Inflation fall down... Worth rejoicing...???

Inflation has fallen down drastically in the last month...

But is it worth rejoicing?

What about the manufacturers sector?

Inflation stays firm in the manufacturers sector

Priyanka says she's willing to campaign outside Congress bastions of Amethi and Rae Bareli

Times View - Charisma has its poll-time uses


Counterview - Politics is a full-time job


-The Times of India, January 19, 2012

Slip Between Coup And Lip

Developments in Pakistan suggest the army's cloak of infallibility may be slipping


Slip Between Coup And Lip

-The Times of India, January 19, 2012

Harvest mooning

When in Chennai, you should Pongal as the Tamils do


Harvest mooning

-The Times of India, January 19, 2012

Mitigate Climate Change

A healthy dialogue will firm up effective policies


Mitigate Climate Change

-The Times of India, January 19, 2012

The finance ministry has decided to include an entire chapter on financing measures to mitigate climate change in the next annual Economic Survey. The article discusses the challenges that lie ahead, and the relationship between climate change and economic development. 

Take A Stand

A true secular state must ensure freedom of expression


Take A Stand

-The Times of India, January 19, 2012

India is "constitutionally bound to be secular; needs to uphold both" - the freedom of expression and the freedom of religion, urges the editor.

"It is time political parties came out strongly in defence of secularism and freedom of expression. Without these handmaidens, democracy itself is stillborn."

French politics haunted by ghost of Mitterrand

"With a credit downgrade and an election looming, France's presidential candidates have found similar inspiration. Mr. Sarkozy and Mr. Hollande will both be 57 when the election takes place. That is about all they have in common: in style and in substance, they are as different as can be."

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : French politics haunted by ghost of Mitterrand: Nicolas Sarkozy is obsessed with Francois Mitterrand; his cunning, his tactical sense, his ability to sense his countrymen's pulse. He admires the genius of a man who came from a conservative political culture to become the leader of the Left, asphyxiating the Communist party, able to change course many times, and yet stay in office for 14 years in a row. As for Mr. Hollande, just watch his gestures during a speech, it is not resemblance, but deliberate mimicry.

"Sixteen years after his death, Mitterrand had seemed erased from the French political landscape. Less than a hundred days before the next presidential election, his ghost is back."

'Because Andaman's forests are Jarawa infested …'

"A little known fact that lies at the root of the issue has been all but forgotten — the existence of the Andaman Trunk Road, that the 1965 report offered as a good way of extracting resources from the forests of the Jarawa had been ordered shut by a Supreme Court order of 2002.

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : 'Because Andaman's forests are Jarawa infested …': It's been a decade now and in what can only be called audacious defiance, the administration has wilfully violated orders of the Supreme Court both in letter and in spirit."

"The Andaman Trunk Road is like a public thoroughfare through a private courtyard. In the whole of human history, we find that the dominant group for their own advantage has always won over the minorities, not always paying attention to the issue of ethics. Closure of the ATR would perhaps be the first gesture of goodwill on part of the dominant towards an acutely marginalized group almost on the verge of extinction."

"A nation that had just fought its way out of the ignominy of being a colony was well on the way to becoming a coloniser itself. And those that came in the way could only be pests or parasites infesting the forests that had valuable resources locked away from productive use."

Wikipedia shutdown to protest piracy bills

"The legislative battle over two Internet piracy bills has reached an extraordinary moment — a political coming of age for a relatively young and disorganised industry that has largely steered clear of lobbying and other political games in Washington."

"The controversial bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act, are backed by major media companies and are mostly intended to curtail the illegal downloading and streaming of TV shows and movies online. The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Wikipedia shutdown to protest piracy bills: But the tech industry fears that, among other things, they will give media companies too much power to shut down sites that they say are abusing copyrights."

Proponents emphasise that their primary targets are foreign websites that sell counterfeit goods, that are now largely out of reach of U.S. law enforcement. And they are fighting against what they characterise as gimmicks and distortions by Internet companies opposed to the Bills.

"This is the first real test of the political strength of the Web, and regardless of how things go, they are no longer a pushover". The Silicon valley industry says that the problem could be solved by letting it do what it does best, innovate.

Hate speech the Congress forgot about

"Even as Facebook and Google face prosecution today, police records show how older cases against the Shiv Sena's Bal Thackeray for his inflammatory writings withered for lack of official interest."

The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : Hate speech the Congress forgot about: The Congress led coalition government in Maharashtra has been dragging its feet on prosecuting Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray for hate speech crimes, that are much more serious than some postings on internet, which the government apprehends might instigate enmity and violence.

Mr. Thackeray's writings were considered by the Srikrishna Commission incendiary material for the violence which wracked Mumbai in 1992 and 1993, taking the lives of several hundred people.

Stand up for Salman Rushdie

"Instead of dismissing the unlawful fatwa with the contempt it deserves, the central and Rajasthan governments have adopted an attitude that is opaque and obfuscatory."

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Stand up for Salman Rushdie: The Supreme Court has underlined in a series of verdicts, that it is absolutely vital that public authorities protect the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression in the face of intolerance and not resort to bans in the name of upholding law and order.

The Congress-led governments should have sent a clear and strong signal that they would not allow Mr. Rushdie's visit to be sabotaged by those who feigned anger and hurt with an eye to a supposedly communal vote bank. It is an insult to the intelligence and good sense of India's 160 million-strong Muslim community.

Playing the communal card

"A stint in power and more than a decade of coalitional leadership have not changed the BJP, whose single preoccupation is Hindu sectarian politics. "

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Playing the communal card: Matters have been made worse by the Congress' emulation of the BJP's communal politics — in reverse. "

As long as the BJP and the Congress feed off each other, India cannot hope to shed its debilitating communal baggage.