The acts of lawlessness by the miscreants in the funeral procession of late Brahmeshwar Mukhiyajee in Patna, last June, raised some issues which any detailed theory of police inaction needed to address: how does the concept of police function in our polity? What is the relation between the government and its police force? In a situation of conflict of interest between the people and the governm
A lot has been happening in India since the past two or three months. Sena Supremo Bal Thackrey died; Kasab was finally sentenced to death though secretly; liquor baron Ponty Chaddha was killed in a freak shooting incident; the LGBT community took out a queer pride procession where they celebrated their being and amid all this Arvind Kejriwal launched his new political
I am three decade younger than octogenarian Ram Jethmalani and still do not qualify to be called young. Hence forgive me if I recount the past while exploring strange relationship between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the eminent lawyer. In 1989, the role of the visual media was confined to occasional photographs captured in cameras by intrepid press photographers. One such photograph tha
Once known as garden city, Bangalore, with about 8 million population is now known for stink, shit and garbage thrown around in the nook and corners of the city where stray dogs (estimated around 30,000) pick up the leftover’s and when hit bite the innocent kids going to school. The two-wheelers and three-wheelers hit the innocent people moving on the walking tracks and the traffic police
Last year a country holding almost 40 percent of the world’s known uranium reserves decided to review and consequently lift its ban on nuclear trade with India recognising it as a responsible nation with an impeccable record of non-proliferation. Indeed, it was a remarkable policy U-turn for a nation that held a very conservative view on both nuclear energy as well as nuclear weapons. Aus
As the world gears up for the next climate change talks from November 26 in Doha, the newly released report on Wednesday says that greenhouse gas emissions levels are now around 14 percent above where they need to be in 2020, a much needed warning to the negotiators. The report says that the countries around the world have not been able to meet their stated goal of limiting global warming to be
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
The World Bank has warned that global temperatures could rise by four degrees this century without immediate action, with potentially devastating consequences for coastal cities and the poor. Issuing a call for action, the World Bank tied the future wealth of the planet — and especially developing regions — to immediate efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions from sources su
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
The recent electricity grid failure and severe power shortage due to rising electricity demand is a constant reminder that coal and other fossil fuels have no future, according to Greenpeace-India senior energy campaigner Abhishek Pratap. Addressing a programme to launch the second edition of Indian Energy Revolution in New Delhi on Friday (November 16), Pratap said, “Fossil fuel
Too much honesty, says Kautilya in Arthashastra, is not good; in the forests, straight trees are cut first. Who knows this better than Ashok Khemka, the whistleblower Haryana IAS who cancelled a land deal involving Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra and was hastily transferred? In the second week of October, India Against Corruption’s Arvind Kejriwal released to the med
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
Six states - Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal are likely to achieve their millennium development goal (MDG) 4, which aims to reduce under-five mortality (U5MR) by two thirds, by 2015. This is one of the conclusions of ‘The Infant and Child Mortality India’ report released by the National Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), Indian Co
Six states - Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal are likely to achieve their millennium development goal (MDG) 4, which aims to reduce under-five mortality (U5MR) by two thirds, by 2015. This is one of the conclusions of ‘The Infant and Child Mortality India’ report released by the National Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), Indian Co
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
