In an article dated July 18 in the New York edition of The New York Times — an American newspaper of global repute — the reporter wrote of Kerala chief minister Oomen Chandy: “In an India beset by kickback scandals at the highest reaches of government, and where petty bribes at police stations and motor vehicle departments are often considered a matter of course, Oommen Chandy
The slap on Sharad Pawar’s face reverberated in parliament last week. Before the Lok Sabha met on Friday last, several members went across to Pawar, who was seated in his usual first-row chair, as a gesture, which looked weird, more like him taking a guard of dishonour. Speaker Meira Kumar said the house strongly condemned the unfortunate incident of assault on the agricult
The union government’s insistence on keeping the names of 700 entities holding secret accounts in HSBC Bank in Geneva close to its heart reflects how sincere it is about fighting the black money menace. Not only did it grudgingly admit to having received the information from the French government after the media went public, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee justified it saying that the g
It’s like broth you serve after agonizing for too long. Or having several cooks for the job but none really in charge. In cricketing terms, a bit like Tendulkar now having to face a billion of us after making 94. Therefore, to be fair, a huge legislation of this nature was thus bound to fall short of expectations. As cleared by the union cabinet on November
At a time when a minister gets slapped for high inflation and the government faces daily flaks for doing nothing to bring the prices down for three years in running comes the hoopla over FDI in multi-brand retail. The cabinet, in a late night decision on Thursday, cleared
Professor Arvind Panagariya wrote an article titled “The Child Malnutrition Myth,” in Times of India on October 1, 2011 (see link: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-10-01/edit-page/30230007_1_underweight-children-maternal-mortali
The towering statues of Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant, Uttar Pradesh’s first chief minister, and his disciple Chaudhary Charan Singh on the front lawns of the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha are unique reminder of the state’s distinct political culture and legacy. Pant had also served as the prime minister of the United Province in the pre-independence era and wielded considerable influence
Every word is deeply marinated in history. Peel it and you will uncover a spell-binding story. Emden is a city in Germany best known for Volkswagen’s factory producing its high-end car Passat. Emden is as German as Bavarian sausages Weisswurst. But when you hear many a grandmother in Tamil Nadu warn prospective victims about their particularly destructive grandchild saying “Paar Emd
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati has disarmed her opponents, leaving them with no other option than saying "touché". The UP cabinet has endorsed a proposal for the division of UP into four smaller states: Poorvanchal (eastern UP), Bundelkhand, Awadh Pradesh (central UP) and Paschim Pradesh (western UP). This is being seen as her masterstroke to beat t
Till the media was praising F1, giving acres of free publicity to his team, Sahara Force One, Vijay Mallya, was an indulgent accomplice. No sooner the spotlight shifted to disastrous Q2 results of Kingfisher Airlines, the embattled king of good times can’t stop his tweeting diatribe. On November 14, as the tax payer worried whether her money would be thrown into the voracio
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. So had Alice down a rabbit hole to reach a phantasmagoric world she truly belonged to. But both their falls had nadirs. There was a thud and it ended. But the UPA government’s fall into the spectrum of the 2G scam is unending. There have been several lows and none the lowest. What began with just the government’s hesitation in auctioning the 2G spectr
By all accounts, Rahul Gandhi’s campaign from Phulpur in Allahabad on Monday proved to be a tame affair. His diatribe against Mayawati sounded like a usual political parody which is being drummed into the ears of the state’s electorate for years on end without any result. He expressed his anger against rising corruption in UP and increasing backwardness. But his silence on the corru
The recent DLF order of the competition commission clearly brought into focus the plight of the real estate consumers who have long been grappling with the twin-challenges of one sided contracts favouring the developer/builder on the one hand and endless delays in legal proceedings on the other. The model Real Estate (Regulation of Development) Act (“the Real Estate Bill” for short)
First, a confession. I haven’t watched Big Boss 1 through 5 (faults on both sides, no doubt). Then, another: I am not likely to watch now that Swami Agnivesh has been paid or has paid up (depending on whom you believe) to become a part of it. Agnivesh means bright as fire, and some of his house mates certainly dress and act in a manner that suggests a fiery brightness or a bright fierines
After a failed visit to Delhi wherefrom he was expected to bring back his daughter and trying unsuccessfully to stash away a few tears, Muthuvel Karunanidhi is suddenly worried about the future of Indian democracy. In DMK mouthpiece Murasoli, he has written about his concern over the continued incarceration of his daughter Kanimozhi in connection with the 2G spectrum case. &ldqu
After much persuasion, the assistant commissioner of police at the Parliament Street police station calmed down a little. “Do whatever you want... but do not put our jobs at risk," said the ACP, after gulping a glass of water and adjusting himself in his chair. “Do the protest against increasing power tariffs or on any other issue. But remember two things: do not
Don’t trust economists! This is the underlying message currently echoing in several parts of the world. Leading the pack are economists themselves, call them ‘dissident economists’. Professor Joseph Stiglitz, world acclaimed economist and Nobel Prize winner, recently said in a talk in New Delhi, “I blame the economists. They provided some of the arguments that led people
As the good word of Ram spread across centuries and continents, its narrative changed. It crossed the Vindhyachal, for example, and the Ramayana absorbed elements and motifs of the south Indian folklore. The language in which the epic was translated also made its presence felt: Sita in Sanskrit and Sitamma in Kannada have different shades of meaning which lead to different stories about her bir
The prime minister’s last letter to Anna Hazare wherein he had reiterated his commitment to deal with the issue of graft seriously wasn’t mere lip service. Just that his government seems to have begun it from Team Anna members only. In April, father-and-son lawyers Shanti and Prashant Bhushan faced allegations, long since discredited, that they undervalued property to
Justice (retired) Markandey Katju, the new chairman of the Press Council of India (PCI), is unhappy with the state of the India media – both the print and the electronic ones. In his interview with Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN, he says the media is not working for the interest of the people; is very often anti-people; sometimes it divides people; promotes superstitions; publishes paid news and
