Written words seldom communicate the force of authority. Visuals do. One such had demolished the myth about a caste Robinhood in Bihar in not so distant past. Exuding an aura of invincibility, impudence and spurious machismo, Anand Mohan Singh had created a ruckus and terrorised a police party accompanying him to jail in 2005-06. No one seemed to know what to do — other than an irrepressi
India on May 23 signed an agreement to buy gas via the much vaunted TAP or TAPI (Trans-Afghanistan) gas pipeline. Seen by many as the modern continuation of the Silk Road, the pipeline will reportedly earn the Afghan government at least 8% of the total revenue of the project (close to $350-400 million) in transit fees. Envisioned in the 1990s as an alternative to
All my encounters with Gen VK Singh were via his discourses in the media. Even tonight, it wasn’t a one-on-one, but a large gathering by lawyer RK Anand to announce a new book, “Assault on Merit: The Untold Story of Civil-Military Relations”. As the title would obliquely suggest, Anand brought to light a series of “assaults” he has led on behal
It was the dream of many contemporaries in school to work in NASA; space exploration had a glamour those days. I suspect that some of them actually made it there, going by two recent news reports: Painting asteroids and no-fly zones on the moon. It is not a line of dialogue that Brad Pitt or George Clooney might mouth with comfort. After all, when asteroids have threatened
[This column is based on a personal communication from the author.] Friends, The political establishment has, for obvious reasons, not taken kindly to the attempts of the Election Commission to cleanse the electoral process of the ills of money and muscle powers. If elections are truly free and fair, the ability of political parties to take advantage of the infirmities of
Last week, parliamentarians from across the political spectrum made a strong demand for being given the right to sport red beacons atop their vehicles. Since they are the ones who make laws, this one crossed the technical barriers pretty quickly. The road transport and highways ministry gave up its resistance to the MPs` demand soon enough. The home ministry too said it was ready for th
Mahatma Gandhi once famously remarked that a society made up of average people would be far better than that of geniuses. Perhaps Bapu’s scepticism would give way to cynicism if one looks at the track record of Pradeep Shukla, a top IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, arrested recently. Shukla, a 1981 batch topper, figured as prime accused in three cases related to the defalcatio
On October 26, 2011 during the 66th session of United Nations (UN) general assembly India made a statement regarding global internet governance. It had proposed a new model of internet governance, a UN Committee for Internet Related Policies (CIRP) which will comprise 50 member states. The committee will be chosen/elected on basis of equitable geographical participation. The main purpose of thi
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been avoiding accountability under the Right to Information Act, 2005. Fresh attempts have been made by minister of sports Ajay Maken. Also, the known BCCI baiter plans to request the finance ministry to expedite investigations into ongoing Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) violation cases. Irrespective of their politics,
Big mistake. Being born Indian and not being a cricketer. That is like being a scorpion and not stinging. It’s in your nature, nothing you can do about it. And I would have been so good at not playing, like okay half a million and I’ll bowl an extra no ball besides the three in the deal. You want to sweeten the pot, okay fine, I’ll give a snick to the wicket-keeper on
In the past couple of years we have often heard the government, ably led from the front by none other than prime minister Manmohan Singh himself, accusing the apex court of “judicial overreach”. More so after the court reversed certain policy decisions (the first-come-first-served policy for 2G spectrum allocation and appointment of PJ Thomas as CVC) and expressed anguish at certain
Give us free passes to the cricket match or we will not collect your garbage; also we will find other ways to harass you. The Bangalore corporators, elected to their posts by the tax-paying public, are clear on what they want from life. Free passes, free membership to all the local clubs, and if possible free roti, kapda aur makaan. From here to demanding free porn is but a step, especially on
?“I am arrive by passenger train Ahmedpur station and my belly is too much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the nuisance that guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with ‘lotah’ in one hand and ‘dhoti’ in the next when I am fall over and expose all my shocking to man and female women on plateform. I am
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s visit has made India’s diplomatic community work overtime. The former first lady has reiterated America’s stand over India’s oil imports from Iran. The US wants India to minimise oil imports from the Middle-Eastern country as its beef over Iran’s nuclear programme gets worse. New Delhi on the other hand has
In the past couple of years, the union government has been accusing the apex court of stepping into the executive’s domain and making policy decisions on its behalf. This act of the court is described as “judicial overreach”. There is little to dispute this but to understand why so, we need to look at the latest court verdict. On Tuesday, the a
Had Stevenson (Robert Louis) taken an Indian train ever, he would not have written this: “For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” The greatness of the affair, my fellow Indian railway passengers would agree, ends the moment we fling open a toilet door. First of all, we have learnt by now that we shouldn&rsq
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s visit has made India’s diplomatic community work overtime. The former first lady has reiterated America’s stand over India’s oil imports from Iran. The US wants India to minimise oil imports from the Middle-Eastern country as its beef over Iran’s nuclear programme gets worse. New Delhi on the other hand has cle
In the past couple of years, the union government has been accusing the apex court of stepping into the executive’s domain and making policy decisions on its behalf. This act of the court is described as “judicial overreach”. There is little to dispute this but to understand why so, we need to look at the latest court verdict. On Tuesday, the apex
The US presidential elections are round the corner. President Barack Obama has already begun his campaign and outsourcing is one of the issues on the agenda. Only recently, Obama accused presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney of favouring outsourcing jobs to India. It was against this background that secretary of state Hillary Clinton arrived in India on a three
Dear Dr. Manmohan Singh, Subject:- High cost of imported nuclear reactors at the expense of the Indian tax payer Ref.: 1 My letter dated 17-12-2011 addressed to you 2 Reported statement of Secretary (DAE) on the high cost of imported nuclear power reactors In addition to pointing out the inherent dangers of nucle
