New Delhi: We do not have to compare India's fight against COVID with resource-rich countries in Europe, Latin America or America. Instead, a more useful or helpful comparison can be with either resource-poor countries in Asia or even rich countries in the same continent.
A saying in Kannada aptly describes the love-hate relationship between the BJP and its Karnataka state Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa – likening him to ‘hot ghee (bisi thuppa) that can neither be swallowed or spat out.’
Even the most seasoned political operative in the Donald Trump campaign would have cringed when the President lashed out at a respected immunologist and infectious diseases expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, calling him an “idiot” and a “disaster”.
There have been more field fires in Punjab till the first week of October, than during the same period in each of the previous four years. Farmers may be doing it cussedly to rile the central government for the farm laws they don’t approve of, say officials in the state’s agricultural research institutes.
Army chief Manoj Mukund Naravane’s visit to Kathmandu next month is likely to be the first step in breaking the current logjam in ties between India and Nepal. The Gurkha soldiers from Nepal and the large population of Nepali ex-servicemen are a major pro-India constituency in the Himalayan Republic.
When it comes to President Donald Trump, some things never change. In fact, the man is so passionate about what he thinks and says that he does not feel the necessity to change his style of functioning which is basically boorish.
Staging perhaps the fastest ‘recovery’ from the deadly coronavirus and insisting through a medical certificate that he is perfectly fine, President Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail, and with a vengeance.
The border standoff between India and China continues to evade a quick solution. Tension continues even as talks are on at multiple levels between the two sides. Amidst the tension, a top United States official says India needs Washington’s support more than ever before.
With a little bit of luck, Kings XI Punjab would have been in the top four at the halfway stage of Season 13 of the Indian Premier League, instead of propping up the foot of the table with just one win from seven matches.
Actually, strike that. Luck has played little part in their predicament; this situation is entirely of their own making.
T...
There are no red state or blue states but only United States after I become president was probably the high point of Joe Biden’s body of arguments at the last presidential debate with Donald Trump at Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee on Friday.T
Soon after the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992 Mahant Avaidyanath, one of the accused in the criminal conspiracy to destroy the mosque, when asked about the events of that fateful day had replied sarcastically “the dhancha (disputed structure) fell down by itself”. Those of us who had been eyewitness to the crime that changed the...
In July, the apex regulator for GM crops, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) allowed the Kottayam-based Rubber Board Institute of India to conduct confined field trials of GM rubber plant.
Spats between the BJP-ruled Centre and opposition-ruled states no longer make for major news. But the West Bengal government’s unilateral refusal to anymore refer its crime statistics and other data to the Centre should be taken seriously. Such deliberate defiance of Constitutional behaviour within a federal setup affects governance and security of areas beyond Bengal.
No team in the Indian Premier League has historically been more dependent on its leader for inspiration than Chennai Super Kings. In his triple avatar as a calculating and explosive batsman, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been the engine room driving the Chennai franchise’s charge for 10 years.
The wheels, it would appear, are coming off the well-oile...
In the midst of the ongoing standoff between India and China in the Ladakh region, Beijing recently made an intriguing offer to New Delhi – to recognise as boundary a version of the Line of Actual Control drawn up in 1959 by the then government under Chairman Mao.
In response, the Indian government peremptorily rejected the offer. Defence Minist...
Neither Donald Trump nor the White House have been known for their straight talk; and when things fall flat the entire team is on a desperate run to lay the blame on someone who perhaps had nothing to do with the problem. Take the latest issue of the President being infected with the coronavirus: the White House and the President’s physician, Navy ...
Once in a while, the slumbering anger against the continual acts of violence against our girls gets provoked. We all know that there was enough blatant injustice and horror meted out to this hapless Hathras Dalit girl and her family to evoke widespread outrage in the country.
Unfortunately, it takes a teenager to be battered and dragged around l...
In a stunning development that could have far reaching consequences for the upcoming November 3 election, the President of the United States, Donald Trump and the First Lady, Melania Trump have both tested positive for coronavirus, news that has literally numbed everyone.
“Tonight,@FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our qua...
Dhaka’s willingness to accept Chinese help in its efforts to resolve the contentious Teesta water sharing issue, bypassing India, might have raised a few hackles in India. But Delhi-based policymakers should appreciate that India had it coming.
Many political observers were amused by some seemingly contradictory moves of the Modi Government in September 2020. Capitalizing on the opposition boycott of the parliamentary session over suspension of eight MPs, the government rapidly passed several Bills without much discussion or scrutiny.
For the last 15 years countries around the world like India, Brazil, Germany, South Africa and Japan are dreaming of a permanent seat at the singularly most powerful space at the United Nations – the Norwegian Room -- which hosts the meetings of the Security Council.
Frustration among the aspirant countries is growing too. India’s Prime Minister...
Pandering to his crowd has never been a problem for President Donald Trump, or for that matter, his cronies, who were not ashamed to contradict themselves if only to please the Boss Man.
Furthermore, with the unexpected passing away of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, America is once again witness to not only cheap politics but unprinciple...
It’s all very well that Israel has established normal relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. But where does that leave the Palestinians and their fight for an independent state, now that Arab regimes are deserting them?
The conventional thinking has been that the Republicans are good for India as opposed to the Democrats and the Indian American community is seen to have predominantly supported the Democrats over the years.
If any Indian-origin politician stands a chance of becoming the UK prime minister then it is Rishi Sunak, who is currently dwarfing even Boris Johnson in popularity ratings. Sunak is the only Cabinet minister who has found favour among both Conservative and Labour voters for his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Like Julius Caesar, Ottakarathevar Panneerselvam, popularly known as OPS, can claim that thrice he surrendered the ‘Crown’ when offered. In his case, he was actually king, but chose to step down on each occasion for his party, the AIADMK, twice for his leader J Jayalalithaa, and once for her companion, 'sister' VK Sasikala. His loyalty was such th...
The super genius has struck again! After running his mouth calling slain American soldiers during First World War as losers and suckers, US President Donald Trump has come up with this brilliant assessment of his own military of which he happens to be the commander-in-chief: that the rank and file soldiers are fine and they love him; it is only the...
As troops belonging to India and China belligerently stare at each other in Eastern Ladakh across a contentious border, the only factor that can possibly defuse the tension is the role of a common friend, Russia.
EoDB rankings appear meaningless given international and Indian experiences. Various allegations of irregularities have led the World Bank to shelve its publication of DBRs. EoDB rankings for Indian States are equally problematic.
The man is simply amazing just by the way he talks. There are perhaps only a handful of people he likes, but for those he does not, they better watch out. There is not a word in the vocabulary that Donald Trump has not thrown around, four-letter words often being the order of the day at the White House.
With just two months to go for the November 3 showdown between Donald Trump and Joseph Biden, one cursory look at the rhetoric that is flying around would show that America is witness to two different elections.
Unlock 4 or its previous versions should be seen as making the best of a bad situation. There is no other way to explain why the government should allow running of metros.
The long-drawn-out standoff between India and China in eastern Ladakh appears to be testing patience on both sides. The latest skirmish earlier this week clearly shows that the situation is on the edge and a wrong move by either of the countries can lead to consequences, including even an armed conflagration.
Diplomatic skills on both sides ...
Investigation into Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s suspicious death has gone through far too many twists and turns. It is a fascinating story for the media to lap up. Is it the sympathy for the late actor’s grieving family that is manifesting itself?
Only the diehard fans of Donald Trump will say that the man was the best thing that happened to America and that he deserves to be given a second term in office.
Like everything else that is almost always frigid in the Himalayas, the India-China standoff at Pangong Tso lake area in eastern Ladakh seems frozen too.
Since May this year when reports appeared of Chinese “transgression” in areas earlier patrolled by India on the Line of Actual Control other than in the Galwan valley, where China pulled back i...
The leadership crisis in the Congress party has been brewing for a while. Two back-to-back defeats in parliamentary elections and the failure of the leadership in initiating an honest introspection have demoralised its rank and file.
The Congress party is now in a free fall. Uncharacteristic of its ethos, a group of senior and middle-level leade...
The US-brokered peace deal between Israel and the UAE has not surprised those who have followed developments in the region. As loyal allies of the US, the Gulf states have long shifted their position on Israel.
By all accounts, the recent visit of India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla to Bangladesh was a salvage operation. It came in the wake of somewhat uneasy times for Indian diplomacy in the South Asia region.
The Democrats, who were waiting for their four days of fun, frolic, and occasional bickering by way of the National Convention in Milwaukee, had to stay put in their living rooms and bedrooms, and watch the entire event unfold virtually.
Trampling on Constitutional norms or preaching reckless radicalism could have been avoided. The Trinamool Congress leaders would do well to ponder this as the 2021 Assembly elections approach.
The popular notion that the Cold War ended with the disintegration of the Soviet Union may not be entirely true, going by the simmering conflict that continues to this day between Russia on the one side and the West on the other, represented by the European Union and the United States.
