At first look, the attempt by both the planning commission and the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to press for fixing the minimum support price (MSP) for “minor forest produce” seems a timely and appropriate step to empower the tribals. But both seem to have missed the simple fact that they have been violating the law of the land for 15 long years. The Pa
When television coverage of cricket first went live, the theory was that the action would be shown from the perspective of the man in the best seat in the stadium. This was usually a war veteran with fading memory who sat directly behind the bowler’s arm. The advantage was that he could follow the swinging or spinning ball when the batsman faced him. The disadvantage was, since the c
Thousands of students in arts, commerce, science and technology must be planning an engagement with their dreams in the summer of 2011. I hope that I can persuade some of them to take out a week or two if not months to understand the creative spirit in the rural and urban informal sector as well as among the MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises). Some of the industrial clusters have i
Kadviben, Rudiben and other villagers from Mahuva in Gujarat would have had little hope when they came together to protest a cement factory coming up on the piece of land where a check dam had come up. After a supreme court stay on construction, this motley crew of protesters have become the proverbial beacon of hope for people’s movements across India. The Nirma group sign
It is raining freebies in Tamil Nadu. Both the main political parties, the DMK and the AIADMK, have promised free laptops, mixies, grinders etc in their manifestos. Such promises may gladden the heart of voters of Tamil Nadu, but the key questions to ponder are: one, don’t these constitute electoral malpractices, and two, can these be described as serving “public purpose” to j
National reporter (NR): So, are you going to accept the laptop next week? Regional reporter (RR): Yes, of course. In fact, I believe chief ministers across the states should learn a lesson from Assam. Tarun Gogoi is the only one who thinks for the welfare of journalists. NR: Really? Why do you think he is giving laptops to 2, 000 of us just days before elections? RR: He
Non-violent agitation, so remarkably pioneered by Mahatma Gandhi, has long lost its edge and in today’s India only Nandigram and Singur jolt the establishment out of its self-induced stupor. However, in a marked departure from ‘if you want the government to hear your voice, pick up the gun` discourse, a few thousand farmers from the land of Gandhi have forced the government
It is that time of the year when lawyers across India ask for a reprieve of an unusual kind. Unable to bear the searing heat of the Indian summers, the community seeks special provisions that would enable them do away with the black coats or robes. This has been a longstanding demand of various state bar associations. Despite a specific exemption in the Bar Council of India Rules itself
Twitter was started on 21st March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone. All of them were in their early thirties when they started Twitter. Now Twitter has close to 200 million subscribers who generate 140 million tweets a day. Twitter has changed the way top statesmen as well as organizations share information. It has added to democr
Gone are the days when teachers and students used to be on the opposite sides of the table. At Delhi University they seem to have joined hands against the vice chancellor. The topic of disagreement is the semester system being introduced in undergraduate and postgraduate courses. In this system a year will be divided into two to three semesters each of four to six months. It will make s
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday announced a rollback of the five percent service tax on healthcare which was proposed in this year’s budget. The budget had proposed that a five percent service tax will be charged on the services offered by private, centrally air-conditioned hospitals with more than 25 beds strength and on all diagnostic centres. The healthcare
Airline food. No two words cause such a sharp intake of breath and competitive storytelling as these two. In ‘Remembrance of Things Past’, it is a piece of cake that opens the floodgates of memory; the aeroplane had been invented in the author Marcel Proust’s time, but there is no record of his having taken a transatlantic trip on an airliner which serves six different types o
Back against the wall with the opposition holding Wikileaks cables on the cash-for-votes scam to its head, the UPA government really needed a hero or a miracle to save face in Parliament today. None came to its rescue. This is one dragon which even that aging Galahad of the Congress - Pranab Mukherjee - failed to slay. Mukherjee`s three-point rebuttal was as weak a defence as
One is perpetually amazed at Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s propensity to keep hitting the headlines. Perhaps Major General IS Singha was blissfully ignorant of a section of the media’s proclivity to examine with a microscope anything pertaining to Modi. The biggest mistake he made was to invite Modi to inaugurate “know your army” programme. Nothing wrong in that
“King’s Speech” is the talk of the town. The movie has won four Oscar awards. “Based on the true story of King George VI, ‘The King’s Speech’ follows the Royal Monarch’s quest to find his voice,” says its official website. It provides as good an occasion as any for a few words on the power of words in
Gandhi was a vaishnav jan. So were his followers then. Today we have a gallery of Vaishnavi jans – the patrons of the PR agency called Vaishnavi, run by Niira Radia. They all last came together on one platform in Vibrant Gujarat in January, praised Narendra Modi and at least one of them said he was the third greatest Gujarati after the Mahatma and Dhirubhai Ambani. Obviously, it’s t
So I am flying back to Dubai yesterday and this man next to me is a professor and he hates cricket. I ask him why he hates it, I mean you might not like the game but why do you have to actively hate it. “Complete nonsense, two men standing in front of sticks and eleven others hanging around and millions watching, what a waste of manhours,” he says. &ld
The other day, my 85-year old uncle called from Lucknow. My father had told him that India Strategy Group was assisting Governance Now in Gov2.0. Never a great fan of government, his former employer, Uncle asked wryly what "Gov2.0" meant. As many of us handle the elder generation, I carefully skirted the question and focused on his medicines and morale. But yesterday evening, my fathe
Politicians love to hand out doles to the poor. That keeps the poor happy and the vote bank intact. Therefore, there is little incentive to go for fundamental changes that obviate the need for it. The UPA government is no different. In this year’s budget, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee promises a major policy shift in the subsidy regime. He has set up a task for
It was the last leg of my journey from work to back home. I was waiting at the Rajghat traffic intersection for the signal to turn green. Totally oblivious to my surroundings, I was trying to make a note of the pending tasks at work: my boss’s possible reaction to a particular article of mine or an important email I forgot to respond to. Then there were four appointments the next day and
