The enduring image of the Bihar elections that will linger in memory long after the ballots are cast and counted, is that of Chirag Paswan wistful desire to not be limited by ‘jati’ identity and confined to being a ‘dalit’ leader. In an election in which rival groups have bisected … Read More
By upholding the supremacy of a judicial élite to determine the appointment of judges to the high courts and apex court while simultaneously inviting suggestions to improve the impugned collegium system, the Supreme Court has admitted that its procedure is flawed. The fact that the learned judges were adamant to … Read More
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s stunning victory in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh, elections on October 17, winning 18 out of 26 elected seats (four are filled by nomination), provides the Centre an opportunity to test Article 370 and Article 371 of the Constitution of India, to fulfill its … Read More
Nepal’s constitution of September 2015, which triggered a storm of protest in the Terai and prevented fuel and necessary supplies from India entering the landlocked nation for over a month, is set for major amendments under a new coalition crafted by Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli, who secured the backing … Read More
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF) annual report 2015 is an egregious assault on India’s dignity as a sovereign nation, especially the tasteless reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi being the only person who’s tourist visa was revoked by the State Department in 2005 under a clause in … Read More
The whitefly attack on the Bt Cotton crop in Punjab and Haryana, which has decimated almost fifty per cent of the harvest, demolishes the myopic view of the Genetically Modified Organisms industry that introducing a bacterium into plant genes produces disease-resistant high-yielding crops on a sustainable basis. The devastation has … Read More
The Supreme Court refusal to allow the Centre to bulldoze the dubious Aadhaar project by luring weaker sections of society into “voluntary” use of Aadhaar to avail of welfare schemes is welcome. The Unique Identity programme has been ridden with secrecy and deceit since its inception, and must be decimated … Read More
The Russians have arrived in West Asia, with a bang, with airstrikes against the terrorist Islamic State (Dawlat al-Islamiyah f’al-Iraq w Belaad al-Sham, or Daesh, in Arabic), giving a new leash of life to the beleaguered Syrian President. Their arrival has strengthened Iran, the sole regional ally of the Damascus … Read More
India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), to be unveiled on Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday on October 2 for added moral dimension, are keenly awaited across world capitals after Prime Minister Narendra Modi pointedly apprised leading western nations, notably the United States, France and Britain, of the third world’s need for access … Read More
The crisis in Nepal could have been handled better by Indian diplomats as the draft of the new Constitution was made public for two weeks in July 2015, to elicit popular opinion. As the overwhelming majority of people favoured a “Hindu Rashtra”, the Nepal government agreed to withdraw the term … Read More