The long-awaited Supreme Court decision on the hotly-debated Sushant Singh Rajput case is out. This was a no-brainer because all of us knew that the huge controversy generated in the matter gave little option to the court. A CBI investigation was the only course open to assuage the feelings of Rajput’s kith and kin.
I am delighted on several count...
The Supreme Court holding lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan guilty of contempt of court for his two tweets sent out in the last week of June 2020 is on expected lines.
During his 15 years in cricket, Dhoni went about the task of batting, winning matches, captaining India to two World Cup titles as if he had been trained in some past life to do that. As if, it was his practised karma and destiny.
Irrespective of their religious affiliations, the poorest among Christians and Muslims with Scheduled Caste origin (converted Christians and Muslims) continue to be confined to descent-based menial jobs — manual scavenging, washing, cremating/burying bodies, and so on.
For Indians in the United States planning to vote for the Republicans, the choice of Kamala Devi Harris as Democratic nominee for vice-president is bound to unsettle their choice on voting day later this year.
The historic choice of an Afro-Asian female candidate of partly-Indian origin for the number two job is something that cannot be easily p...
Ever since Joseph Biden announced in March that he will be picking a woman to be his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris has always been in the top ten picks; and when the clamor for the Democratic nominee to choose a woman of color grew in the aftermath of the brutal slaying of African American George Floyd in the streets of Minneapolis at the han...
In the midst of a ravaging virus pandemic that has pushed America close to five millions infections and nearly 1,60,000 deaths, the political elite, intelligence bureaucracy and media are worried about another thing as the country nears the November 3 Presidential elections.
Perhaps, it is expected that children, when inducted in certain moral and ethical values and bodily discipline, will grow up to become obedient and patriotic citizens, what the French philosopher Michel Foucault refers to as 'docile', disciplined bodies.
As policies go, the latest NEP gives an insight into what an avowedly conservative Hindu-centric nationalist government is planning in the arena of education.
For several years, a large section of the country had considered the domes of the imposing structure symbols of humiliation thrust on the people. So, when the top court of the country declared the place can be converted into a shrine for the majority community to pray, the leader of the country became so emotional that he couldn’t sleep all night.
It is a given that the Sri Lanka Podujana Perumuna (SLPP), a party made up of Rajapaksa loyalists, will be the winners. The question is whether the Rajapaksa brothers will be able to get the two-third majority they are seeking.
The soon to be formal Democratic nominee for the November 3, 2020 showdown, Joseph Biden, should have kept up with his date of announcement of his Vice Presidential pick.
Since the beginning of the year, the pesticide industry has been chafing at a series of draft notifications from the agriculture ministry proposing bans on the use of various agro-chemicals. On February 3, it sought to ban tricyclazole, a yellow-label or high toxic fungicide widely used in rice cultivation
In the morally deranged world of social media vigilantes, justice for Sushant Singh Rajput has acquired a dangerous connotation: it now means injustice for someone, anyone, as long as their blood-lust is quenched.
India’s phased ban on a variety of Chinese apps appears to be the start of an attempt to extricate itself from the economic stranglehold of its pugnacious neighbour across the Himalayas and look towards a “friend” on the other side of the globe to fill Beijing’s place.
The BJP’s domestic politics and its Hindutva agenda is impinging on India’s warm ties with Bangladesh.
Since the Awami League government of Sheikh Hasina came to power in 2008, Delhi’s relations with its eastern neighbour soared, making Bangladesh one of India’s closest friends in the neighbourhood. Whether it was the UPA or its successor, the N...
As reasonable as it may sound, the rationalisation of the CBSE syllabus ostensibly to reduce the burden of students in a COVID-impaired academic year, could in actuality be a prelude to more tectonic shifts in the near future.
A report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) states that pesticides cause about 30 lakh cases of poisoning and 2.2 lakh deaths annually across the globe. Besides, these chemicals also impact the ecosystem through its adverse effects on non-target organisms.
Two court rulings have once again brought into focus the issue of government management of temples, but not that of churches or mosques.
In the first ruling, the Supreme Court asked the Kerala government to keep its hands off the Padmanabhaswamy Temple in the capital, Thiruvananthapuram, saying the erstwhile royal family of Travancore had the he...
What a difference five months can make in the political fortunes of a man who for all practical purposes is seeking the White House for the last time. At the end of the Democratic primaries and caucuses in Iowa and New Hampshire, Biden’s political obituary was almost written for having stood fourth and fifth in a packed race — the innings was comin...
According to the Mausala Parva, one of the 18 books of the epic Mahabharata, the Yaduvanshi rulers of Dwarka met a gory end when they killed each other in a civil war. The mythological story of the Yaduvanshis ends with the submersion of their capital under the sea, death of Balrama by drowning and Krishna’s accidental death at the hands of a hunte...
It is an irony of history that the three countries, the US, Brazil and India, led by the so-called strongmen in global politics, Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro and Narendra Modi, happen to be the ones that lead the global COVID-19 count.
In the face of the pandemic challenge, all three “strongmen” have turned out to be men with feet of clay. The w...
The recent Galwan episode and the aggressive Chinese activities along various points on the Line of Actual Control have indeed shocked the nation. One possible way to get China to restore ‘status quo ante’ in the mountains could be to apply a counterforce on the Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), where India is in...
The way things are going President Donald Trump must be wondering which drubbing would be better: the one President Jimmy Carter got in 1980; or the whipping Walter Mondale received in 1984. Either way it does not matter for the 45th President of the United States: he will be the last person to accept defeat and probably will have to be dragged out...
Tamil Nadu is fast turning into a cauldron of religious bigotry, with Periyarists and the BJP at loggerheads. In recent months, there has been a running battle between supporters of the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) and forces of Hindutva, represented by the RSS and some of its frontal organisations.
The recent campaign by Karuppar Koottam (Black Group),...
After Nepal it is now the turn of Iran to rattle India by aligning with China and triggering fears it may go slow or freeze projects signed with New Delhi.
Iran’s turn towards China poses a major foreign policy challenge to India, as one friend after another is moving away from New Delhi into the arms of Beijing. Iran is the latest. Nepal did th...
Why does Rahul Gandhi invariably get betrayed by the people who are his closest friends or aides? What is about him that has turned his life into a Julius Caesar-like tragedy with a Brutus in every act?
There was a time – some three decades ago – when it used to be said that after the Royal Palace, the next most powerful spot in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu was the Indian consulate, followed by the local bureau of the Hindustan Times newspaper. India took Nepal for granted, almost like it was another state of the Union.
Times have, since, changed....
Welcome to Uttar Pradesh, a state that guarantees sabka Vikas, sabka encounter. 'Sabka (everybody’s) Vikas' because it is a state where Vikas, not development, but the archetypal criminal, belongs to everyone. 'Sabka encounter' because this is how the criminal justice system works in Uttar Pradesh.
It was a bombshell that no one expected, but very few could have put it past the 45th President of the United States who is desperately trying every trick in the book to stay relevant in the American political process leading up to the November 3 election. After his usual rants and diatribes against Democrats, the leftists, fascists and those who a...
The Galwan crisis may be ending with troops from China and India disengaging after a two-month standoff. But, it is neither the first nor will it be the last. As long as the border dispute between the two neighbours continues, the conflict will continue to simmer, and at times boil over. The next one is even possibly round the corner.
Unlike ear...
India’s relation with Russia has lost much of its sheen since the end of the Cold War, as both countries looked to adjust to a new world order. The rise of an assertive China, ready to assume its place in the world, has changed equations across Asia. India is getting closer to the US, while Russia has been forced to turn to China for economic and s...
The former Vice President, Joseph Biden, has been in Washington since the early 1970s and in the political establishment for close to five decades. And he knows better than to start celebrating his string of polling victories nationally and in the swing states, particularly in the Red States that the incumbent Donald Trump was placing his bets on. ...
If India is locked in a messy wrangle with China on the border issue, Pakistan too is in a peculiar soup of sorts caused by its close friendship with Beijing.
The bear hug of friendship from across its northern border is squeezing Pakistan, sparking fears that the country may be heading into a giant debt trap with China, to a point where the bon...
The Narendra Modi government’s cavalier approach to issues concerning the environment is well known. Equally subversive is its naked attempt to disregard a Constitutional provision that enjoins the state to safeguard the rights of tribal populations.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), whose interests and inspirations are purely subnational, just as the BJP’s interests are national, have both now found a common cause in Narasimha Rao who wasn’t even given a decent burial in Delhi but had to be taken to his home state.
The deaths of a father and his son in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu allegedly due to police torture gives me indescribable pain. All civilised human beings wherever they are should also be in equal pain.
Unlike many other observers, I won’t like to rush to the media with my condemnation of the Tamil Nadu police as we are still short of a fe...
One of the abiding facts about Tamil Nadu is that it has been a well-governed state. Over the years, the epithet gained currency as the state managed various crises admirably. Whether it is natural disaster, social development, public health, education or economic governance, Tamil Nadu has been the best among the large-sized states.
