When Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi triggered a walkout by elected Panchayat members in J&K last Friday by saying it was the state government’s prerogative to implement the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments, he was hinting that a deal had been clinched with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. Should this pan … Read More
The notification of FDI in retail and announcement by giant retailers of plans for a major Indian debut coincide with disturbing evidence about the toxic effects of Genetically Modified foods which are expected to arrive in this country at the same time. The absence of appropriate legislation could thus adversely … Read More
Attempting to kick-start his nascent political career, Lokpal activist and former Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal has adopted the issue that causes the most heartburn to Delhi’s citizenry – the steep power tariff hikes and dodgy billing of the past few months. On Sept. 23, a few thousand Kejriwal supporters … Read More
India’s freshly-minted millionaire club lost a whopping 18% of its membership as the economic slowdown coincided with the exposure of multiple scams that tripped the gravy train of our crony capitalists. Most citizens would be shocked to learn that despite the global financial crisis ruining millions worldwide, the number of … Read More
The murder of the US envoy and three other diplomatic staff members in Libya on the night of Sept 11 following telecast on YouTube of a film maligning the Prophet, which inflamed sentiments of Muslims worldwide, has given an entirely new dimension to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s pre-scheduled visit to … Read More
The sudden murder of J. Christopher Stevens, US ambassador to Libya, and three of his staff members after an enraged mob attacked the American consulate in Benghazi on the night of Tuesday 11 Sept. raises several questions that merit serious deliberation. Amidst reports of violence in some Muslim capitals, one … Read More
As diwan of Travancore, Sir C.P. Ramaswami Iyer struggled desperately with the departing colonial rulers to prevent the kingdom’s riches, including its thorium deposits, from falling into the hands of the Congress Party whose leadership he did not trust. Thorium’s importance has been known since the early twentieth century when … Read More
India produced the world’s first thorium nuclear reactor, Kakrapar-1, in 1993, as part of a three-stage fuel cycle plan which included designing a new Advanced Heavy Water Reactor; the goal was to use thorium-based reactors to meet 30 per cent of our electricity needs by 2050. The Bhaba Atomic Research Centre … Read More
Pushed into a corner over the economic slowdown (amidst the plethora of scams besieging the regime), the Congress-led UPA has shown a keenness to push through 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail in the hope that it will pull the economy out of its current morass. This has triggered … Read More
Last year, when the anti-corruption movement captured the public imagination nationwide, Swami Ramdev had sparked off considerable controversy with his remark that India should emulate China in dealing with corrupt officials, that is to say, hang them. While not endorsing this extreme position, as more and more unsavoury scandals and … Read More
