A Defence Minister who cannot read a hospital register recording the date of birth of his Chief of Army Staff can hardly be expected to read a map and discern Chinese inroads to the extent of an admitted 19-kms (some say 30-kms). So it was no surprise that Mr. AK … Read More
The current imbroglio over the Chinese incursion in Ladakh has given citizens an uneasy sense of déjà vu. Now officially admitted as a 19-kilometre ingress, Lt Gen Prakash Katoch says it is actually 30-kilometres. This evokes memories of veteran parliamentarian Mahavir Tyagi’s famed face-off with Jawaharlal Nehru when China was … Read More
The postponement of the long pending J&K Hindu Shrines and Religious Places (Management and Regulation) Bill for the better management and preservation of Hindu temples and shrines in Kashmir province, promised to be passed in the budget session by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, has deeply disappointed the Kashmiri Hindu community … Read More
For a leader who could not sleep when the Australian Government accused Indian doctor Muhamed Haneef of complicity in the June 2007 terrorist attack at Glasgow international airport (he was exonerated later), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh slept extraordinarily well throughout his nine years in office, during which period Sarabjit Singh’s … Read More
As the land acquisition bill comes under a fresh cloud, experts point out that a little noticed clause has been introduced in the amended draft legislation to ostensibly protect land under Scheduled Areas, yet does not protect either the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes who are most vulnerable to … Read More
The appointment of Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda (Sam) as adviser to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovation, and chairman, National Innovation Council, has come under a cloud with Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy alleging conflict of interest and breach of national security. Pitroda is a close friend of … Read More
The Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2011, shelved nearly two years after an unexpected multi-party resistance in Parliament, seems likely to resurface as part of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s desperate bid to sew up minority support in the event of unexpected elections. Should … Read More
Few cases in Indian judicial history are as iconic as the Kesavananda Bharati case where a 13-judge constitutional bench laid down the Doctrine of Basic Structure of the Constitution that Parliament has no power to tamper or alter. It set limits to the brute power of a ruling party to … Read More
Narendra Modi’s acceptability rather than unacceptability among ordinary and orthodox Muslims may have provoked his Bihar counterpart to go on the warpath. The merit of this proposition can be gauged from some facts in the public domain. Hence, the BJP should let this support from a growing national constituency crystallize … Read More
The J&K Hindu Shrines and Religious Places (Management and Regulation) Bill, a long- standing demand of the besieged Hindu community of Jammu & Kashmir, which was deferred to the House Select Committee in the Assembly session on April 5, has become an urgent imperative in view of the wanton destruction … Read More
