A Crucial Test

Political class must reject Deoband's call to block Rushdie visit


A Crucial Test

-The Times of India, January 11, 2012

Personal Review: The article outlines the call for blocking Salman Rushdie from attending the Jaipur Literary Festival as placing "Congress in a quandary." It also provides a history of "not getting over the past" even after the row over Rushdie's Satanic Verses had been subsided. Furthermore, it shows the proactive role India has played in opposing him and his books. 

The BJP's own goal

"... the setback of an own goal at this stage of the game is not so easily overcome. Indeed, the Kushwaha fiasco came at a time when the BJP had just about recovered from l'affaire Yeddyurappa and had gained a measure of credibility with its Lokpal campaign. "

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : The BJP's own goal

"The Kushwaha episode raises fundamental questions about the BJP and its leadership. What is the party's strategy for the next general election? The BJP was banking on a reasonable showing in U.P. to gain momentum ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha election. The party will have only itself to blame if that dream goes up in smoke."

A step closer to HIV prevention

"Positive results in animals did not translate into good outcome in humans. However, the results of a recent study (published in Nature) in rhesus monkeys show greater promise of protective effects getting replicated in humans."

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : A step closer to HIV prevention

An appraisal to Pakistan

Background fact: During the late spring of October 2011 an IAF controlled chopper - "Cheetah" accidentally landed in the PoK territory and the repercussions could have been disastrous...

In light of such events, Retd. Air Marshall BK Pandey believes Pakistan displayed good maturity and also discusses the various difficulties of flying in such hard terrains and about the requisite experience required in the

DNA editorial on Oct 25th 2011...

Creative impulse

We falsely consider ourselves as great thinkers but we require the right elements of our body to bring in the right amounts creativity and imagination...

"There is always dialogue going on in your own mind. We all have a filter in our mind through which we listen and we accept only what we already know. Something which doesn’t already fall within our belief system, we straightaway filter out."

Thought is a creative impulse where there is proper synchronization of all the physical elements of once body which leads to great actions and hence very fruitful results...

Pandith Sri Sri Sri Ravishankar illustrates these stimulating ideas and also explains the elements of body that needs to be synchronized...

Link: creative impulse

India Misses its sputnik moment

The launch of the first man made space shuttle by USSR and the subsequent establishment of NASA and the historic success of America landing a man on the moon lead to significant contributions not only to the success of the two countries but was also to the world at large...

When our PM Manmohan Singh said that China has turned out to be far superior to India in development of science and technologies, it should have created ripples in different echelons of the society but sadly, it has not... When China is following the formative and the secretive -- USSR model, India should have taken the aggressive and the vibrant -- USA model in the development of science...

However India is a confused and a non-imaginative lot who are not taking advantage of competing with China and in the process contributing to world science,
opines Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr in DNA editorial Jan 9th, 2012...

http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column_india-misses-its-sputnik-moment_1635141

For level electoral field, Election Commission orders draping of Mayawati's statues

Times View - Consistent - and correct


Counterview - A meaningless decision


-The Times of India, January 10, 2012

Running Dry

India, Iran and the oil question

Running dry

-The Times of India, January 10, 2012

Cricket's cold wave

How the winter of our discontent can become a glorious summer

Cricket's cold wave

-The Times of India, January 10, 2012

Power, Not Principles

Anti-Congressism is the common plank of those motivated by short-term political gain

Power, not principles

-The Times of India, January 10, 2012

Personal Review: An article that traces the history of "anti-congressism" - in the form of political parties, and some other "groups" that have continually rose only to oppose Congress, and not to "get on with their work."

Revive Research

Fundamental changes required to boost Indian R&D


Revive Research

-The Times of India, January 10, 2012

Personal Review: The article outlines a few important statistical measures, along with suggestions towards social and political measures that can be undertaken in order to facilitate Indian R&D.

Tehran twitchy over upcoming elections

Parliamentary elections in March seen as the most sensitive in Iran's history.

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Tehran twitchy over upcoming elections
"Many observers see the March elections as a battlefield between supporters of President Ahmadinejad on one side and conservatives close to Ayatollah Khamenei on the other. Observers speculate that Ayatollah Khamenei might block Mr. Ahmadinejad's parliamentary allies, arguing they belong to a “deviant current”, seeking to undermine the authority of the supreme leader. "

India is the success story of South Asia — that is a fact: David Miliband

David Miliband: “…my experience is that other Europeans know that the European Union is much stronger for Britain playing a central role.”

The Hindu : Opinion / Interview : India is the success story of South Asia — that is a fact: David Miliband

This is the concluding part of The Hindu's wide-ranging interview with David Miliband, man of ideas, former U.K. Foreign Secretary, and a charismatic figure in the Labour Party. Mr. Miliband, 46, was recently in Chennai to give a lecture on ‘The emerging new world order: economics and politics'.

Fake bomb smuggled into Olympic site

"U.K. police carrying out tests smuggled the device onto the main site. While the Olympic Delivery Authority ... said “testing is standard practice” in all major security operations. “Such tests have a key role in developing our capability to ensure that London 2012 is safe and secure ..."

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Fake bomb smuggled into Olympic site
The terror threat is the biggest security worry for the London Olympics, which take place July 27 until August 12.

Building sustainable habitats

"At a time when efforts should focus on enforcing existing codes to improve sustainability of habitats, the Union Ministry of Urban Development has decided to bring in new rules to address concerns related to climate change."

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Building sustainable habitats

The thrust must be on making easy-to-implement codes at the local body level, and improve the supply of sustainable building technologies and materials.