'Corruption in India is a total contradiction'

Q&A


Spiritual leader and Nobel peace prize winner, the Dalai Lama, exemplifies how religious belief can steer a political movement using non-violence. The Dalai Lama explains how Tibetans keep calm, why corruption is anomaly in India, why China should open up - and how it might be time to formulate secular ethics:

Interview - Q&A

-The Times of India, February 3, 2012

Building A New Urban India

Transforming India's cities is a huge task, but an essential one for the country's progress

Building A New Urban India

-The Times of India, February 3, 2012

"The frequent sloganeering about Delhi soon becoming "the world's most beautiful city" or Mumbai "a global financial hub" appears straight out of the famous British serial 'Yes Minister'. There, Sir Humphrey Appleby underscores the law of Inverse Relevance - the less you intend to do or are capable of doing something, the more you have to keep talking about it."

Urgent measures have to be undertaken in order to bridge the gap between talking and doing when it comes to building a new urban India. Raghu Dayal, a current affairs analyst and former civil servant, suggests some.

Dress Rehearsal

Why a woman's wardrobe is three times the size of a man's wardrobe

Dress Rehearsal

-The Times of India, February 3, 2012

Jug Suraiya, in a humorous vein, presents the difference among the genders when it comes to dressing up or filling the wardrobe.   

Kolkata's Shame

Despite 'poribarton', little change from the Left

Kolkata's Shame

-The Times of India, February 3, 2012

The recent cancelling of the launch of Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen's latest book, Nirbashan (Exile), at the Kolkata Book Fair is "yet another example of tacit political endorsement of fundamentalists militating against freedom of expression."

The West Bengal government adopted the same spineless posture that was characteristic of the Rajasthan government.

Can our "cherished democratic values" be repeatedly held hostage by some fundamentalists?  

Mess In Telecom

Following Supreme Court verdict, government needs to bat for the consumer

Mess In Telecom

-The Times of India, February 3, 2012

By cancelling all of the 122 2G spectrum licenses, the Supreme Court has sent a "tough message." That it pursues zero tolerance towards irregular grant of spectrum licenses is clear and welcome.

However, by directing TRAI to propose new allocation process, is the judicial branch stepping into the executive domain?

The government now faces the need to bat for the consumer, who may undergo some trouble through a change in telecom policy. The apprehension in the telecom policy may well lead telecom giants to incorporate changes that may not suit the customer, in which case, the government has to frame "pricing policy in ways that facilitate rather than inhibit expansion of mobile connectivity in the country."

Let India unleash its soft power

"The economic and moral decline of the West has created a hegemonic vacuum that presents both a challenge and an opportunity to emerging powers." China and Brazil are already beginning to fill some of it. India cannot afford to be left behind.

Niger is only one of a ring of perennially drought-prone countries that had come to depend on the remittances from more than a million foreign workers, who had found work in Libya. After three consecutive droughts, Niger is being tipped over into famine by the return of 100,000 of its nationals as refugees from Libya. If help did not come soon, people would begin to die. The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : Let India unleash its soft power:

India has so far believed that its responsibility ends with making modest contributions to the World Food Programme. But as the already fragile Saharan and sub-Saharan world disintegrates, it will be shirking its duty to humanity if it does not do more. 

India is sitting on a food mountain, a part of which is rotting even as we speak. Can India not set up a permanent, half-million tonne wheat bank to be drawn upon by any sub-Saharan country in distress? The Indian pharmaceuticals industry is the envy of the world, because it produces and sells medicines at a tenth to a thirtieth of the retail prices abroad. Can Delhi not buttress its food aid with medicines and vitamins?  India has a duty to do more also because it can do more. 

This will give an entirely new meaning to the concept of Soft Power for, unlike the West in its present incarnation, it would be seeking to build influence by protecting and preserving, not destroying; by expanding peoples' futures instead of ending them in darkness!

Inside the camps that foment terror

"Answers from a series of interviews might make it possible to define the Hizbul Mujahideen, an otherwise nebulous entity."

Syed Salahuddin, supreme commander of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), reaffirmed his organisation's “healthiness” last Tuesday, telling Kashmir News Service that HM's “infrastructure is intact” and that “J&K will be freed soon.” 

He made a similarly convincing statement last May, claiming to possess “hundreds of training camps” where he could freely “recruit and train the mujahideen.” The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Inside the camps that foment terror

Salahuddin knows that his group's strength must be seen before it can be disbelieved. So long as Pakistan's evolving terror apparatus remains shrouded in secrecy, he is at liberty to exaggerate HM's muscle.

‘Wholly arbitrary, capricious and contrary to public interest’

This article reproduces excerpts from the concluding paragraphs of the Supreme Court’s verdict cancelling 122 2G licences issued during A. Raja’s term as Minister of Communications and Information Technology.

In matters involving award of contracts or grant of licence or permission to use public property, the invocation of first-come-first-served principle has inherently dangerous implications. The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : ‘Wholly arbitrary, capricious and contrary to public interest’

The duty of the Court to exercise its power in larger public interest and ensure that the institutional integrity is not compromised the State and its agencies/instrumentalities must always adopt a rational method for disposal of public property and no attempt should be made to scuttle the claim of worthy applicants.

Real-life Dickens characters traced

"Bill Sikes and Scrooge are among the most well-known characters in English literature but rather than being figments of Charles Dickens's imagination, their names were derived from real people — and new research has pinpointed the writer's sources of inspiration."

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Real-life Dickens characters traced

Richardson, the author of Dickens and the Workhouse, published to coincide with next week's 200th anniversary of his birth, described the number of fictional characters she has linked to Dickens's neighbours as “breathtaking”.

Fruit of the poisonous tree

There is hardly any industry in India today where unscrupulous companies have not sought to use their nexus with elected leaders and government officials to get ahead in their quest for quick and easy profits. 

The lesson for corporate India from the Supreme Court's landmark judgment is that there is little to be gained — and a lot to be lost — from doing business this way and hope that it will forever remain etched in their institutional memory. The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Fruit of the poisonous tree: 

On the other hand, even if we accept that Mr. Raja took the UPA leadership for a ride, what is inexplicable — and unforgivable — is the government's failure immediately to investigate the scam despite its broad contours being so visible. 

Even after the Comptroller & Auditor General's (CAG) magisterial report exposed what had transpired, senior ministers refused to accept the fact that there had been any loss to the exchequer.

Not playing at a theatre near you

"First Rushdie, then the cancellation of a seminar and film screening on Kashmir at a Pune college, now Taslima Nasreen. It seems there is no end to India's capacity for easy surrender when it comes to the freedom of expression."

All this is clearly unheeding of several Supreme Court verdicts, that public authorities must protect the freedom of expression, and cannot resort to bans in the name of upholding law and order. The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Not playing at a theatre near you

Such pusillanimity has come to the fore during elections in important States where political parties are seeking votes on communal platforms — despite all the evidence that minority voters do not want to be treated in this way — is a sad reflection on the condition of the world's largest democracy and its leaders.

Paper note

"An entire cottage industry is run by melting one rupee coins to create razor blades

"When we are exchanging currency notes in the name of Gandhi, we are telling a blatant lie",

Arvind Kumar quotes...

Maybe, we should start using precious metals for manufacturing our denominations...

Giving currency to a blatant lie in Gandhi's name

Women and Child rights

A Glance at the newspapers in the last fortnight or so indicates that women and child abuse is rampant in the Indian society and international and national surveys reflect the same vulnerability...

Gauri Sinh explores more on the issue...

How risky is it to be born a girl in India today