Nehru versus Patel
India's interests would have been served better if Sardar Patel, in place of Jawaharlal Nehru, had been the country's Prime Minister. This hypothetical possibility had been voiced by Gujarat Chief...
View ArticleIndia-China Relations: Conflicting Claims and Strategic Interests
India-China relations over the years have seen a meandering course. Decades ago India supported a young communist China, making every effort to end its isolation at the international level. Today...
View ArticleBrahmo Samaj and Toiling People
A very sound criterion for judging the character of any social movement, is its attitude towards the toiling people, denizens of the “lower depths” of the society. This is particularly so because it...
View ArticleA Rare Gem
One Who Knew HimOn May 19 in Calcutta there passed away a man the greatness of whose peronality could be perceived in its full magnitude in the days and weeks after his departure. And as months and...
View ArticleRemembering Chinmohan Sehanavis on his Birth Centenary
Throughout the forties of the last century a cultural movement had grown in Bengal—some had characterised it as ‘yet another renaissance' by comparing it with the social reform movement in the province...
View ArticleAn Idiot for PM?: (Non-)Sense of History in NaMo
‘Though this be madness yet there is method in it' —Hamlet, ShakespeareThe 2014 elections aren't merely about changing the government. The rhetoric ahead of the polls makes one believe that it's an...
View ArticleFixing India's Bilateral Investment Treaty Framework
In October 2013, Khaitan Holdings Mauritius Ltd (KHML), a Mauritius-registered company owning 26 per cent equity in Loop Telecom, slapped an international arbitration notice against the Indian...
View ArticleIn the Name of Ram
From N.C.'s WritingsThe following piece, which appeared within a fortnight of the demolition of the Babri Masjid (December 6, 1992), is being reproduced on the twentyfirst anniversary of that infamous...
View ArticleNepal Constituent Assembly Elections: A Review
by Sangeeta ThapliyalAmidst high drama, the Constituent Assembly elections took place in Nepal on November 19, 2013. There were many who had apprehended the possibility of postponement of elections due...
View ArticleIndia-Japan: Waiting for the Defining Moment
India, China and Japan have been treading lightly while doomsday scenarios abounded barely a week ago. Japan's discovery of India (tenjiku, the divine land) via China following Buddhism's passage to...
View ArticleTribute: Rajendra Yadav
In his lifetime Rajendra Yadav, one of the most complex of Hindi writers, editors and literary critics, appeared to outsiders a deceptively ageless two dimensional black and white figure from Hindi...
View ArticleHigh Voter Turnout, WTO Talks in Perspective
EDITORIALPolling for the five State Assembly elections being over yesterday, attention has now shifted to the counting of votes on Sunday (December 8). One should not give too much importance to exit...
View ArticleRole of Money in State Assembly Polls
The elections for the State Legislatures in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Delhi have indicated the mood of the people. Many questions have come to the fore. The political parties...
View ArticleThe Elections and After
Post-election time is open season on losers. That license overtook discourse (on the media) last week with customary intensity. Some within predictably sought to seize the moment. But an optimistic...
View ArticleLessons from People's Verdict
As expected, elections to the five State Assemblies this year have turned out to be highly significant. While the overall results clearly point to a victory for the BJP, this cannot be called a clean...
View ArticleKicking in the Womb of Uncertainty
by Arun SrivastavaInitial euphoria giving way to pragmatic analysis and evaluation of the election results of the four State Assemblies, the focus has now shifted to the free-market economy dictating...
View ArticleTheir Highnesses, Royal or Not, are Ready to Serve the Country Again. Make Way
IMPRESSIONSThere is no democracy like Indian democracy. Yashodhara Raje Scindia, the BJP candidate in Madhya Pradesh, declared in her election affidavit that she had a dinner set worth Rs 1.54 crore....
View ArticleMandela (July 18, 1918-November 6, 2013)
What man or woman, friend or foe,Could deny to you, even in the worstOf pique, your colossal due as a manAbove the customary frailty of man?That you could shake the hand that lockedIn the...
View ArticleMandela on Gandhi and Nehru
TRIBUTEThe following are excerpts from the letter from prison sent by Nelson Mandela to the Indian Council for Cultural Relations expressing sincere gratitude for the presentation of the Jawaharlal...
View ArticleIndia Wilted under Pressure at the WTO Ministerial in Bali
by Anuradha Talwar and Biraj PatnaikContrary to whatever Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said about the success of India at the WTO Ministerial in Bali, the authors present a completely different...
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