But the cur...
By comparing India with the West and Brazil, where the President acted like an idiot, we are ignoring the fact that countries falling in the Indian subcontinent and in our eastern neighborhood have also done well, and some phenomenally better than us.
No state in America has the luxury of taking things lightly anymore. Infectious disease specialists are warning of a second wave of COVID-19 starting this fall and something that is going to be far more virulent than what the country has been exposed to since the middle of February.
If there’s one issue on which there is rare unanimity in the country, it is on the folly of the Emergency in 1975. Even the Congress today is probably ruing the decision of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi to suspend fundamental rights and democracy, that lasted 21 months, as it has permanently scarred its reputation.
But, 45 years later, t...
Baa, Baa black sheep,
Do you have a cure?
Yes, sir, yes, sir
Three herbs pure…
One for the night,
And one for the day,
And one for the idiots
Who believe everything I say.
Baba Ramdev’s attempt to peddle a cure for COVID-19 could have been a worthy subject of a nursery rhyme if not for the sheer scale of its opportunism an...
The India-China border marked with blood after the death of 20 Indian soldiers following an interregnum of peace resembles the India-Pakistan border where soldiers are killed again and again. Over the last two decades, China has increasingly transgressed Indian territory to intimidate India and assert its boundary claims with military muscle.
Eac...
Whenever there is a confrontation with the Chinese on the borders or when China thwarts India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group, blocks our attempts at securing permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) or swats down our efforts at isolating Pakistan by getting the UN to designate it as state-sponsored terrorism,...
The border clashes between India and China, that has cost the lives of troops on both sides, is a pointer to the larger seesaw power game between the two countries for over six decades now. It is all about bargaining power and the degree of leverage one country has over the other.
That scenario is not far-fetched at all, given what Trump is made out of; or for all the things that he has said in the recent past. In a recent interview, Trump has said that he will find something and move on. But his Democratic opponent this November, former Vice-President Joseph Biden, is not so sure and has said that if it comes to that situation, the military will escort Trump out of the White House.
Shiv Sena — the words carry different meanings for different audiences; not only for those from outside Maharashtra or India, but also for those from various districts of the state. Shiv Sena has now existed for over half a century and has undergone a transformation at the cost of its very essence and ethos.
The Tamil Nadu government's decision to change the names of 1,018 villages, towns and districts in the state has been met with derision on social media mainly because of the high usage of 'aa's and 'oo's. This prompted the state on Thursday (June 19) to withdraw the order in this regard.
However, the stretching of the words could create quite a fe...
John Bolton, the former National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump, is perhaps seven months late. Had he voluntarily come before the Congressional panels enquiring the impeachment charges against Trump what he had to say then as opposed to what he is saying in his book now would have raised a lot more noise in Washington DC.
Even then i...
India is reeling under the clashes with a belligerent China in the Galwan valley that caused the deaths of several soldiers. At the same time, Beijing has expressed its wish to de-escalate tensions and resolve the border stand-off through negotiations. This confusing signal of diplomacy and aggression can be traced to a deep-seated insecurity that ...
The tragic confrontation at Galwan valley with Chinese troops that left an Indian army colonel and at least 20 soldiers dead besides unconfirmed casualties on the other side should ideally lead to soul-searching between the two countries.
Since there are no clear markings delineating much of the 3500 km border between the two countries, such fla...
China is upping the ante all along the LAC. The violent and primitive physical clashes between the Indian and Chinese soldiers have left three - an officer and two jawans -dead. The casualties on the Chinese side are not known. This is the first time in 45-years that fatalities have been reported from the Line of Actual Control and point to China’s...
In the opening scene of one of Sushant Singh Rajput’s greatest films, titled Sonchiriya, a band of dacoits is walking through the Chambal valley. The gang comes to a halt as someone spots a dead snake ahead. But its leader Malkhan Singh, essayed by the magical Manoj Bajpai, presses ahead and removes the carcass with the bayonet of his gun from the ...
US President Donald Trump is once again thinking of suspending H1B visas and a host of other work-related permits ostensibly to address conservative concerns of rising unemployment in the country as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
If the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis had created a national outrage in the US, the reverberations of that tragedy have been felt across the Western world, in unexpected ways, that have shocked the ruling elites and triggered calls for national introspection by many colonial powers.
The protests, this time not restricted only to the black ...
India will be elected unopposed as no other country has put up a candidate. The 55-countries of the Asia Pacific group, including China and Pakistan had agreed to back India.
A wily politician, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot through resort politics could be using the BJP to show the strength of Congress in his state and convey that Rajasthan is not Madhya Pradesh
Its a fortnight since the United States President Donald Trump, in his usual unpredictable manner, announced his country’s withdrawal from the World Health Organisation (WHO), on the specious grounds that it favoured China.
The hostility towards the feminist movement over the years is nothing new. But in today's age of internet, even the simple act of a woman, even more so a non-conformist, doing a comedy routine on the gender pay gap, speaking about an unpleasant dating experience online or even saying that she does not enjoy cooking is bound to be attacked by men (also women) in the comments section which can vary from personal remarks to abusive rants.
For the first time in some four months, things seem to be looking up for Joseph Biden, the soon to be formal nominee of the Democratic Party for the November 3, 2020 showdown with the sitting incumbent Donald Trump.
The road to the White House for Donald Trump and in his ability to get 270 Electoral College votes is getting more and more difficult as the days roll by. The coronavirus that is raging in America and steadily getting past the 100,000 lives it has claimed is bad enough for a President who claims that had it not been for his administration’s interve...
India’s landmark agreement with Australia on defence cooperation comes at a time when New Delhi is engaging with its northern neighbour China on resolving a spat on the border at Ladakh.
In disputes like these with China, will the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) with Australia in any way help India? Does it boost New Delhi’s strength t...
China’s aggressive action in Ladakh seems to have forced India’s hand. India was normally reticent about ruffling China and always down-playing the People's Liberation Army’s (PLA’s) incursions into Indian territory, and not bringing in a third country into the equation.
The brutal slaying of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the violence that followed in the cities of America, brings to memory something that happened in the country some 29 years ago with a person called Rodney King.
Misinformation has acquired epidemic proportions. It has a new name: Infodemic.
Four Vs characterize it. Velocity, which is the speed with which misinformation travels. Volume, which is the sheer size of it. Variety, which is the form and shape it takes, whether textual or visual. And, finally, veracity, which is the truth quotient in it.
Mis...
Since last November, when India came up with its latest political map that incorporated a small but strategically important Limpiyadhura-Kalapani-Lipulek (L-K-L) region to the north-west of Nepal, the mood has soured in Kathmandu.
Baba Ramdev once fled Delhi’s Ramlila Maiden dressed like a woman. Many critics still rib him for draping a chunri around his legendary beard and morphing into an invulnerable babe from a venerable Baba.
But, the Baba’s quick lingaparivartan aasan, a yogic posture known only to ascetics like him or to Lords like Vishnu (remember the Mohini avata...
A full scale war in social media is in full swing and it has come to be known as the “Tweet War” pitting the U.S. President, Donald Trump and his White House on one side and Twitter on the other prompting many to come to the conclusion that finally somebody had the guts to stand up to the whims and fancies of Trump.
Once upon a time in India, the BJP’s pet riff was whether the US dollar would hit 75 before the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Since economy is best understood by many through such jokes, here is one for the ages: What will hit zero first, the coronavirus graph or the Indian economy?
The answer, if you have been following the phrase of the ...
The quixotic manner in which the AIADMK government has gone about the task of trying to take possession of the Poes Garden residence of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, and convert it into a memorial has come as a shock to those still sticking to the old-fashioned values of due process of law.
Ideally, there should have been no hostility between two countries that share a civilisational relationship over centuries, sharing cultures, religion and cuisine among others. But that is not the case. For several decades, the two have found themselves politically in opposing camps marked by a war in 1962 whose scars still run deep.
Is the current India-China stand-off on the border mere shadow-boxing by the two Asian giants, or are the transgressions along the Line of Actual Control this time much more serious?
The clock is ticking and the seconds are painfully going by slowly. Very soon, or already, the number of deaths in the United States as a result of the coronavirus has breached the 1,00,000 mark, a so-called milestone that America and Americans wished had not taken place even in their wildest dreams.
The role of the judiciary, in particular the Supreme Court, in monitoring the measures undertaken by the central government to mitigate the hardships of migrant workers seems to have fallen short of public expectations. The completion of two months of lockdown as of now, a measure imposed suddenly by the central government to contain the spread of ...
The world is waiting anxiously for a COVID-19 vaccine. Some diehard optimists say it will be ready by the end of the year. Others are cautious. They say the entire process of running a series of trials before the vaccine is found safe and effective will take at least a year or more. Its large-scale production and distribution will increase the time...
