has shown remarkable courage to embark on a long and arduous journey that will have a long-term impact on India’s national security. Curiously, it seems to be receiving extraordinarily thin support for such a radical move. The government, and in particular defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, is going to rec
Pakistan’s duplicity in fighting terrorism has now been exposed and rebuffed by its long-time ally, the USA. This duplicity has its roots in the illusions of grandiosity that Pakistan’s deep state – the military and the Inter Services Agency (ISI) – seemed to have acquired after forcing the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan in February 1989. For a chronicle and analysis of
The digital initiative of the government will be a non-starter unless it is delivered in 22 major and over a hundred minor Indian languages. There is a saturation of English content on web and hence a growing demand for consumption of content in Indian languages. The Technology Development for Indian Languages (TDIL) programme of the government is a push towards localising e-governance content
On July 31 the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) constituted a committee of experts, headed by justice (retired) BN Srikrishna, to deliberate on a data protection framework for India. The committee is another step in India’s journey in formulating a national-level privacy legislation. The formulation of a privacy law started as early as 2010 with a
A NITI Aayog report says India has the potential to save about $60 billion in petrol and diesel costs if it goes in a big way for electric vehicles. There are challenges, no doubt; but the advantages far outweigh the negatives. Not only will an electric vehicle programme save billions in foreign currency outflow, it will give a new lease of life to the power sector – especially in renewab
In a curious coincidence, Bihar strongman Lalu Prasad got his comeuppance – jail sentence for corruption – in the very week that witnessed the triple talaq bill – a cornerstone of ‘secularism’ – making progress in parliament. The two matters would seem unrelated but are in fact deeply interconnected. Lalu represents the best and worst of Indian
It could befit a welfare state to have a law that guarantees work and wages for unemployed citizens. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), now known as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), was supposed to be just that. It assured 100 days of work in a year to anyone from a village who demanded work. It also promised wages within 15 days of the work we
After the end of the Cold War in 1991, the USA had not merely emerged as the sole military superpower but it was also leading the movement towards globalisation. Owing to the so-called triumph of liberal democracy over communism, optimists like Francis Fukuyama began to see the end of history, rather prematurely, as they visualised a marriage between welfare capitalism and liberal democracy sha
With the acquittal of all the accused in the 2G scam and conviction of Lalu Prasad Yadav in the chara ghotala, scams are in the headlines again. We Indians love scams so much that the word ‘scam’ is now part of all Indian languages though the meaning is not the same as in English. In Indian languages ‘scam’ is not any dishonest scheme but a big-ticket swindle involving t
It is the story of the exoneration of A Raja and the conviction of a metaphorical raja (Lalu Prasad used to call himself a raja of Bihar) that reveals a complex web of governance in India. Raja’s exoneration in the 2G scam was quickly followed by Lalu’s conviction in the fodder scam. Of course, in both cases, the respective CBI courts delivered verdicts which are con
Seventy years of independence and the questions and issues raised have not changed and the most astounding fact is that neither are the answers! So this Good Governance Day (December 25), as a woman I ask what has been done for that huge section of the population that I represent. Had governance been truly effective then there would never be a need to demand reservation for women. The women&rsq
This one definitely isn’t the typical fight witnessed within defence circles. The high-profile fracas over the Tejas fighter aircraft and the more subdued skirmish over the Arjun tank carry with it the potential to define what India is going to do over the next 50 years on its quest for growth, development and prosperity. For over a decade there has been an intriguing war fought in the by
The BJP is set to form the sixth government in Gujarat. Not counting a bump in 1996-98 thanks to its own rebel Shankarsinh Vaghela, the party has been in power since 1995, and shows no signs of anti-incumbency. What we are witnessing is comparable only to the long CPM rule in West Bengal. There are, of course, other states with a long period of one-party rule, or on
More often, a colloquial proverb sums up a complex political situation more aptly than scholarly formulations. If one looks at the Gujarat verdict, nothing summarises it more perfectly than the adage: “Jo jita wohi Sikandar (the victor is the one who has won).” Of course, there is no denying that the victor in Gujarat c
Assembly elections in Gujarat, since 2002, have been like Churchill’s description of Russia – with a little twist: wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, but eventually a non-riddle. They have been following the same script. When the campaign begins, the outcome looks utterly unpredictable. As the electioneering progresses, as Narendra Modi gets aggressive, his criti
Rahul Gandhi has become the president of India’s grand old party. Nobody else wanted to, since none contested. By any parameter, it is not a welcome move in a democracy. Regardless of your views on his leadership abilities, the fact remains that there was no contest, no election for the top post. The only justification, that not even one among the tens of thousands of Congress members was
The ‘Ease of Doing Business’ report of the World Bank could not have come at a better time for the NDA government. The first anniversary of demonetisation, where everything from planning to execution went wrong, and whose impact had broken the back of the economy as never before, was only a week ahead when the report was released on October 31. It was just a week after announcing th
Gujarat has always been a riddle for those who tend to apply conventional academic or intellectual tools to unravel the mystery. When confusion gets confounded, such analysts invent subterfuge to cover up their failures. Nothing illustrates this dilemma as starkly as the projection of the Gujarat assembly election as a Narendra Modi versus Rahul Gandhi battle. And ironically some
As terror mastermind Hafeez Saeed walked free in Pakistan, Rahul Gandhi tweeted to ridicule prime minister Narendra Modi’s diplomacy, and in response BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao called him a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) sympathiser. Suitably chagrined by the BJP’s counterattack, the Congress once again played the emotional card. Congress leader Anand Sharma recalled the contribution
