As the Russians went into Afghanistan at the end of December 1979, a cautious Soviet official is said to have remarked to Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko that the British had got themselves into serious trouble there a century earlier. “Are you comparing the imperialist British to our gallant Soviet boys?” … Read More
In a move reminiscent of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s startling decision to will her political party, including its workers and presumably also its voters and supporters, to her eldest son, Bilawal, the Congress president Sonia Gandhi secretly flew off to the United States for medical treatment, leaving behind … Read More
America’s startling political decision to arrest US citizen cum ISI lobbyist Ghulam Nabi Fai last month, while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in India, follows a string of continuing face-offs between the two countries and suggests that Washington may have decided to dismount the Pakistani tiger. Tensions peaked with … Read More
The Indian entrepreneurial and middle classes have fueled a great land rush, even land grab, all over the country, causing acrimony and heartburn, at times even bloodshed. Over the past decade, farmers have been pressured to part with fertile multi-crop land for industrial, urban development and infrastructure projects, triggering fears … Read More
Can Bhagwan, rudely awakened from ‘ananta sayanam’ (divine sleep or yog-nidra on the divine serpent Anantha Seshanaga) during which He maintains the stability of the worlds, be forced, equally abruptly, to return to His repose because the Profane have developed cold feet? Thiruvananthapuram, sacred abode of Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy, … Read More
Nancy Kaul & Sandhya Jain How do you instill nationalism in the Indian State? Specifically the Indian Government that is supposed to be its guardian and servant? Odd as it may seem, the question is legitimate. For how else could one explain a major public sector undertaking like the Metals … Read More
New Delhi’s determination in pursuing access to enrichment and reprocessing technology with the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group, after receiving Washington’s clean waiver in September 2008, is disturbing because it shows we are probably the only major world capital that is not reassessing atomic energy after the Fukushima tragedy. This is doubly … Read More
In a powerful acknowledgement of the national mood towards the questionable accumulation of wealth by persons in high posts, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has suggested President Pratibha Patil consider if she would like to make her assets and those of her family members public, in the manner in which … Read More
The real crisis of Japan’s earthquake-tsunami-driven disaster at Fukushima concerns the disposal of radioactive, partially melted, uranium fuel rods, before the six reactors can be decommissioned. Some rods contain plutonium (one millionth of a gram, inhaled, can cause cancer; each reactor has 250 kg. of plutonium). Over 7 tons of … Read More
The Congress-led UPA government lost both honour and legitimacy when, in the dead of night of 4–5 June, it sent armed policemen to invade and assault unarmed, sleeping, anti-corruption protestors at Ramlila Maidan in the capital, led by the celebrated Yogi, Swami Ramdev. The action is reminiscent of the manner … Read More