Never before in the recent past has the world seen such a transformation. In a span of about five months, the international system is literally standing on its head, not knowing when the worst is about to come or if it has indeed passed by
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s remark against India in Nepal Parliament was not unexpected. India-Nepal ties have been on a slippery slope for some time and his caustic reference to the Indian version of the Coronavirus being more lethal than either the Chinese or Italian strain is in keeping with the general anti-India feeling encouraged by the Ne...
The coronavirus pandemic has done what the United States government has been trying for some time now: show up China in bad light. The debate is still on whether Beijing is the culprit behind the COVID-19 pandemic but one consequence being prophesied is that it will propel American manufacturers to pull out of China.
While it is a trifle early t...
The bad news at the beginning of the fourth round of lockdown in India is similar. The doctors have given up hope and announced the country now needs dua more than dawa. In short, the country is now at the mercy of its destiny.
Under the cover of darkness, using the pandemic as a convenient excuse, all the BJP-ruled states of India are demolishing the entire edifice of labour regulations in the country. What the BJP government at the Centre could not achieve through the parliamentary legislative process, the BJP states are realising through the ordinance route. And this h...
There is an old maxim that a drowning man will catch hold of even a straw to save himself; meaning that the person is so desperate that he will do anything to save himself. And barely six months to go before the November 3 elections, President Donald Trump, is giving every indication of a drowning man who is willing to go to any extent of politically saving himself even if that meant taking the country with him in the process.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is coming more and more into focus, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to take lives and crowd hospitals. Its omissions and commissions are under public scrutiny as never before.
The director-general of the WHO has been personally attacked by none other than US President Donald Trump for colluding with Chin...
For ages, a farmer in India has always had the highest emotional space because he is perceived to be willing to feed everyone without distinction.
Although we became a free nation in 1947, the farmer continued to be chained by shackles. The inherited laws did not allow the farmer to sell his produce to a place or person of his choice. There were...
The financial measures announced by the Finance Minister for the farmers fail to provide relief for the losses a section of them suffered during the lockdown. While legal changes to usher in agri-marketing reforms though ambitious might falter if not diligently implemented and states are not taken into confidence.
Law-making through the ordinance route is a right vested in Central and state governments under Articles 123 and 213 of the Constitution respectively. It is to be used as an emergency measure when Parliament and legislatures are not in session.
Those of you who remember Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind would know that every calamity brings two kinds of people into focus. One category is dominated by people like Scarlet O’ Hara—the ones whose lives are turned upside down but they continue to battle on in the hope that tomorrow is another day.
Even as the COVID-19 pandemic holds the world to ransom, on the sidelines the United States and China continue to joust – in a relationship that seems mutually contradictory yet beneficial with no way of knowing whether the two are friends or enemies. Even the mandarins in Beijing or Washington probably can’t exactly say where they stand vis-a-vis each other.
With Washington keen to pull out the remaining American troops from Afghanistan, sooner rather than later, the question whether India should talk to the Taliban is being debated in official circles in Delhi. A post Ashraf Ghani strategy needs to be worked out, as parties prepare for the elusive intra- Afghan talks.
The talks between the Taliban ...
Food security is not a grain in the granaries but dollars in the treasury, Manohar Singh Gill had told me when he was agriculture secretary between 1992 and 1993 (He later became the chief election commissioner and sports minister during the Commonwealth Games). Those were the heady days of economic liberalisation.
Agricultural economist Ashok Gul...
The thousands of migrant workers walking back to their village homes hundreds of kilometres away from the cities they were working in, braving deprivation, injury and even death on the way, may not have upset Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government since the reverse migration has been largely peaceful and apolitical.
It is not the first time that Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States, has been in denial in the last three and a half years he has been at the Oval Office. But this time around even his cheerleading team is reluctant to go about with the routine.
With a death toll nearing 75,000, close to 35 million people joining the ranks of unemployment over the last six weeks and the economy showing a negative growth of 5 per cent in the last quarter, the Trump administration is truly looking at a crisis whether it would like to see it that way or not.
A nearly US$ 25 trillion economy has literally b...
On May 5, 2020, when a noted ethical hacker from France, known by his pseudonym Eliot Anderson, claimed that there was a security issue with the Arogya Setu App officially introduced by the Modi government, the team at the National Informatics Centre (NIC) which developed the app and the scientific advisor to the prime minister went into a tizzy.
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The current lockdown in India has unraveled an “interpretation creativity” i.e. it is an opportunity for different groups to interpret the lockdown in their own creative ways. When the people interpreting the lockdown are also in power, casteist, Islamophobic, patriarchial, and ideologically inclined to non-Constitutional behaviours, then the lockdown becomes a weapon.
A few days ago, late at night, I saw someone reposting a bunch of Instagram stories and asking the followers to read the full thread. It was captioned 'when will this objectifying of women ever stop'. My normal reaction to that rhetoric would have been to skip it. But at that boring night, I decided to read through every screenshot, googling the me...
Forget the economic growth numbers coming out on a daily basis. There is only one common denominator for the whole world: we are in for a spin that no one knows how it is going to stabilize eventually and at what point of time.
The shutdown on liquor vends, ultimately, was lifted not because of any earth-shaking argument on the innocence of the drink habit or the absence of righteous opposition to it. The clincher, cynical as it may sound, was the hard cash that the trade brings in.
The immediate strategy for dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic is the lockdown, suspending all economic activities other than essential services.
One of the consequences of the lockdown is the adverse effect on tenancies, affecting both landlords and tenants.
Basically, a lease is an agreement by which the owner of an immovable property gives ...
In the end, it turned out to be a non-story. North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un appeared in public and cut the ribbon to open a fertiliser factory and, with that, snipped all speculation over whether he was dead or alive.
The first of May is here and the President of the United States, Donald Trump, is hell-bent on sticking with his date on opening up the country to back to where it was prior to the deadly pandemic taking an ugly toll.
For several decades it was difficult to imagine there would ever be a wrinkle on Rishi Kapoor’s face. Till a few years ago, he was romancing debutants like Divya Bharti, Zeba Bakhtiar, and Tabu, singing memorable songs in the Alps, bringing into fashion colourful pullovers slung over his shoulders.
The last time I saw Irrfan Khan in person, he was flying kites at his home in the old city of Jaipur. Khan had returned to his hometown after completing one of his greatest films, Paan Singh Tomar, and looked every bit of an athlete — lean, tanned and super fit, ready to run a steeplechase and climb the podium. Who could have imagined that just a f...
If the COVID-19 epidemic raging through Kerala wasn’t enough trouble for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, a controversy has ignited criticism of his hiring a US firm to analyse data about the viral infection. Already, there have been reports of data breach.
For nearly two weeks, Vijayan has been attacked relentlessly by politicians and the media...
Let’s face it. No one knows when the shutdown will be lifted; whether it will be lifted; if it should be lifted and if so, how it should be lifted. It was easier on March 24 to announce a lockdown across the nation. Most people sagely nodded their heads at what they considered was a wise act of the government.
Chennai: Now with the Nobel Peace Prize turning out to be an elusive dream, President Trump better not be attempting to win a Nobel Prize in Science for his loud thinking on ways to come to terms with the coronavirus, a pandemic that has taken the lives of nearly 53,000 Americans so far and leaving more than one million infected.
The gruesome lynching of two innocent Hindu monks and their driver in Maharashtra’s Palghar district on April 16, not only calls for the enactment of an anti-lynching law, but also to use existing laws to bring offenders to justice until the former comes into force.
Calling such incidents as “horrendous acts of mobocracy” the Supreme Court in 20...
Recently two journalists in The Washington Post wrote a gripping book titled, “A Very Stable Genius: Donald J Trump’s Testing of America”. The “Very Stable Genius” part of the title is not what the authors complemented the President of the United States with; rather it is a term that Trump has been using for himself, and over and over again, perhap...
A spate of Islamophobic messages on social media in the Gulf by expat Hindu-Indians, in combination with the anti-Muslim slant given to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, could have adverse consequences on an otherwise-peaceful coexistence of the two communities in the Arab region.
The latest was Bala Krishna Nakka who was sacked from...
The world continues to reel under the coronavirus and it is only monotonous to put out statistics every day of the number of people infected and the death toll. And, in the midst of all this, almost every international economic agency has come up with a sober assessment of what is in store for 2020, 2021 and beyond.
The Uttar Pradesh government’s action against Siddharth Varadarajan, the founding editor of web portal The Wire, has shown how the political authority arrogates the legal power to itself to supress the voices that criticise the ruling dispensations.
The pandemic that has overtaken the world has very few parallels in world history. Some 200 nations and territories have been affected leaving behind a staggering death toll that is only increasing by the hundreds every day. The developed worlds of Europe and America are worse off than the developing countries, and there is not one sector of living...
Scenes of migrant workers in their hundreds, nay thousands, abandoned on the streets and left to fend for themselves across India, is in sharp contrast to those ensconced comfortably in their middle-class homes in this time of the COVID-19 induced shutdown.
Rarely has the sorry plight of crores of fellow-Indians in the unorganised sector appeare...
