The crisis of 1991 is the most momentous event I was ever involved in; it is also perhaps when I did the greatest service to my country. But it is also when I met colleagues with sharp knives – a time I try not to remember. India was the country where I was born and grew up, but not one in which I felt at home. Those great leaders who inherited it from the British had turn
The central government has requested the law commission of India to study the feasibility of having a uniform civil code governing marriage, divorce and inheritance for people of all religions living in the country. While some political groups and Muslim religious leaders have opposed interference with personal laws as invasion into religious freedom of minorities, the real hurdle in way of r
Sheila Dikshit, Congress veteran and former chief minister of the national capital, will be the chief ministerial candidate of the party for the Uttar Pradesh elections, scheduled for early next year. Dikshit has set the record as the longest-serving chief minister of Delhi. I remember interviewing her just after her party had won the 2008 assembly elections, giving her a third t
Kerala imposing a tax on junk food, now popularly referred to as fat tax, puts the spotlight on rising obesity, an issue that should have been addressed quite some time. Chubby kids do look cute. However, there are serious health issues associated with being obese, due partly to hogging tasty junk food like pizzas and burgers. Kerala finance minister Thomas Issac,
A lot has been said and heard about the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY). A common refrain is that it does not have special funds for its effective implementation. Media reports say that some MPs are unwilling to adopt any village under the SAGY to avoid any notion of preference for one or another village and thus avoid wrathful response of other villagers at the time of elections. But nobod
Summer is generally a frenzied time for forces hunting terrorists in Kashmir. Each season, a fresh crop of trained-in-Pakistan jihadis arrive in the Valley – the numbers can vary as per the Indo-Pak equations and border security at a given time – to undertake dramatic terror strikes. They don’t always succeed but when they do – like the June 26 strike in Pampore in whi
Should health insurance include the cost of medicine? That is the question raised by a recent study on India which seeks to measure the financial burden of cardiovascular diseases on people. While it does not make any suggestions, it does point out that health insurance schemes in India do not cover medication costs. It further points out a known fact that 75 percent of health ex
It seems Greece’s referendum on Grexit last year inspired Arvind Kejriwal to announce his intention to hold a referendum in Delhi on statehood. It is, therefore, no surprise that the unexpected positive vote for Brexit should lead him to bring back the issue of a referendum in Delhi to
With the union cabinet having accorded its approval to the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, about one crore government employees and pensioners will get a 2.5-time hike in basic pay and pensions, which will cost the state exchequer annually Rs 1.02 lakh crore. The once-in-a-dec
Asha Devi Mornings in my village are not very pleasant. This is despite the fact that I live in a lush green, idy
As the new government in Tamil Nadu completes its first month, it has taken a first step towards fulfilling one of its key election promises: prohibition. But the way it is moving forward, activists and civil society are not very confident of its efficacy. On Sunday, the government closed down 500 liquor outlets – following chief minister J Jayalalithaa’
These days K Babu, the controversial excise minister in the previous United Democratic Front government in Kerala headed by Oommen Chandy, cannot control his anger and frustration. Reason? He became the fall guy for supporting liquor ban in the state as voters rejected him and he lost his Thrippunithura seat, which had sent him to the house for four consecutive terms. “I a
A drop of liquor is equivalent to a thousand teardrops (Oru tulli madyam, ayiram tulli kannuneer), says an advertisement of the excise department of Kerala. Vishu smells of liquor as he gets up and receives this journalist into his two-room house in Ambalapuram, a typical urbanised panchayat in Thrissur. It is 7 pm and the 60-year-old man, a carpente
There was an unprecedented disaster in 2013. Massive amount of torrential rainfall took place which led to flash floods near every single river of the state of Uttarakhand. From Yamuna, Bhagirathi, Mandakini, Alaknanda, Dhauliganga, Kali nadi – none of the rivers were spared. The massive flash floods and landslides claimed thousands of lives and their livelihoods. Till date, people a
The hope of relative safety of a religious majority as well as the fear of maiming and mutilation following partition forced mass exodus from either sides of the new border. The 1951 census of Pakistan identified the number of displaced persons in Pakistan at 7,226,600, presumably all Muslims who had entered Pakistan from India. Similarly, the 1951 census of India enumerated 7,295,870 displaced
Dealing with ammunition is one of the most lethal tasks in the army. It is hardly realised that ammunition is more unpredictable than the enemy, and soldiers deal with it on a regular basis. On May 31, an accident at the central ammunition depot (CAD) in Pulgaon, near Nagpur in Maharashtra, saw the loss of 19 lives, including those of firefighters and two officers.
Glittering zari sarees bring to mind wedding and other festive occasions. But now when I look at a beautiful glittering saree, I can see the lost childhood of so many children embroidered in it. Rescue work can be tough and emotionally draining and I can never forget the scary experience of rescuing bonded children from the dark and dingy saree making factories in Jaipur City, t
They live as whole families in small straw huts they made with their bare hands, on a patch of land miles away from the nearest town. It looks desolate. But it is, they tell me, “paradise”. Because before they came here, they had been forcibly held as bonded labourers by a plantation master. It is 2016, India is a global power, and I am talking to people who have escaped what is eff
Brij Mohan Anand would have remained yet another name in the not so exalted annals of India’s commercial art but for his daughter, who, 30 years after his death, has presented his creative and unknown art works to the world. The art exhibition, ‘Narratives for Indian Modernity: The Aesthetic of Brij Mohan Anand’ at Delhi’s India International Centre (IIC)
The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite, IRNSS-1G, went into geosynchronous transfer orbit on April 28 and by May 3 it has taken up its position in the geostationary orbit at 129.5 degree east. With this the IRNSS constellation of seven satellites is in position. The constellation consists of three geostationary earth orbit (GEO) spacecraft and four spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit (GSO) inc
