Armani suits, a fleet of high-end cars, a luxurious ten-acre farmhouse in Delhi`s posh Chhattarpur boasting the mandatory aviary and a life-size gold-plated statue of Bajrangbali; Ponty Chadha exhibited all the lifestyle markers of a man who built a 10-billion dollar empire from scratch. Naturally, this incredible wealth had to be protected from foes, of which the liquor baron-turned-real estat
The death by hanging of Ajmal Kasab for his orgy of violence unleashed on Mumbai sends out three major messages. One, that Indian justice may be slow and ponderous but it does finally balance out the scales. But, equally important it gives closure to all the scores of families of the victims who have waited three years for some sort of vindication and often wondered if it would come at
It seems outlandish that Sony’s iconic gaming console Play Station 3, Hallmark greeting cards and smartphones should have anything to do with India’s social welfare programmes. But they do. Technology has an amazing ability to overturn stereotypes and open up new possibilities by meshing together disparate things. A standard birthday card that plays the familiar tune when yo
More than 2.5 million people who came down on the streets of Mumbai like swarms of flies to attend the funeral of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on November 18 demonstrated a remarkable sense of order throughout the day. The rest of Mumbai’s population, who were under an undeclared but fiercely enforced house arrest, did not have a choice and demonstrated a similar sense of order throughou
When the central bureau of investigation (CBI) arrested the then head of the medical council of India (MCI) and the don of medical education in India, Ketan Desai, on corruption charges in 2010, the health ministry had a golden opportunity to bring in much-needed reforms in the system. On the other hand, the health ministry also fought a hard battle with the human resource development
In Delhi you hear people say - “Do you know who my dad is?” and in Mumbai – “You know which celebrity I saw today?” The differences run much deeper than that. From what we eat to what we breathe, from what we see to what we hear and the list goes on and on. Let’s sketch out the life in these two most important cities of India. If Delhi is gree
Not many years ago the Harvard economist Lant Pritchett called India a “flailing state” for its gigantic failures to implement programmes and policies crucial to maintain public trust in governance. According to Pritchett, “In police, tax collection, education, health, power, water supply—in nearly every routine service—there is rampant absenteeism, indifference, i
Some good news for those fighting high healthcare expenses: the drug controller general of India’s (DCGI) office under the health ministry has asked all state drug departments to grant licences to drug companies only on generic drug names and not on brand names. This move, if implemented in letter and spirit, will drastically slash retail prices of drugs, making healthcare afforda
Education is not just about learning facts or developing logical skills. It is also about empathy, imagination, inclusivity, collegiality and playfulness. It is not surprising that a large number of children who may be academically bright feel lost when faced with situations of ambiguity, ambivalence and uncertainty. The IGNITE competition is organised by the National Innovation Foundat
The newly appointed HRD minister MM Pallam Raju has ensured that the deadline set under the Right to education (RTE) Act will not be extended. While addressing the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) meeting, Raju said, “We should push harder for meeting the set deadline”. Although Raju’s assurance is a positive sign, it is equally important to be realistic abou
That Mulayam Singh Yadav is opposed to Women’s Reservation Bill is not new. In 2010, he vociferously opposed the Bill saying if passed it would fill parliament with women who invite catcalls and whistles. His comment invited criticism from all parties and they sought his apology for insulting the fair sex. It’s 2012 now, and the leader seems to have undergone a change of heart. His
At the height of the ongoing world-wide recession, the Fed chief Ben Bernake’s shocked appearances used to discourage us all, who so far didn’t stop believing in the might of otherwise a foregone power-‘central banks’. The current case of RBI chairman D Subbarao is not much different. His contagious ‘smile’ translates into nothing much than an invisible &lsqu
In days of widening income inequality, Abraham Lincoln`s phrase, `government of the people, by the people and for the people`, can be safely reversed. Government of the rich, by the rich and for the rich. In the Indian context, it hold truer than ever. Consider this: between 8 and 16 November, a significant population from the national capital travels to Bihar to be with their families in their
It may not be possible in every country’s political situation to win national elections by becoming a defender of the aam aadmi, but it seems that Indian leaders, especially the young and dynamic Rahul Gandhis, can learn a lesson from how the young American leader, Barrack Obama, clinched his second election victory by doing just that – listening to and working for the American midd
You know a city takes public transportation seriously when it houses one of the world’s most comprehensive transport museums. Not many would have heard of Lucerne. It’s in Switzerland and the baby sister of Zurich. It’s smaller than an average Indian megapolis. A sense of proportion is necessary when comparing cities and drawing lessons from one and implementing it in the othe
The US president and Democratic Party candidate Barack Obama quashed early prediction of photo-finish against his rival Republican candidate Mitt Romney by sealing a comfortable win for his second term. At the dead of night on November 6 in America, as the poll results gave Obama a clear win, the curtain fell on the long US election year. As Barack Obama retains the White House,
I just came back from almost the northern most tip of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Diglipur, where I had gone researching for a story. A 300 km distance took me 12 hours by bus and by boat and left me spent at the end of the day. However, none of that is important. Out of the 36 hours that I was out of Port Blair, I got cell phone reception for only 12 hours (in Diglipur) and in
Only connect, said EM Forster; he might just as easily have said ‘only communicate’ (or for that matter ‘only one at a time’, but that need not detain us here). Where was I? Ah yes. Only connect, or communicate. People connect (and communicate) in different ways. Haven’t we all got friends who give the impression that if you tied their hands up they wouldn&
But for the grey tone and the smoggy haze of a lazy Sunday morning, the setting couldn’t have been more perfect for the Congress to go all guns blazing with big-ticket reforms: a massive 1 lakh-plus crowd at Delhi’s historic Ramlila Maidan and a power-packed dais comprising Prime minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the party’s PM-in
Not many years ago the Harvard economist Lant Pritchett called India a “flailing state” for its gigantic failures to implement programmes and policies crucial to maintain public trust in governance. According to Pritchett, “In police, tax collection, education, health, power, water supply—in nearly every routine service—there is rampant absenteeism, indifference, i