Since epics are back in vogue, it would be apt to compare Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s coronavirus strategy with the story of Abhimanyu in the Mahabharata. Like Arjuna’s warrior son, Modi has been able to figure out an effective opening move against the pandemic, but he doesn’t know how to get out of the coronavirus chakravyuh.
Everybody would...
If Rip Van Winkle, a fictional character from a famous short story, had gone to sleep at the height of the 1918 flu and woken up in the middle of the current coronavirus pandemic, instead of 20 years later, he would have noticed nothing had changed.
The court alluded to the fact that despite various measures taken by the government of India and different state governments/Union territories, the number of patients and deaths was increasing day by day.
Anyone seeking the highest position possible in politics or business will naturally be irritated if asked whether they will settle for number two. And Senator Kamala Harris was no different when, at the peak of the campaign trail last year, she was asked to comment on reports that she would be the ‘perfect’ running mate for former Vice President Jo...
On a cold January morning, I woke up to the whirr of a drone outside my window. As I stepped into the balcony, the sun was trying to break through the winter mist. A cold, clear zephyr burst through my ribs and rolled down the spine. My first impulse was to slip back under a furry quilt and gulp down a shot of vodka. But, the drone was hovering over my head.
Prime Minister Modi does not seem to be his usual self of late. He has toned down his language vis-à-vis the opposition, calls for an all-party meeting and even personally talks to the key opposition leaders and the chief ministers. But the corona magic that has brought about this behavioural change appears to have landed him on the horns of an acute dilemma as well.
When the coronavirus struck China earlier this year, the world sat up and took notice. But there was little sympathy. And now, when China is offering help to other nations, there is no gratitude, only resentment if not suspicion about its motives.
Trump must be rejoicing in the fact that he did not have to face Sanders this Fall, something the former Vice President Biden does not have. And this is precisely what Biden needs to work on—connecting with Sanders’ base— between now and election if there is to be any meaningful shot at the White House.
The coronavirus pandemic has spotlighted the vital work of nurses and frontline health and humanitarian workers. Never acknowledged during easy times, health and humanitarian workers are often defined for their courage and compassion while working on the frontline of a crisis. This is what elevates them to superheroes.
When it comes to building statues, buying big ticket defence equipment or, for that matter, spending money on legislators to defect, there is never a shortage of funds. But if a fraction of that money has to be spent on healthcare or education, each paise is carefully calibrated, complex accounting is done and the government throws up its hands.
Political strategists of President Trump are said to be getting very uncomfortable with the fact that Biden is getting stronger in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, the three states Republicans managed to get by a narrow margin in 2016. The particular worry for the Republicans is Biden’s ability to garner Unionists, an indication that the empty scare tactics of the Grand Old Party are not making any inroads.
Notwithstanding the momentary pain, hopefully the lockdown duration was the right strategy and it really flattens the curve. Otherwise the consequences of an extended lockdown could be dire, particularly from a compliance point of view, as has been proven in countries like Italy, shows a latest research by a group of economists.
What goes around comes around. In January when coronavirus was spreading rapidly, the US President Donald Trump lavished praises on China and its President Xi Jinping. All this changed in March when Trump started making the point that if only China had confined the virus to one area.
The numbers rose slowly at first. So did the rumours. There were whispers that a few people have spread it in some private parties. And before we could realise, a huge wave came crashing down on us, much like the novel coronavirus.
The US is already paying a huge price for their President’s inept, almost comical, handling of the coronavirus pandemic. There is a lesson for India from the US tragedy — don’t let Trumpidity define your coronavirus strategy.
Wah, Modi ji, wah! You really are a genius. This morning you appeared on national television at exactly 9 o’clock and asked all of us to light candles and torches for exactly 9 minutes at 9 o’clock this Sunday (April 5). Wow! 9, 9 and another 9. Like a trail in teen patti.
It is official! We are in a global recession.
That the global health crisis has morphed into a global recession was driven home last weekend by the International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. This round would be worse than the previous recession during the financial crisis of 2009, she warned.
A day before Goldman Sach...
A few days ago, a cruel question popped up on some WhatsApp accounts: What if humanity were a disease and the new coronavirus a vaccine against it? In response, someone shot back: What if God is complicit in punishing the “virus” called humans?
The lifeline of the two southern states, the much-abused Cauvery river is now reportedly flowing free — with clear waters and sparkle — something not seen in many years, thanks to the shutdown of polluting industries and free flow of effluents into the water body.
Narendra Modi is one leader who enjoys immense public goodwill. It will be in national interest if he considers forming a ‘government of national unity’ with representatives of a wider spectrum of the polity till the coronavirus crisis passes.
These are unprecedented times. More than one-third of the global population is under complete lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 which has already touched 600,000 lives with a death toll of over 26,000.
Kolkata: The government, anticipating the hardship migrant workers would face by such a sudden and prolonged shutdown, should have made arrangements to take these stranded people home, as many states, including West Bengal, did to facilitate intra-state movement of migrants during lockdown period.
The amazing resolve that the world’s governments have shown in four quick weeks has to be strengthened to wage the more serious battle of addressing the gigantic scales of physical and chemical transformation of materials.
The ongoing lockdown in India is turning into another demonetisation experience — a farce that is unlikely to produce the desired result, a tragedy likely to destroy the lives of millions of people and the economy, and an incident that has all the hall-marks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s style of functioning.
Apartment associations and gated communities across the country have sought to cocoon themselves fearing the marauding coronavirus. In their over-enthusiasm, excessive zeal or the chance to wield raw power, many have imposed their own rules ostensibly to enforce the ongoing nationwide lockdown. In doing so, it may just be possible that some of them...
Only some two weeks ago the man seemed to be on a roll. He got over bruising losses in Iowa and New Hampshire, stunned his political opponents in South Carolina and went on to crush them in the Tuesdays of March 3, March 10 and March 17.
With the need to ensure social distancing and lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies have been forced to go online, with their staff working from home, to ensure functioning. What was earlier a conditional scenario has now become the standard.
About 10 years ago, long before the advent of the “coronisation” prelude, the MD of an MNC...
If United States President Donald Trump famously called the coronavirus pandemic a “hoax” until his country was rudely shaken by a spike of infections, his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro termed it a media-fuelled “fantasy” only to find his personal secretary test positive for Covid-19 the next day.
Nobody can put a finger to the financial cost of the pandemic, but the US government’s decision to give $2 trillion package (almost a tenth of its GDP) is a good indicator of the extent of intervention required.
Now that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has got his corona thaalibration, can we expect him to come up with a serious strategy to deal with the pandemic? It is becoming more and more apparent that Modi’s only solution to a problem is turning it into an event through mass mobilisation.
Coronavirus may not be entertainment but it India should be grateful to the world of entertainment for making it mainstream. And singer Kanika Kapoor should immediately be announced as the poster girl—maybe Baby Doll, in deference to her famous song— of the current epidemic.
Did the global community leave the doors wide open to the deadly coronavirus despite warnings by the scientific community on possible pandemics due to unknown strains of the virus? A reading of transcripts from past scientific meetings and research archives indicates so.
As the days go by and the number of COVID-19 cases go up, the cracks are already beginning to show in the rickety Indian healthcare system – suspected patients are being asked to remain in isolation wards that have no basic facilities, checking at airports and public transport terminals are inconsistent at best and chaotic at worst.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is known for his penchant for unexpected disruptions, leading to fear and anxiety every time he announces plans to address the nation. But, on Thursday (March 19), when disruption was expected and even warranted, he let the country off with just a mild sermon.
The central government and former chief justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, who was sworn in as a member of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday (March 19), after being nominated by the President, albeit amid criticism, have a duty to answer four pertinent questions:
Does the act of nominating and accepting the nomination as Rajya Sabha MP, within fou...
The nomination of Justice Ranjan Gogoi, former Chief Justice of India (CJI), as a member of Rajya Sabha by the President of India appears to have been well worked out by both the incumbent and the Union government.
The Union government led by Narendra Modi seems to be waking up to the fact that it cannot be perpetually ‘doubting’ the citizenship of its own people. The government has not explicitly said that it would go back on the CAA, NRC, and NPR.
Responding to an RTI application seeking a copy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s citizenship certificate, the PMO promptly replied that he does not need such a certificate as he is a citizen by birth according to Section 3 of Citizenship Act, 1955. So far so good.
Is film actor Rajinikanth testing the waters by indirectly projecting Kamal Haasan as the chief ministerial candidate of his front?
This is the question uppermost in the minds of political parties and observers as Rajini appears to be reluctant to join the race for chief ministership while limiting his role to party chief.
The Rajini statemen...
Super Tuesday Two was as good, if not better, for Joseph Biden than Super Tuesday One of March 3, 2020; and if the present momentum holds yet another Tuesday, March 17 may finally set the stage for the crowning of the former vice president as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate to take on the incumbent Donald Trump in November.
For a p...
