Making homage at all the sacred sites associated with the Buddha, the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsiang) encountered the moving story of Hamsa Stupa, situated on a mountain in the vicinity of Rajgriha, where King Bimbisara and his people welcomed the Buddha after he had attained enlightenment. The monks of … Read More
After running the gamut of destructive vote-harvesting ideas like non-repayable loan melas and farm-loan waivers that brought little relief or advancement to intended beneficiaries, the Congress party has discovered education as the new mantra to entice the masses and defer accountability for non-performance. The promise of universal free education up … Read More
It is now obvious that the controversy over the Army Chief’s date of birth had one goal – to install in position persons considered useful by politicians, bureaucrats, and officers linked to the arms lobby. The Supreme Court erred grievously when it forced Gen. VK Singh to withdraw his petition. … Read More
Credit for the successful Sri Ram Navami Shobha Yatra in Hyderabad on 1 April 2012 must be given where it is due – to the devotees who sought to demonstrate that no city in the punya bhumi of Bharat can diminish or expel Sri Rama merely because it has a … Read More
The birth anniversary of 24th Tirthankara Sri Mahavir Ji is an appropriate occasion to ponder how this tiny faith successfully tamed the natural impulses of human hedonism and emerged as a sparkling exemplar of the Indian civilisational spectrum. India’s native traditions lie embedded in a common geographical and spiritual-cultural matrix, … Read More
In an extremely myopic manoeuvre aimed at pleasing the world gendarme, India aborted all chances of rising as a regionally respected power by supporting the US-led resolution to censure Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Commission for alleged war crimes against civilians in the climax to its prolonged war … Read More
Recent elections in five states showed voters rejecting the undemocratic political culture of the two major national parties, where central leaders with declining ability to harvest votes have promoted a politics of patronage and entitlement, indifferent to the needs and aspirations of voters. Both parties lie battered. The Bharatiya Janata … Read More
By agreeing to examine the validity of the Bodhgaya Temple Act, 1949, to nullify Hindu control over the famed vihara, the Supreme Court has inadvertently exposed The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, to scrutiny and opened the door for Hindu claims to historical temples they have demanded for … Read More
New Delhi must invoke the UN Convention on Biodiversity to fight the growing piracy of India’s biodiversity by multinational companies, rather than leave this vital task to well meaning activists and NGOs that could be out-manoeuvred by powerful corporates backed by the clout of the Western capitals in which they … Read More
Marx claimed that the State would wither away once the proletariat took over the material and productive forces of society and made the state apparatus redundant; classes would cease to exist and political representation would be unnecessary. This writer has always held this stateless communism in disdain, preferring democracy where … Read More
