Less than a year after taking over the reins of Uttar Pradesh after his historic poll victory, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s laggard legacy comprises only this much: an ugly blame game between the horse and the cart. Yadav has held state bureaucrats responsible for the failure in implementing various projects that formed part of the Samajwadi Party`s (SP) poll manifesto prior to the ass
With an average tenure of 18 months for each chief minister since its formation in 2000, Jharkhand seems to be set to become a test subject for constitutional pundits whether small states suffering from continuous instability are a fit case for being made union territories – what with repeated the president’s rule anyways. After eight CMs in a short span of its format
Mamata Banerjee has a lot to tell everyone, every day. The general public, the voters, other political parties, political opposition (“CPM”), Maoists, conspirators, “anti-people central gorment”, “mischievous and conspiratorial media” — they all get their daily dose of homilies from the West Bengal chief minister. But it’s time Banerjee di
Some years ago, when a friend who had just been invited to provide commentary for a cricket match broke the good news at the press club, a senior journalist told him: “At least now you won’t make spelling mistakes.” Had it been the reverse, and a commentator had been offered a slot as a columnist, well might he have been told, “At least now you won’t make terrible
Six months since I started driving a diesel hatchback — feeling proud and smarter than the rest every time I am at a fuel station — I am suddenly told by everyone that decontrol of diesel prices is good for the economy. It was necessary. And maybe they are right. I am told that diesel deregulation would also augur well for the current account deficit. It offers a possibility
It takes political will to take the nation forward. The UPA government in its first avatar took a major decision by establishing a high-level committee under the leadership of the prime minister (in short Sachar committee) to study about the plight of country’s largest minority population, the Muslim community. After gathering data and studying the conditions of Muslims, the committee pre
Ever since India accused Pakistan of killing two Indian soldiers on January 6, beheading one of them, at the Line of Control, the tension and the war of words between two countries have only gone north. In the latest, India has raised Pakistan`s continuing support to terror groups at the United Nations, seeking international action against the state sponsors of terror. India named Pakistan terr
There is no end to the blunders that the central reserve police force (CRPF) commits in its anti-Maoists operations. Less than seven months after its men went berserk and killed 19 people in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, most of whom turned out to be innocent villagers, it has again landed itself in a mess. This time in Jharkhand’s Latehar district. The facts of this enco
The 26-year-old genius was found dead in his New York apartment where he committed suicide. Involved in the development of Reddit and founder of RSS feeds, here is why his sudden suicide should caution us all. Aaron Swartz wanted everyone, even those without a fancy university education and its privileges to access journals, to access information online. In turn, however, Swartz was ind
The devil is always in the little details. Uttar Pradesh is notoriously corrupt, with its broad sweeping brush not sparing even the sick and ailing. Yet, Hilauli is often cited as an example of how a few good men with a few good intentions can use funds of the national rural health mission (NRHM) to transform the health map of a block. On the surface, a lot has changed. The sub-centres (SC), pr
Forty-eight hours after making a mutilated response to Pakistan sending back a jawan’s mutilated body, defence minister AK Antony is still busy taking guard (“right hand middle, umpire sir”) even as the bowler is halfway through his over (left-arm over, two bouncers on the trot, anyone?) Antony, who on Wednesday had called the Pakistan army’s action “inhuma
While both defence minister AK Antony and external affairs minister Salman Khurshid condemned Pakistan’s recent action as “inhuman” and “highly provocative”, the incident brings to mind Kargil of circa 1999, when Captain Saurabh Kalia was imprisoned during the war and Pakistan later sent his mutilated body. But even if we take that as a wartime casualty, th
Upon searching for “social contract” in Google, one comes up with the Wikipedia article for Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s 1762 treatise, which suggests that “For “social contract” as a political and philosophical concept” one divert to this pa
"A group of their (Pakistan’s) regular soldiers intruded across the Line of Control in Mendhar Sector on January 8. Pakistan army troops, having taken advantage of thick fog and mist in the forested area, were moving towards our posts when an alert area domination patrol spotted and engaged the intruders... The fire fight between Pakistan and our troops continued for approximatel
In the two weeks leading up to my arrival in India, I followed the story of the high-profile gang rape in Delhi with horror. The sketch of the crime left little doubt about the excessive violence involved in it. However, in the days after the initial reports my greater interest has been in the silence of the media on the victim’s identity and the tenor of the public protests. The governme
Self-proclaimed godman Asaram Bapu is not new to controversies. There has already been an attempt to murder charge against him (remember the mysterious deaths of two boys - Dipesh Weghela and Abhishek Waghela - studying in a residential school in the premises of Asaram`s ashram in Ahmedabad in 2008; there are charges relating to tax evasion against him ). This time he is being talked about beca
Girls, the word of caution is to carry rakhis in your bag throughout the year, you never know when you may be in need of them. And if a man tries to molest you, hurt you, do not fight. Remember you are a girl – you can and should always only beg. So if the Delhi gagrape victim would have begged on the night of December 16 when she was being assaulted by six men, she would have been saved.
Only two words escape my breath after listening to Asaram ji Bapu – Oh God, that too without the exclamation mark. I am sorry but I cannot give the guy more attention than he deserves, which in my world is nothing. I laughed a little too, considering it was funny to see who between Neelam Dubey, bapu’s spokesperson, and the CNN-IBN anchor will have the last word. I laugh and
The reactions from the foreign investors were dismissive. The day the government set up the cabinet committee on investment (CCI) to fast-track infrastructure projects of over Rs 1,000 crore, the research head in a foreign brokerage house commented that “Isn’t this a typical Indian solution to tackle any problem? Will this not add another bureaucratic organization to the existing on
Hours to go before the union government launches what is being touted as the ultimate game changer, Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) – handing over cash for subsidies and other social welfare schemes directly in the Aadhaar-linked bank accounts of the beneficiaries – and yet little is known about it. Earlier called Direct Cash Transfer (DCT), this programme is supposed