Indian astrologers believe two shadow celestial entities play an important role in every person’s life. The story goes that these entities sprang from a demon who drank amrit—the mythological elixir of life —during the churning of the ocean and was decapitated for it by Lord Vishnu.
The Congress party, witnessing the disintegration of its government in Madhya Pradesh, resembles Tesla’s self-steering car – with no driver at the helm and some backend machinations working furiously to keep it on the road.
Living in the age of the new coronavirus is like playing the Russian roulette. It is true that the virus will not kill everyone, but nobody can predict which unlucky person, like in the roulette, will get the only bullet in the chamber. So, theoretically, everyone in this world is at risk.
The decision by the Geneva-based United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to file an intervening application before India’s Supreme Court in the cases that seek to examine the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) in many ways is unprecedented.
The BJP machinery has revved into action. Congress legislators from the state have reportedly been flown into the Sangh Parivar territory of Bengaluru and the by-now déjà vuesque sequence of events are starting to unfold.
If further proof was ever needed that the world indeed is a small place then this is it. The impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in China’s Wuhan city, the epicentre of the virus, is such that the world is now on notice. This is a contagion in ways more than one.
For all those pundits who had started writing the political obituary of Joseph Biden, Super Tuesday of March 3 would certainly have come as a jolt. Biden not only hammered away at the opposition but went on to get 10 out of the 14 states including all of the south.
The United States has signed a peace deal with the Taliban, after a 19-year war of attrition. So, who’s the winner? Obviously it is the Taliban. The US, leading a pack of major military powers, has been unable to remove from the equation the Islamist group and the former Afghan ruling party.
“Mamata Banerjee is opposing a law passed by Parliament. But, nothing can stop us from embracing our immigrant brothers. Tell Mamata didi she is ruining the legacy of Rabindranath Thakur, Mahatma Gandhi...” For those of you who missed his goli-maaro rally in Kolkata, this is the gist of Hindutva-icon Amit Shah’s speech at Kolkata on Sunday.
The legal fraternity was shocked when, by a midnight notification, the Government of India transferred Justice Muralidhar of the Delhi High Court within hours of him pulling up the Delhi Police for its silence on hate speech by four BJP leaders.
Gully Boy impressed critics and audiences alike; India sent it as the official entry in the Best Foreign Language category at the 92nd Academy Awards. The fact that this movie won 13 Filmfare Awards should, therefore, come as no surprise.
Amidst the spectacular roadshows, and big-ticket arms deals during the Trump visit, the proposed mini-trade deal between the US and India has gone into limbo. Considering India’s annual trade of $88 billion with the US and annual US trade volume of $4.2 trillion, a mini trade deal worth $10 billion is no big deal.
The common people of India strongly believe in three things: a) Documents like voter ID, ration card, or school records are sufficient if ever they have to prove their citizenship, b) the CAA is only meant for illegal immigrants, and c) the NRC will help identify the immigrants and pack them off to their countries.
Once upon a time, the colloquial wisdom in Delhi suggested it was better to eat, drink and be merry because whatever else people had would anyway be taken away by the Iranian invader Nader Shah. We may, fortunately, not have been born in Nader Shah’s Delhi. From what we are witnessing today, it can easily be presumed that it would not have been too different from Amit Shah’s Delhi.
The optics surrounding the just-concluded visit of United States President Donald Trump indicates India is an important ally for Washington. Important ally, yes. But there is a limit to how much influence India wields over the US.
Unlike governments in the past, the Modi sarkar is clearly betting on a second term for Trump. It is still not clear if the Modi government is backing the right candidate — the race, according to polls, is tight but Trump’s graph is showing an uptick — but it is certainly doing its best for the current incumbent.
It is not always that the Supreme Court of India, the highest court of the land, appoints interlocutors to negotiate and moderate a protest. This is what the Court actually did in the context of Shaheen Bagh protests on 17th February 2020 setting out mildly the legal and factual matrix for dealing with a protest.
Inciting violence against the state is a crime, but expressing a non-violent opinion is a democratic right. Slapping of sedition charges, in the Bidar case, is an act of unprecedented oppression of expression by police and serious lack of application of mind by the prosecution and adjudicatory authorities.
For most of India, United States’ president Donald Trump’s visit is a spectacle to be watched in passing on a television screen. But for some unfortunates, his arrival is a curse that has overturned their fragile lives and thrown them to the wolves.
The Supreme Court's decision to entitle women Army officers to be elevated to command positions will change the culture of patriarchy that characterises the Indian armed forces.
Every American President starting with Bill Clinton have visited India during their tenure in office; and so will President Donald Trump. Having skipped his Republic Day invite last year, POTUS will be coming to India on February 24 and 25 and spend time in Ahmedabad, Agra, and New Delhi.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS)’s decision to shed their pretentions of inclusive politics and explicitly embrace Hindutva ideology is yet another desperate attempt to revive their presence in Maharashtra’s political landscape.
Let’s start by tweaking an old aphorism: When reality knocks on the door, idealism goes flying out of the window. And if that idealism is called Arvind Kejriwal, it flies towards the right, because this is where he can hope to fulfil his dreams and ambitions.
The delay in decision-making at the level of Speakers or Governors has been a matter of debate. In the case of the 11 MLAs, whose membership of the Tamil Nadu Assembly on the ground that they defied the ruling AIADMK whip and voted against CM Edappadi Palaniswami govt on the floor of the House, the matter has been pending for over three years.
Had the BJP managed to win, Shah would have been called the “Chanakya” of politics and the prime minister would have made many subtle appearances on TV, with the cadres chanting ‘Modi-Modi’ in the background. But, for the moment, the Jinpings have found their Keqiangs to deflect the blame.
One of the biggest reasons for AAP’s victory in Delhi is the complete decimation of Congress. From the 10% vote it secured in 2015, the Congress plummeted to 4.5% this time. But, this happened primarily because Congress did not contest the polls seriously, in all likelihood because of a tactical alliance with AAP.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan seems to have been forced to temper his criticism of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) after his comments provided fodder for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to try to discredit the protests.
In his reply in the Rajya Sabha, Modi took a shot at the Communist leader, quoting him as saying that certain extremi...
Only the politically very naïve would have thought that the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who had been impeached in the House of Representatives last December was going to be convicted in the Senate and thrown out of office.
So what happens to the oil industry which is so wholly dependent on consumption by these ICE-based cars? Clearly projections show that demand for oil in any form will peak by 2021-22 at about 100 million barrels a day. but will go downhill by about 70 per cent by 2030.
While India is in the midst of a turmoil over its Citizenship (Amendment) Act, something of a global charade was unfolding in the United States’ capital Washington DC – where in the guise of a “deal of the century” the fate of Palestinians was being sealed tight forever.
A few days ago, a district administration official in Rajasthan’s Udaipur got a surprise call from Kerala. The person at the other end of the line told the Udaipur official that they need to track down three persons who had flown to India with a Kerala student who had just tested positive for the novel coronavirus that emanated from Wuhan.
The Union Budget 2020-2021 is not merely clueless in both diagnosis and response. It is positively harmful for the people and seriously flawed in its design as well as its data.
The problem with India at the moment is that nobody is buying anything, because there is no money left in the pocket of consumers. And since demand has fallen, the growth rate is down to less than 5 per cent, the lowest in the Modi raj.
Till a few years ago, the BJP wanted everyone to believe it would make their lives better through “vikaas.” Then, once ideas like vikaas and achche din started sounding like vacuous jumlas (slogans), it turned to its favourite bogey — the threat of Pakistan.
China’s coronavirus in an unknown form (novel) is the latest in a series of newfangled viral ailments that have struck the world in the last two decades, created panic, and then disappeared as mysteriously as they appeared.
If politics were cricket, in the 2020 elections for Delhi, the AAP would certainly have been cast as India, the BJP as Sri Lanka and the Congress as one of the qualifiers. For those who do not follow cricket, the simple explanation is this: the AAP would be the favourite to win; the BJP would have an outside chance, and the Congress would be hoping for a miracle.
While Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman was busy serving halwa to her staff ahead of the budget preparations, the Indian Railways was playing culinary politics by dictating what the people of Kerala should eat on trains.
The Christian community has been under flak in Kerala for being silent on the contentious CAA or the NRC. The Synod’s allegations of love jihad could possibly be a way to win favours with the BJP as church groups from Kerala have been active for decades in proselytising tribals in the Northeast.
So, next time we see the children of Shaheen Bagh chanting azadi, let's not forget that in Bapu's fight for azadi, in his non-violent civil disobedience, men, women, and children took part equally. What do we call a Rajkumari Gupta, who managed to supply firearms during the Kakori conspiracy, with her three-year-old son in tow?
The heroes of the protests against CAA, NRC and NPR that are raging across the country are undoubtedly the women of the country. However, the most surprising heroines of this agitation are the ordinary Muslim women who have come out in huge numbers to finally take their place in the sun.
Imposition of the draconian National Security Act (NSA) in Delhi shows the project of turning India into a police state is complete. Or, perhaps we can say now all of India is Kashmir, accept that the jackboots are not on the ground but watching us from a distance.
