Union minister for overseas Indian affairs Vayalar Ravi has claimed that he was joking when he made an offensive remark to a woman journalist in Kerala. Asked about the Congress party’s stance on Rajya Sabha deputy chairman PJ Kurien, allegedly involved in the Suryanelli rape case in Kerala, Ravi responded, “Do you have anything personal against Kurien? Has something happene
Veteran politician and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar is livid with party leader and Maharashtra minister Bhaskar Jadhav for the “gratuitous extravagance” which the latter displayed at a social occasion. Jadhav, who is minister of state for urban development in the state government, was in news recently for the lavish weddings of his son and daughter. Accordin
On January 20, following two days of stimulating discussion and deliberation to perk up the party ahead of next year’s general elections, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said in Jaipur, “I assure you that I will personally continue to press for the passage of the law that would provide for one-third reservation for women in parliament and state legislatures.” It was a
In Dabangg 2, when the jeep of protagonist inspector Chulbul Pandey (played by Salman Khan) lands up in a large pit and the engine chokes to death in a cloud of dust, he asks his constable in his typical comic baritone, “Yeh kiska khet hai, Sharmaji.” And the constable replies meekly, “Sir, ye toh Kanpur ka main chauraha hai.” While the joke had viewers of
Saturday, February 9, would have been just another day had news channels not begun beaming the news of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru’s hanging. Not that it made much of a difference to the man/woman on the street going about his/her business on an exceptionally sunny day, marking the onset of spring in Delhi. Not, also, that the news brought a collective sigh of relief
Governance Now and CVoter carried out a survey of the trust various institutions of governance inspire among the people. Read more about the overall findings of the survey here: Trust of the Republic survey: little faith in government or in print in the February 1-15 iss
On January 20, following two days of stimulating discussion and deliberation to perk up the party ahead of next year’s general elections, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said in Jaipur, “I assure you that I will personally continue to press for the passage of the law that would provide for one-third reservation for women in parliament and state legislatures.” It was a
At some strange level, the Indian political system has a deep, if not too apparent, connect with Bollywood. Like a half-decent Hindi masala flick, the Indian polity, and thereby the political system, sees and believes in only the colours black and white, with no chance in hell for the existence of a grey, let alone shades and tones of it. Like the sheriffs in the Western flicks, from where Boll
The government’s decision to secretly execute Guru just days before Maqbool Bhat’s death anniversary — Bhat was a symbol of Kashmir’s resistance against what many in the state believe is India’s claims over the region, who was also executed in the same Tihar jail 28 years ago — seems to have touched a raw nerve, especially among the youth of the Valley.
David Devadas, veteran journalist and author of `In Search of a Future: The Story of Kashmir`, wrote for the Hindustan Times on December 2 last year why Afzal Guru should not be hanged. We present the column, as a counterview. Courtesy Hindustan Times: Stick
God only knows that I was horrified when I heard my 10 years old cousin sang out loud in front of me "Main to tandoori murgi hun yaar, gatka le saiyyan alcohol se”. "Too much TV," I sighed. The government today has done probably what every parent has been secretly praying for: barred what are called `item songs` from TV telecast because of their explicit con
February 8 This must be the most tragic day in the forever-tragic republic. What have the poor politicians done to deserve this? The papers are full of reports that there are way too many of those security men protecting us. That’s nonsense; pardon me, but sheer human excreta. The supreme court seeking
“Ye dagh – dagh ujala, ye shabgazida seher/ Woh intezar tha jiska, ye woh seher to nahin.” (Light dirtied by stains and daybreak bitten by a poisonous night/ Is this the dawn we waited for?) As we celebrate the sixty-third birth anniversary of our republic, I am forced by an unexplained inner urge to cry aloud these apparently pessimistic lines penned ironical
The refrain — yes, that’s what it has become — “treat women with respect” has reached such levels that now the only reaction it elicits is that of psychic numbing. So, now it is UP minister Rajaram Pandey, who praised a district magistrate for her beauty — and for possessing a perfect body. Pandeyji is happy that every time he comes to Sultanpur there
India’s “virtual middle class” Those of us who sign online petitions, forward chain mails on fighting corruption, join threads of debate on blogs and ‘friend’ campaign groups on Facebook have finally arrived. The world-renowned trend-catcher Thomas L Friedman has captured this latest trend, naming them India’s “virtual middle cla
Of late, we have been witnessing a number of things going on in our country which compel us to think where we are leading our nation to and what after all we have got as the idea of India after 65 years of Independence. We are witnessing on TV screens how the proceedings of parliament are disrupted, how the people are fleeing from fear from Assam, how the people are demanding the
In all the ideas of financial accountability, financial inclusion is most important. Nevertheless, the policy circle represents it awkwardly and measures it by the number of new enterprises created which is flawed. The primary concern of the lending should be to target the prepared individual, who is capable to run a business and nurture entrepreneurship. In most cases, beneficiaries of the ins
Recently, as a member of the expert group set up by the King of Bhutan, I attended the meeting to develop gross national happiness (GNP) as a viable substitute for gross domestic product (GDP). The latter goes up when the trees are cut while the former goes down for the same act. There are many other differences between the two concepts which have triggered a worldwide debate. So
Mirror mirror on the wall, which neta is the most anti-free speech of ’em all? In the open season on muffling free speech in India, that Mamata Banerjee’s is one of the bigger silhouettes seen on that mirror often goes unnoticed. Yes, she calls people “Maoist” at the drop of a hat; yes, she has people arrested for questioning her policies (the
In an age where 22-second sound bites become the source of heated political debate and vacuous intellectual discourse, eminent sociologist Ashis Nandy’s indiscretion may seem unpardonable. Clearly, he is too old to adapt to bites-induced intellectualism, making him almost incompatible with an impatient class of social elites whose intellectual span is defined by the limits set by TV studi
