Like hundreds of people, I too went to Jantar Mantar, where Anna Hazare is on an indefinite fast protest. Like many of those people going to Jantar Mantar, I too am not an activist, neither a journalist nor an intellectual. I would not describe myself as a “concerned citizen” either - just a young professional. But now I am beginning to think like `a concerned citizen`.
Anna Hazare’s fast-unto-death against corruption has, predictably, unnerved many. The ruling clique is annoyed but has used mild language to denounce him. The spokespersons of the Congress, which leads the UPA government, have described the fast as “unnecessary” and “premature”, never mind 42 years of prevarication in setting up a Lokpal that Anna wants to
April 7 is World Health Day. It is shocking that government spending on health remains less than two per cent of the GDP in a country with some of the worst indices on health. For instance, India has the highest number of children dying in the world: approximately two million children under the age of five die every year in India of diseases and conditions that are easily preventable and e
The indefinite fast by 72-year-old social activist Anna Hazare is the beginning of a new phenomenon, which is, insistence of the civil society to have a decisive say in the way laws and policies are framed and finalised in the country. His fight is as much to bring about this shift as to fight corruption. For quite some time, civil society activists, including some of the Na
The Indian captain may be receiving a gleaming red Ferrari 599. But as he plans to scorch the streets of Ranchi, his financial planners would be well advised to apportion 30 per cent of the estimated $600,000 price tag as income tax. That’s a cool Rs 1-crore by way of tax that MSD will have to pay under Section 56 of the Income Tax Act (ITA) for the custom-built gift, as income from other
There has been a great deal of debate around how should have the international community responded to the Libyan situation? Differences arise because there isn’t a consensus that may legitimately be termed "international". A few major powers support the military intervention but then there are other nations that have condemned it and called for a ceasefire. India is one of them
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