With Queen Elizabeth agreeing to support the decision of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to “step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family, and work to become financially independent” the so-called Royal crisis seems to have blown over, at least for now.
US President Donald Trump will most certainly veto the restraint, leaving it up to the Democrats to come up with a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate to override the veto and make it law.
Responding to Deepika’s gesture of support to the JNU students, Smriti Irani has hit back by arguing that the actor is a Congress supporter (which, in the worldview of the rightwinger is tantamount to supporting Pakistan since the only legitimate option available to a patriotic India is his own party).
The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA) is discriminatory on several grounds. It does not promote equality but violates it. It destroys the secular character and Article 14, as ‘religion’ is made basis of discrimination.
For the time being tempers and tension seem to have come down in the Middle-East over the US’s assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. But this is just another episode in the quagmire that Iraq finds itself in since the US invasion in 2003. No one can be sure what can crop up next and where that will lead to.
When the US invaded Iraq ...
If there is anything more devastating than war, it is war rhetoric. As the world witnesses rising tensions and the nations watch the unfolding of war-like events involving Iran and the US, the rhetoric on both sides seems pumped up.
The intentions of rhetoricians could be multifold – from mopping up support for a cause to amplifying the need for...
There is the creepy feeling in some quarters that had it not been for the riveting testimony of John Dean, Richard Nixon’s White House Counsel during the Watergate Scandal, the former President would never have resigned and would have manoeuvred to complete his term in office.
The India of today has begun to resemble Kuru king Dhritrashtra’s darbar. Its honour, traditions and pride are being disrobed, its students are being attacked and girls are being manhandled with impunity by thugs. And the people responsible for speaking up and taking a stand are watching in silence.
Some of the darbaris of the Kuru kingdom at le...
Attitude of the BJP government towards students’ protests is eerily similar to the way the British government in pre-independent India treated them. Narendra Modi who promised students that they will be stakeholders in the political process has now left them with broken bones. It appears for the British and BJP, protesting students are anti-nationals.
The targeted killing of Iran’s General Qasem Soleimani by the US has threatened to throw the already volatile political situation in West Asia in deeper turmoil.
The drone attack on Friday (January 3) by the US near the Bagdad international airport, which killed the charismatic Soleimani, has shocked the Iranian establishment, which has vowed “s...
The United States’ assassination of Iran’s top security official Qasem Soleimani does not seem to have evoked any condemnation from most of the world, as it is by now expected, or taken for granted, that Washington will have its way in any power struggle with a rival country.
For about a week before the dawn of the new decade, the world — especially the United States and East Asia — was on its edge and for good reasons. The North Korean strongman, Kim Jong Un promised a “Christmas gift” to the American President Donald Trump.
The protests against the latest amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955, stand out for their spontaneity, the absence of any identifiable leadership and mark the first time that a decision of the Modi government has met with popular resistance of this magnitude.
The beginning of 2020 is as ominous as the end of 2002—it portends the complete degeneration of India into an authoritarian state where the only instrument of mass subjugation will be hate.
In a major reform of the country’s military leadership, the government has attempted to define the role of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) to ensure greater operational synergy and financial management between the Army, Air Force and Navy. Towards this objective, the government will create a new organisation called the Department of Military Affai...
The Jharkhand loss for the BJP is significant because it comes bang in the middle of countrywide protests against the changes in citizenship law. The BJP has lost in spite of the prime minister’s attempt to monetise the controversial law during the campaign in Jharkhand, and his crass remarks on the identity of protesters.
Kolkata: While the ruling dispensation and its digital army are trying to defame the dissents on the streets by giving it a communal colour, the anti-CAA-NRC protests across the country are blurring many old fault lines, at least as of now.
The BJP has ruled so far through fear and its majoritarian agenda, even as its government failed on many fronts. But it knows that the cocktail of a prolonged conflict with its own citizens and a falling economy can be lethal for its longevity.
Whether former Pakistan president Parvez Musharraf is eventually executed or not, the fact that a special court sentenced him to death is in itself stunning. For, such an outcome was extremely unexpected in a country where the military has dominated almost all aspects of political life since its birth in 1947.
The BJP can be countered today only through a sustained attack on its policies that have derailed the economy. Its opponents have to be relentless in talking about the fall in GDP—at 4.5 per cent, it has been sliding for eight quarters.
New Delhi: The recent discovery of the site where Vikram Lander – a key segment of the Chandrayan-2 mission of the ISRO – had hard-landed, by a Chennai-based software engineer has brought into focus an emerging trend of ‘citizen science’.
The phrase ‘nirbhaya (fearless) women’ has become an empty rhetoric, as it has failed to make women fearless. With around two-thirds of judicial officers not presiding in courts, both in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and because of pending vacancies, around 60 per cent of criminal cases are unable to go on with the routine trial.
In such a situat...
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is a kurmi — a backward class that’s almost six per cent of Bihar. Though he hasn’t confessed yet, but his creed must be kursi (chair) — a faith practiced by 100 per cent politicians of India.
Every politician in India flocks to kursi. But, this Ku-Ku, as in NaMo for Kursi Kumar, is a bird of such unique feather...
Last week’s controversial amendment to the Citizenship Act has had everyone scouring the statute books to see if it has in any way altered the “basic structure” of the Constitution.
The BJP loves to thrive on disruptions, chaos, panic and uncertainty triggered by its politics. It always follows the simple strategy of creating a divide, manipulating the majority through hyperbole, fiction and fact, and, by the time people understand its real motive, the absurdity of the disruption caused by it, moving on to something else.
S...
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB), which will soon become law, will turn India into a ‘Hindutva Republic’, and in utter disregard to the secular tenets of our Constitution.
CAB simply means that if a Hindu from Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan comes to India to settle with his relatives or friends from whom he was separated in 1947 or la...
Once upon a time in India, its streets echoed with chants of “Bofors ke dalalon ko, joote maaro saalon ko (beat up the middlemen in the Bofors deal with shoes).”
Saudi Aramco’s recent initial public offering (IPO) that helped it raise $25.6 billion, by selling 3 billion (1.5%) of its 200 billion shares, makes it the most valued company in the world at $1.7 trillion surpassing Apple Inc.
The encounter killing of four men in Hyderabad on Friday morning is cold-blooded murder served on demand by the local police to satisfy the blood-lust of a crazed public and its cheerleaders. The purported justice for rape and murder of a veterinarian is, ironically, rape and murder of the justice system.
As a daughter of refugee parents – both my parents moved from East to West Bengal following the partition of India – there are certain staple refugee romanticisms we grew up on since childhood. One of those stories was about their staple diet, panta bhaat. We were told how people in East Bengal ate panta bhaat every single morning for breakfast. Pa...
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the country’s apex food regulator, appears to be running around like a headless chicken when it comes to dealing with junk food. Its actions and words don’t match with regard to its stand on food products considered unhealthy. The regulator has been preaching about eating right and nutritiou...
In a week, India has witnessed at least six incidents of rapes. Although it takes us a ghastly Nirbhaya, a Kathua or a Disha rape and murder case to happen, to wake up to the fact how India is in the throes of a rape crisis, rapes in the country are not as seasonal as the media portrays them to be, in the wake of a sensational case.
Parliamentarians, while demanding tough punishment for those who raped and murdered Disha in Hyderabad, seem to have overlooked how existing penal provisions were violated, facilitating the crime to happen in the first place.
Disha, the name given to the veterinary doctor who was killed last Thursday (November 28) brought back memories of the br...
The hush-hush manner in which India reportedly carried out pushback of 59 alleged illegal Bangladeshi migrants in the wee hours of of Friday (November 29) speaks volumes about the handling of an emotive issue, which is currently dominating Indian politics, particularly in eastern India.
The clandestine operation was in sharp contrast to how 150 ...
It is not going to be easy for the Democratic Party to take the White House in November 2020, not because of an invincible incumbent in President Donald Trump, but because the party is still in the search for a viable messenger and a powerful message.
What started off with some 24 candidates in the fray for the nomination, has dropped down to ab...
Is secularism as a component of political ideology headed for death in India? The coming together of ideological poles in Maharashtra will suggest so.
The last citadel of the Indian version of secularism, the Congress, has all but crumbled with the Grand Old Party readily agreeing to sup with the ‘devil’, the Shiv Sena, in Maharashtra.
The Co...
On the occasion of Constitution Day, in deference to the prevailing culture, politics and morality of India, it is fitting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is exhorting us to protect, preserve and honour India’s constitutional legacy.
Within 24 hours, we would have the privilege of watching the PM’s solemn advice put into practice in Maharashtr...
The way now seems clear for the Shiv Sena-led combine to form government in Maharashtra following the resignations of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and renegade NCP deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Tuesday. But, if this coalition imagines that the path is smooth for the next five years, it is living under a delusion.
All that the alliance ...
