The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has paradoxically perturbed an entire generation for the same reason as it has relieved the others. It seems to have placed faith over fact, mythological epic over documentary evidence, legend over law, unsettling those brought up on the denial of religion. It has embarrassed the young urban middle-class Hindus who had built up an entire mental edif
The gallows in my garden, people say, Is new and neat and adequately tall; I tie the noose on in a knowing way As one that knots his necktie for a ball; But just as all the neighbours - on the wall - /Are drawing a long breath to shout “Hurray!” The
Don’t mess with us. Don’t dare call the mess at Commonwealth Games village mess. Don’t forget your diplomatic manners as guests even if we do not begin to understand ours as the host. Don’t forget we are among the largest markets in the world. India is repeatedly sending out such not-so-covert messages to the foreign contingents that have started arriving for the
K N Govindacharya, a nearly-forgotten ideologue of Hindutva, can justifiably claim credit for having introduced some new words in the Indian political lexicon. He had used the expression “chehra (face), chaal (conduct) and chartitra (character)” to emphasise that the BJP was a status-quoist political party not interested in social transformation. Ironically, Prime Minister Manmohan
Whenever the CPI (Maoist) engages the paramilitary and police forces resulting in some killings the media, particularly the electronic media, goes gaga about it for two or three days. TV channels conduct high-pitched debates scorning Indian Maoists as terrorists to be bumped off using even the army and air force. But when the operating security forces kill adivasis and Maoists among them, the n
My wager: The unthinkable may happen. That too in Bihar. Without much noise, new chief election commissioner (CEC) S Y Quraishi has armed himself with tools that give him a fighting chance against illicit polling expenses, arguably the core malaise afflicting our elections. It is common knowledge that the prescribed limit of Rs 10 lakh per assembly candidate is flouted openly.
The BJP’s state of affairs is akin to a rudderless ship drifting aimlessly in a turbulent sea. While party stalwart L K Advani advises caution on the prospective Ayodhya verdict by the Allahabad high court, a section of the BJP leaders backed by the RSS-VHP has been aggressively strident. Similarly, if a section of the moderate BJP leaders seems keen to keep the BJP-JD(U) a
Indian Constitution is all-encompassing, it has provisions for all. In fact the Indian Constitution is said to be one of the most sought after, when it comes to enactments, provisions and mandates. India ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1992; it is under this that the provisions for entitlement of child rights and their enactment started coming into pictu
e-Governance applications in the recent past have demonstrated the important role that information and communication technologies (ICT) play in the realm of development. ICT is being increasingly used by the government to deliver services of central agencies (like district administration, cooperative unions, and state and central government departments) to the citizens at their doorstep.
If firmness is shorn of political posturing and bravado, it is taken rather seriously. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar successfully proved in the hostage crisis that a mature, sagacious political conduct, not irrational flamboyance, is a rewarding recourse in statecraft. There is no doubt that as the hostage crisis unfolded the Nitish Kumar government was walking on a razor edge. But, de
Do our members of parliament deserve the kind of pay hike they gave themselves recently? What about their performance? The questions beg some straightforward answers if we look at Parliamentary performance. The primary role of the Parliament is to legislate and it is precisely in the legislative activity that Parliament has devoted least amount of time. Between 2001- 2008 Parliament has devoted
Sport was delivered a knockout blow in the UK after the cricket scandal moved to a new high, now to be known as SpotGate. The allegations were not allegations waiting for proof. Moveover, folks, this was a bunch of cricketers caught bowled and run out at the same time. Stumped is another word that leaps to the mind. The evidence is so overwhelming you need no inquiry. Throw the book at them. Th
I write this from Raipur in Chhattisgarh after a chance interface with some 1,100 forest dwellers gathered here. The organisers have them singing bhajans and chaupais from the Ramcharitmanas, and interspersing messages on cultural renaissance and social integration, besides promises that they’ll soon have help in demanding corruption-free PDS and NREGA with the use of RTI.
Ever since 9/11 the Americans have made it very clear that they are paranoid about security. They have also made it equally clear that they will profile people and their skies are unfriendly and a visa is no defence against arbitrary suspicion. They have also told you that what is not suspicious to you but is to them will be suspicion per se because it is their country, so there. What part of i
In the late 1990s, when I used to work with the income tax department, we surveyed several multinational companies for their tax compliance and some of them were caught red-handed evading taxes. They admitted their fault and paid up taxes without any appeals. If they had been in any other country, their bosses would have been put behind bars. During one such survey, the chief of Indian
Omar Abdullah is the wrong man at the wrong place at the wrong time. Don’t count on him to suddenly personify the change that the Kashmiris voted for in the last elections. That seems to be the unfortunate if unavoidable inference from the events of the past couple of months. From here on, it will take nothing short of a miracle to restore public faith in the state government. The history
With the deadline for the political parties to express their opinion about the need (or otherwise) for undertaking a caste census coming to an end, the UPA government will now have to take a decision sooner than later. Though in the latter half of the budget session of parliament the issue seemed to have been clinched in favour of those who were seeking a caste census, prime mini
Remember the brief spat bet-ween Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and union home minister P Chidambaram? The home minister had accused Nitish Kumar of not doing enough to take on the Maoists. His ire had emanated from the Bihar chief minister’s disinclination to attend the chief ministers’ meet called by him in Kolkata. Nitish Kumar had instead dispatched his top officials. To Chid
I grew up in a middle-class family in Uttar Pradesh. During those days, students all around me had just one aspiration: to make it to the civil services. This burning ambition cut across students pursuing all sorts of courses. I remember even some of the brighter minds at the Indian Institute of Technology competing for civil services. Despite being a student of computer science, I too op
I still shiver with fear when I recall the traumatic days when I, along with the other male members of my village, had to wake up at 4 am and perform the most terrible, inhuman, unjustified and humiliating forced labour for the army. With kerosene lanterns in our trembling hands, we would report for the “convoy duty”, so called because we were supposed to provide protection to the a
