Theorising Corruption in a Hurry
From all the elaborations that have now come forth, it would seem that this is what the sadly beleaguered Ashish Nandy had meant to say at the Jaipur Festival: that for thousands of years corruption...
View ArticleHow to Extinguish Bodo-Muslim Conflict and other Ethnic Conflicts in Assam
According to the tentative results of Census 2011, Assam with an area 78,438 square kilometres has a multi-ethnic population of 31.2 million, distributed in 27 districts. It is said to have 72...
View ArticleWill the Land Acquisition Bill lead to More Violent Conflicts?
There have been violent conflicts on land acquisition across the country especially when the land of the poor has been taken away without proper compensation by the state for public and private...
View ArticleKhurshid's Challenge to Antony is Intriguing
This is carnival time for the detractors of Defence Minister A. K. Antony. Of course, none of them in their senses would dare to implicate Antony in the VVIP helicopter scandal. He remains the ‘Saint'....
View ArticleAFSPA: Who Rules India?
by Walter FernandesFinally a senior Union Minister has made official what many knew already. The government cannot even make the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) more human because the Army does...
View ArticleAfzal's Hanging and its Aftermath
I was at the Parliament House when it was attacked in December 2001. Members like me were furious over the incident and the first suspicion was on Pakistan. It turned out to be true because the three...
View ArticleScandalous
From N.C.'s WritingsThe Bofors kickback scandal is fast assuming the dimension of a serious crisis for the Rajiv Government. For this, the Prime Minister has to a large measure hold himself and the...
View ArticleIndia-France Relations: Tremendous Scope Ahead
The recent visit of the new French President, Francois Hollande, to India can be seen as an important stepping-stone in developing an enduring and close partnership. It may not have resulted in inking...
View ArticleBudget, Fiscal Deficit and Expectations
Budget time is very significant for an economy. It gives an opportunity to take stock of how the economy fared during the previous year and setting targets for the coming year. These targets are fixed...
View ArticleShahbag Square Will Haunt Us
by Yaqoob Khan BangashOn February 16, Professor Pervez Hoodbhoy pointed out in an article, in this newspaper, that some students he was speaking to did not know about Shahbag Square. Coincidentally,...
View ArticleShahbag Square — Why We, Pakistanis, Don't Know and Don't Care
by Pervez HoodbhoyShahbag Square—where's that? Abdul Kader Mullah—who's he? A bunch of university students in Islamabad, with whom I was informally conversing yesterday (February 15), hadn't heard of...
View ArticleThey
February 21 is the International Mother Tongue Day as declared by the United Nations in recognition of the martyrs of the language movement who fell to the Pakistani police's bullets on that day in...
View ArticleReal Meaning of Shahbag
With ‘choppergate'—that is, the Rs 350-crore kickbacks allegedly involved in the Rs 3546-crore contract for the purchase of 12 VVIP Augusta-Westland helicopters from the Italian aerospace and defence...
View ArticleWhen the State abets Communalism, Independence itself is in Danger
IMPRESSIONSThe soul of modern India is its liberal democracy. Are we in danger of losing it? Communal posturings are getting ever more blatant. Caste leaders are defying the law openly. Intolerance is...
View ArticleTowards Global Isolation: A Word of Caution
by V.C. BhutaniWe in India need to call things by their proper names, not sparing the US or Pakistan and not bending over backwards to be nice to China. It is reasonable to assume that the US needs...
View ArticleIncreasing Support for Pension Parishad's Demands
COMMUNICATIONIn recent months the demand for pensions with dignity for all elderly citizens has gathered immense support in India. In the first week of March thousands of elderly citizens from all over...
View ArticleThe Debate Around Freedom of Expression: Need for Deliberative Democracy in...
by Tamanna KhoslaThe right to freedom of speech as one of the basic human rights is enshrined in the main international human rights documents. Freedom of speech (synonym of freedom of expression) is...
View ArticleNew Indian Political Dialogue
The recently concluded Chintan Shivir of the Congress party will be etched in people's memory for years to come for two reasons: elevation of Rahul Gandhi as the party's Vice-President being the first...
View ArticlePresent Status of Power Sector in India
by Hiranmoy Roy and Anil KumarThe expectations of the power sector from Union Budget 20013-14 must be formed on the basis of its present status. Therefore, an examination of the present status of the...
View ArticleIs Malaysia turning into a Theocratic State?
Malaysia, a very important country in South-East Asia and a vital member of the ASEAN, is facing a huge turmoil in the last couple of years with the hard-core Islamist fundamentalists hell-bent upon...
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