It’s all a game of numbers, right? In the end, the ones who score the maximum number of MLAs get to win the Indian Political League. So, why not revamp the entire process, and make it similar to the cricket IPL. Start by creating a pool of people for sale, set a reserve price for them and open the auction window.
Always give your best. Never get discouraged; never be petty. Always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them and then you destroy yourself.
— Richard Nixon’s last address to staffers at the East Room of White House.
Lawmakers, especially those involved in the impeachment of United States President ...
The Babri Mosque-Ram Janmabhoomi land dispute may have reached its climax after a 140-year-long legal battle. But has it really ended? Is the verdict really about ‘equity and good conscience’ as pronounced by the Supreme Court? Was the mob which demolished the mosque right in its claim? Has the unanimous judgment by a five-judge constitution bench ...
For every woman who dares to speak up and is silenced through institutional harassment, there are ten other women watching her journey, and believing that speaking up about sexual harassment is not worth the pain.
For the nincompoops refusing to learn Sanskrit from a Muslim teacher at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), the only fitting advice is the one sung by Lata Mangeshkar to the divine music of Jaidev: Allah tero naam, Ishwar tero naam, sab ko sanmati de Bhagwan. (Allah and Ishwar are both your names, O Lord, give wisdom to everyone).
Apart from bei...
The refusal of the Kerala government to give police protection to young women visiting the Ayyappa shrine reverses the stand it took last year when the Supreme Court threw out a 1991 High Court ban on women of menstruating age from visiting the hill temple. Amid violent protests, it had sneaked in two women into the temple under heavy police protection late at night.
The Babri mosque was more than just a mosque to Muslims in India. It represented the community’s position as equal citizens in the secular, democratic country they had chosen to live in. After its highly visible and violent destruction in 1992, the Babri mosque became even more important because it was the litmus test for justice – whether Muslims ...
Only two factors keep coalition governments alive in India — fear and greed. Smart investors may have noted that these two are the driving forces of the stock markets too, and that’s exactly the point: in the end, both are about maximising returns (greed) and minimising losses (fear).
For India, there is more to it than just a change at the helm in Sri Lanka when it goes to polls for a new president on Saturday. While the presidential elections are obviously important for Lankans, given the new China-centric power equation in Asia, the outcome is crucial to India too which is struggling to regain its once-powerful influence over its island neighbour.
The Supreme Court decision to reject the review petition on the Rafale deal only adds opacity to the defence procurement process synonymous with a history of corruption in the country. Soon after independence, the first defence scandal was over procurement of jeeps from Britain in 1948.
Is Ayodhya really the birthplace (janmbhoomi) of Lord Rama?
A lot can be written about the Ramayana being an epic inspired by myths and fantasies that should not be taken literally. Some historians argue it was written as a counterpoint to the teachings of the Buddha and Mahavira and was meant to be seen as a moral code for rulers, their familie...
Life for Bangladeshi waste pickers in Bengaluru appears to have become like the plastic and paper scraps they collect from the city’s dumps: used and thrown. The city they saved from decay is now disposing them.
A fortnight ago, the police, under pressure from the state and central BJP governments, arrested 60 undocumented Bangladeshi waste pick...
Former Chief Election Commissioner TN Seshan physically exited from this world on Sunday but he must have died a thousand deaths witnessing the dismantling of the strict regulatory system he had enforced in the conduct of India’s elections.
In 1991 when Seshan, a career bureaucrat, took over the Constitutionally-created autonomous Election...
Anand Patwardhan's 1992 documentary, Ram Ke Naam, tracks the right-wing nationalist movement's campaign to build a Ram temple at the site of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. It begins with LK Advani's Ram Rath Yatra and follows the outbreak of riots across the Hindi belt. It explores the mood and ideology behind the movement.
The movement is nothing new...
The apex court, putting an end to the litigation over the birth place of Lord Ram paved way for construction of temple as dreamt by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP).
At the back of his mind, Rajinikanth is well aware of the BJP’s limitations in a state dominated by regional parties like the DMK and the AIADMK, and other Dravidian forces. Like in Kerala, the minorities have voted in large numbers against the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP has every reason to be happy with the Supreme Court verdict, allowing a Ram temple to come up at the disputed Ayodhya site. If it needs to thank anyone for this turn of events, it is its arch-rival, the Congress party.
Less than expected, the results of the Maharashtra assembly elections might have caused headache and embarrassment to the top brass of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but it is the Congress leadership that needs to deal with a chronic migraine and uncertain future.
This may be a hard one to swallow, but the fact is India does not appear ready to get into free trade agreements with bigger powers, like in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and benefit from them.
‘Kyoun bhi kehna jurm hai
Kaise bhi kehna jurm hai’
(To ask questions is a crime here, to ask why and how is also criminalized.)
When renowned Italian writer and survivor of the Holocaust Primo Levi passed away, The Guardian paid tribute to him through the following words, “The death of Primo Levi robs Italy of one of its finest writers…...
Followers of Indian politics must have noticed that the BJP has not exhibited its characteristic brag-and-bully brand of politics in Maharashtra since the results threw up a mixed mandate.
A recent Government Order (GO) issued by the Andhra Pradesh government threatening to initiate criminal prosecution against media persons for “false”, “baseless” and “defamatory” news items raises apprehension on the government's intent.
Given the pendency in courts and delay in dispensation of cases, there is every possibility to fear that the ...
Argentina’s unemployment climbed to 18%, further jumping to 39% in 1996-97 which was said to be the poorest decile.
To curb the turmoil, the Argentinian government introduced a reformed wage for work programme with the assistance from World Bank (Trabajar II) which provided temporary work for those who sought it, at relatively low wages — set ...
It is strange that the BJP picked up Thirukkural as a vehicle to boost a Hindutva campaign in Tamil Nadu, given the Kural’s (a poetry meter comprising two lines) emphatic message that all human beings are equal at birth and professing values like universal brotherhood.
If there’s one individual who should be happy with the Modi government’s actions on Kashmir, that must be Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan. For, the BJP-led Indian government has managed to do what Islamabad has been striving for many years — to internationalise the Kashmir dispute.
First, it was the United States' president Donald Trump, wh...
The Karnataka high court recently directed the Police Establishment Board to clarify if the transfers and retention of police officers were made on the recommendation letters given by 21 MLAs, for posting police officers of their choice in their respective assembly constituencies.
The Court observed that “both the state government and the Police...
The states’ autonomy over their Information Commissions was destroyed as the Union government was determined to take away the independence of the State Information Commissions all over India.
The Indian government’s move to allow a delegation of European Union members of parliament into Kashmir amounts to “internationalising” the issue, something that upends a long-held policy of maintaining the dispute as a bilateral issue with Pakistan, no more no less.
Donald Trump’s favourite reply to any question on any subject under the sky—economy, Iran, terrorism, nukes, women, Ukraine — is usually this: “Nobody knows it better than me.” Let’s take this claim on face value and put a few questions to the omniscient President of the US states.
1) Who created Daesh, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria?
2)...
Defeat of the Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the last Assembly elections has opened up space for the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) in Andhra Pradesh, but the saffron party does not seem to have made much progress so far.
Like in other southern states where the regional political culture had taken deep roots, Andhra Pradesh cont...
You’ve got to give it to Shah for two stellar qualities. One, he is clued into the history and dynamics of not just people, but also entire families and states. Two, he has made elections redundant in India. For, whatever be the process, in the end it is always Shah who wins.
People are the new Opposition, that’s the overarching message that comes out of the results of Maharashtra and Haryana elections. In both the states, the Opposition had capitulated to such an extent that it was displaying no will to put up even a decent fight leave alone a contest.
The Indian government appears to be moving beyond diplomacy into the realm of arm-twisting to express anger at two friendly countries — Malaysia and Turkey — for their pro-Pakistan position on Kashmir and for supporting Islamabad at the recent FATF meeting in Paris.
Unlike in the past when Indian governments would react diplomatically, the curre...
Advances in computing and communications technology is making possible a new business model where companies engaged in selling seeds, traits and crop protection products may charge for outcomes.
In a few hours from now, news channels will tell us what we already know about the ongoing round of elections—that the BJP is sweeping both Maharashtra and Haryana. Whatever be the individual numbers, the BJP tally is likely to be humongous in both these states.
In a move reminiscent of Vietnam, United States President Donald Trump has ordered the withdrawal of troops from embattled Syria, defeated in his attempt to oust President Bashar al-Assad. The US exit has left Syria in a deeper mess than when it needlessly intervened in that country.
That Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee would receive the Sveriges Riksbank Prize for the Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel in their lifetime was never in doubt. That Michael Kremer would join them to receive this honour is unsurprising. That it should have come so soon is a matter of considerable surprise, since it is rare for winners to ...
In sports, it is often said that you need to focus more on the process, and the results will have no choice but to follow naturally. In politics, sometimes it is the end that justifies the means. With regard to the Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) in India, a bit of both was at play as Sourav Ganguly was elected president, unopposed.
Clearly,...
